PURPOSE-DRIVEN LIFE Sunday, November 10, 2013 Show Compassion to Your Kids by Rick Warren Let us love one another, for love comes from God. (1 John 4:7 NIV) If you want to know how to be a good parent and build a strong family, you don’t have to look on the Internet or go to a bookstore. Look no further than the greatest book ever written on parenting — God’s Word, the Bible. The Bible says in 1 John 4:7, Let us love one another, for love comes from God (NIV). More than anything else, kids need unbelievable and unconditional love. There needs to be a place where they’re accepted — warts and all. What is compassion? Compassion is a combination of love and understanding. Compassion is where you know everything about someone, and you still like that person. Love is not natural. You have to learn to love. You learn it by practicing. What better place to practice than with the people youre forced to live with all your life? If you can learn to love your family, you can love anybody. Why? Because its easy to love people at a distance, but when youre with them all the time, you dont always get along. When you practice love in the family, youre learning to really love. A lot of times we love our kids, but we dont express it in the way they can understand it. Children understand love in three ways: affection, affirmation, and attention. Affection. Children need lots of hugs and touch and kisses. They need to feel your love. Affirmation. They need to hear it! You need to tell your kids every day — and more than once a day — how much you love them. Affirm them, and build them up with love. Attention. One of the greatest gifts you can give others is listening to them. When you look at a child on his level, youre saying, You matter to me. Youre important to me. I want to hear what you have to say.” In doing this, you show compassion. Talk It Over In what different ways do you see that your children express and receive love? If you do not have children, what do you think your responsibility is to the children in your life, whether they are nieces and nephews, neighbors, or the children of friends? *** *** ***
Posted on: Mon, 11 Nov 2013 11:11:00 +0000