Cement Shoes

Entering into a relationship with guilt weighing you down is like trying to survive a shipwreck while wearing cement shoes. Marriages frequently fail when there is unconfessed sin weighing down one or both partners. Then when kids enter the picture, disaster looms as parents attempt to control everything so that their kids never miss the mark like they did. Though I believe it is important for parents to have control of many things in the lives of their children, when the focus is on control rather than on the child it becomes apparent that they are leading in fear, rather than faith.

Often times in scripture people are compared to sheep and God is the Good Shepherd. In Psalm 23 David speaks of the shepherds rod and staff bringing comfort. Why? Because they were used, not just for discipline, but to guide and direct the sheep toward what was good and pull them away from danger. Keep a keen eye on where your children are and where they are headed. Continually direct them toward what is healthy, godly and right. If you want them to follow after God then you must be continually pointing them to Him.

Parenting is truly a full time job and you must be ready at all times to respond quickly to the behaviors that indicate a rebellious and unkind spirit is developing in them. React in love and respond with direction and explanation that is age appropriate. Just saying “NO!” or “Stop!” falls short of teaching them the reason we choose well is because God is our Leader and His Word teaches us His ways.

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In the process of watching the wrong doing of your child drive a wedge in their relationships, take a look at your own heart and allow God’s Spirit to shine a light into the wrong of your past and reveal to you what needs to be confessed so that your relationships can find healing. We all have things in our lives that we are ashamed of. We all fall short of where we know God wants us to be, but true repentance goes a long way in healing our relationship …. Not just with God, but with others because it no longer weighs us down. Seek God’s forgiveness and accept it. Satan will be your accuser, making you feel like you are worthless. But the fact is, you are worth so much to God that He was willing to pay the ultimate price for your forgiveness.

Take off those cement shoes and see life and love and relationships in a whole new way! Learn a lesson from King David…

“Oh, what joy for those whose disobedience is forgiven, whose sin is put out of sight!

Yes, what joy for those whose record the Lord has cleared of guilt,

whose lives are lived in complete honesty!

When I refused to confess my sin, my body wasted away, and I groaned all day long…

Finally, I confessed all my sins to you and stopped trying to hide my guilt. I said to myself,

‘I will confess my rebellion to the Lord.’

And you forgave me! All my guilt is gone!”

From Psalm 32