By Jake McCandless
One of the things I’ve mentioned a lot through Stand Firm Parents is that we need to consider our parenting goals, which should go beyond this world and age. Often, we’ve not articulated our goals for our kids. We can’t be intentional in our parenting if we don’t. Thinking through these goals is important.
There are many starting points for us to consider our goals, but I believe the best place to start is the warnings in Scripture, especially those involving judgment. These judgments are also where we should develop our ultimate parenting goals. They’re the end of the maze or the “gates” to the end of the maze.
In modern American Christianity, we don’t talk much about the final judgments, but that doesn’t mean they won’t still happen. In Scripture, there appear to be two main judgments — the Great White Throne of Judgment described in Rev. 20:11-15 and the Judgment Seat of Christ, explicitly mentioned in I Cor. 5:9 but alluded to throughout the New Testament. These judgment moments are in the prophetic future, but our preparation for them ends at our last breath.
The Great White Throne judgment is about whether our name is in the Book of Life. Meaning it’s a judgment that pertains to salvation. The outcome is our eternal destination — the Lake of Fire or the New Heaven and New Earth. The ultimate judgment — saved or lost — is the question. This ultimate judgment should captivate us as parents and influence our goals.
The second judgment is the Judgment Seat (or Bema Seat) of Christ. This judgment is for followers of Christ, and it’s an evaluation of our deeds. The question is, “Were we faithful?”
We see more detailed descriptions of this judgment in I Corinthians 3, where Paul writes about deeds being evaluated. Jesus spoke of this judgment through the Parable of the Talents in Matthew 25 and the Parable of the Ten Minas in Luke 19. In each parable, Jesus describes a master (Himself) going away but leaving servants (us) to carry out His work and grow His portfolio. When the master returns, the servants account for their work. Here, the master tells those who were faithful, “Well done, my good and faithful servant.”
I believe we often think our faithfulness isn’t a big deal. We’ll be happy just to be there. While this is true and certainly beats the alternative, I promise that when we see Jesus, we will want more than anything to hear, “Well done!”
Parents, I’m sure you’re aware of these judgments, but have they impacted your parenting? Don’t you think they should? I believe they should serve as the foundation for our ultimate parenting goals.
— This is a Stand Firm Parents article from Stand Firm Ministries that first appeared on standfirmministries.com.
