“Lord, is this person made in Your image? When I see You as the Perfect Father, loving God, knowing my needs even before I can ask, then how can he/she be your image?” This question always came to me when I saw insensitive, unreasonably difficult people. This question would always go unanswered and remain a thought until recently, when again this thought came, and I believe the Holy Spirit answered me this time with just these words, “Because they are remolded.”

 

The conception of a child is the beginning of the child’s physical existence; however, the spirit existed, and the Lord knows every being even before it comes into form (Psalm 139:16, Jeremiah 1:5). In spirit, every child is in the image of God, molded into His image. And at birth, is handed to the parents to guard the child’s spirit by nurturing him/her with the Word of God. Therefore, bringing up children in God’s ways should be very easy, as the spirit is of God. As long as the spirit is in the right condition, the child grows to exhibit God through his actions. The core of every action will be the love of God.

 

When children are entrusted to us, parents, they are like clean. They first get influenced by us, by our actions, reactions, words, beliefs, principles, habits, religion, and traditions. Are we nurturing the condition of their spirit that is already in the image of God, or are we remolding them? Most of the time we will find ourselves undoing (remolding) what God is doing through them. When we know the Truth, we get on the path of ‘re -remolding’ them into the likeness of God.

 

 

 

Do not be discouraged, parents. Most of the time, what we do is not on purpose, because we are in that ‘re- remolding’ process in the hands of God (Jeremiah 18:6). But when the Holy Spirit makes us conscious of our ways of remolding God’s work, we have got to be sensitive and do likewise.

 

“This is what we have been doing through generations.” “My father did, so shall I.” “This is the tradition of the family.” “We have to do it because society does so.” – It’s time for us to break this mindset and dare to replace it with the mind of Christ (Romans 12:1). Let’s make every effort to raise a generation that has gone through the least remolding from their original image, i.e., the image of God.

 

The beginning is always difficult, but with the Lord by our side, we can walk upon the walks and against the tide. Take small steps, and be obedient to small things that look insignificant. You will see marvelous results that will give you the boldness to take bigger steps.

 

Let’s make this our prayer, to be sensitive to the voice of the Holy Spirit, be obedient to His Word, and courageous to put the Word into action in our children.