Tonight I had an opportunity to share with my local homeschool support group. I decided to share with the mom’s some of the things that I learned through my Biblical Theology of the Family class I recently took. In a previous post, I shared a bit from that class. One of the things that I thought fit best with this group of homeschooling moms was Tim Kimmel’s “3 inner needs God has built into every child’s heart” I’d like to share them with you as well.
The first need is an inner need for security – a strong ‘yes!’ to the fundamental question ‘Am I loved?’. Kimmel says “If children don’t find their ultimate sense of security from Jesus Christ, they’ll turn to counterfeit solutions such as money and materialism”
The second is an inner need to know they are significant and have intrinsic values – a strong ‘yes!’ to the fundamental question ‘Do I have a purpose?’ “If our children don’t find their ultimate sense of significance from Jesus Christ, they’ll turn to counterfeit solutions such as popularity, applause, and recognition.”
Finally, every child has a need for strength or sufficiency – a strong ‘yes!’ to the question ‘Do I have any hope?’. “If our children don’t find their ultimate strength from Jesus Christ, they’ll turn to counterfeit solutions such as power, high-control and abuse.”
Not only are these great foundation ideas for parenting, I’ve also come to see that God has built these needs into the heart of every individual so that we will look to Him, as our Father, to fill them. While my kids are young, I can do what I can to answer these questions for them, and affirm them but they too will eventually need to find their answers in God. I am thankful that He loves me, values me, and gives me hope!