It really hit me last night like a ton of bricks. There they sat, sprawled out on the living room floor putting together a new puzzle; their eyes wide as the picture began coming together. Their innocence overwhelmed me in those moments. “They are dying and they don’t even know it.”

It’s unfair for parents to even think about the death of their children, but the last few weeks it’s weighed so heavily on my mind. And while my children don’t have a ravaging cancer or a congenital disease, every day they are getting closer and closer to their death. And when the thought crossed my mind last night, there was a sense of urgency in my heart. “How am I preparing them for the day they see Jesus?”

Now you might be thinking that I’m being dramatic, but please hear me out for just a minute. In Francis and Lisa Chan’s New York Times best-selling book, You and Me Forever: Marriage in Light of Eternity Francis makes a profound statement: “We conclude that God has called men to lead humbly and serve their wives sacrificially. They should help their wives prepare for the moment she sees God. We believe that God has called women to follow their husbands and encourage them in their pursuit of Him,” (emphasis mine). What Francis is saying here is that our role as spouses is to push one another to be as eternity minded as possible so that when our time comes and we are standing before Christ that we are ready to see Him, knowing we have given Him all we had in our time here on earth.

 So wouldn’t it make sense for us as parents to do everything in our power to do the same for our children?

For them to urgently live their lives to be everything they can in Christ and to have their hearts fixed on Heaven?

While I know that I will never be the perfect parent, I do know that I have a perfect example to point my children to. And when I take on the perfection of Christ and His character in my own life, it changes me from the inside out. And God working in and through me is the best thing I can give them. It’s not just making sure I take my kids to church on Sundays and Wednesdays and having them be “good” by the standards of the world. Rather it’s really showing and telling them of the transforming power of Jesus and teaching them to live with Heaven in mind. It’s getting them out of their bubbles and showing them the hard and messy in this world, and then doing something about it. It’s messing up and asking them for forgiveness. It’s extending grace when the accidents happen. It’s about seeing the wrong in people and not acting in judgment but in truth and love. It’s speaking His name daily. And guys, it’s talking about death, giving an account, falling before the Father, and experiencing love being perfected in us by His grace (1 John 4:17). And then it’s talking to them about the reality of Hell, knowing that it’s their call to tell the world that it needs a Savior.

It’s teaching them about more of Him and less of them and that Jesus changes everything in light of eternity.

Friends, this isn’t something that your kids are just going to “get” once they hit 30. It starts today. In our homes. Right now in this moment. And we don’t have a second to lose. Our urgency in preparing our children for their death is preparing them for their lives. Because the Kingdom is here and it’s up to us to show them how to build it.

For more eternity minded encouragement from Lauren, visit: www.fromblacktoptodirtroad.com