Whether you elect to educate your children in public school, private school, homeschool, or some kind of novel, hybrid school, you want your kids to do well as we begin the school year, right? Like every parent, I want my kids to work hard, do their best, and get good grades. Without question, these are desires of Christians and non-Christians alike. But shouldn’t Christian parents motivate their kids differently than unbelieving parents? Christians should parent their children in a gospel–centered manner, even when it comes to schoolwork.
Typical Ways to Motivate Our Kids
- Hard work pays off. If I want to motivate my kids to be diligent, I may point out that diligence will allow them to get their work done so they have time to do what they really want to do. Or perhaps I might tell them that working hard in school will make them more successful, secure, and prosperous in life. At best, however, these tactics focus on human effort, and at worst, they appeal to selfishness. What’s more, this approach really won’t encourage our children to enjoy their work but to just get through it.
- Diligence defines you. Another common tactic is to appeal to our kid’s identity. I might say something like, “Your grandparents were good students, your parents were good students, so you need to work hard to be a good student too!” Citing parents and grandparents as examples may be fine, but we may inadvertently foster pride in the hearts of our children. Furthermore, it may cause them to find their sense of value from academic accomplishments, rather than from Christ’s creative and redemptive work.
A Gospel Way to Motivate Our Kids
As Christians, we ought to desire to live out the gospel in every area of our lives, and this includes mundane aspects like laundry, household chores, and paperwork. Likewise, in parenting, we ought to teach our children to live out the gospel, even in doing their homework. How do we root even something as mundane as homework in the gospel? As the school year is starting up, here is how we are repeatedly training our kids to think when it comes to their schoolwork.
- Begin with a Command.
To start out the year, we memorized Colossians 3:23: “And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men.” Remember that the gospel must begin with a command, an objective standard (Galatians 3:24). This New Testament command requires a God-focused motivation.
2. Identify Motivation.
We are teaching our kids that there are two reasons that we should desire to please God. First, we are created to please God. Therefore, pleasing God ultimately brings us the most happiness. But pleasing God does require us to trust that God can provide lasting happiness as we please Him rather than trusting ourselves to bring temporary happiness. Second, we need to teach our children that a desire to please the Lord is the reasonable response to Christ’s sacrifice for us (Romans 12:1-2).
3. Root the command and motivation in the gospel.
People do not naturally have a desire to please the Lord and neither will our children. What a wonderful opportunity to share the gospel with our unbelieving children if they find themselves actually realizing that they don’t want to please the Lord (Matthew 7:17-20). We can rehearse the gospel with them and even help them understand that true acceptance of the gospel results in God giving us a new heart that desires to please Him (2 Corinthians 5:17; Galatians 5:16-19). On the other hand, we may help our believing children to understand that their desire to please God will be in proportion to their gratefulness for what Christ has done for them. This teaching moment becomes an excellent opportunity for gospel discipleship.
Gospel Application
More important than teaching the Gospel, we need to live it out as an example for our kids. Do we view our own work as something just to “get through”? Do we view it merely as a means to personal success? Is that expressed to our kids? May we as gospel-centered parents live out the gospel and teach the gospel in all aspects life, including schoolwork.
