Affirm Your Children

# 224 Today’s Living Word comes from Mark 1:11 “Then a voice came from heaven, “You are My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”

There is much more going on here than words of encouragement for Jesus from the Father. In addition to announcing God’s “cuddly” love for His Son by calling Him beloved, the Father also announces that he is very pleased with His Son.

God has given fathers an example of how they need to relate to their own children. Children need to know that they are tenderly loved by their father. They need to be held, embraced, nurtured. They also need to know that they are pleasing to their dad. They need to know that you appreciate them for who they are. They need to feel that if you were picking a team, they would be the first one you’d choose. They need to feel accepted. If these two things are missing in a child’s life, he or she is an addict waiting to happen, because if they can’t find nurture and acceptance at home, they will find it in other people or in other substances.

Father’s, mothers, learn to express love and acceptance for your children. You may not be able to boom it from the heavens, but they still need to hear you say, “this is my beloved child in whom I am well pleased.”

And if this kind of affirmation was missing in your life, causing you to seek love in all the wrong places, remember there is a heavenly Father who is more than willing to give it to you. He gives it to any and all who receive Jesus as their Lord and Savior.

I’m Duane Matz and that’s today’s Living Word.