Finishing the Race
We all want to finish the race well. That at the end of our lives we would be seen as faithful. Our reward and priorities are not built on the here and now but on the kingdom of heaven before us. The choices we make and the way we would live our lives is not for the comforts of this world but all for the glory of God. Let’s help everyone in our family fix their eyes on Jesus.
These five chapters give you a good scope of this month’s themes in a scriptural context. They can be used for your own reading, or you can invite your whole family to join you throughout the month. By the end of the month, you will have read 20 chapters in God’s Word.
Ps. 59, 1 Cor. 8,9,10,11
Parents, this is a Scripture-inspired prayer that we encourage you to pray over your family each day this week.
But I will sing of your strength and will joyfully proclaim your faithful love in the morning. For you have been a stronghold for me, a refuge in my day of trouble. To you, my strength, I sing praises, because God is my stronghold—my faithful God (Ps. 59:16-17).
(This is already written as a prayer. Take time to reflect and pray these words over your family.)
This conversation starter is designed for you to read one verse of Scripture on your own in order to invite your child into a conversation with you. The goal is for your child to see you studying the Word and working to apply it to your own life.
Not that I have already reached the goal or am already perfect, but I make every effort to take hold of it because I also have been taken hold of by Christ Jesus. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and reaching forward to what is ahead, I pursue as my goal the prize promised by God’s heavenly call in Christ Jesus (Phil. 3:12-14).
I was reading in Philippians 3, and it encourages us to be increasingly like Christ. How can you be more like Christ today than you were yesterday?
Parents, this conversation starter is designed to help you open the Bible as a family and start a conversation that leads to the application of the Word.
What do you hope will be said about the life you lived after you have gone?
Don’t you know that the runners in a stadium all race, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way to win the prize. Now everyone who competes exercises self-control in everything. They do it to receive a perishable crown, but we an imperishable crown. So I do not run like one who runs aimlessly or box like one beating the air. Instead, I discipline my body and bring it under strict control, so that after preaching to others, I myself will not be disqualified (1 Cor. 9:24-27).
Do you feel like you have strong self-control or weak? How can you grow in this area?
We can see internality in purpose in this passage. Do you feel like you are intentional when it comes to your relationship with God? Why or why not?
How can we as a family encourage each other to be more like Christ?
Because of Christ, we can experience true joy and freedom found only in Him. We want to provide you with a way to apply this month’s theme and experience joy as a family.
We all need encouragement. Teens, like all of us, look for approval from their parents. Words of affirmation are so important for our teens. Each day this week, leave your teens a different note of encouragement. Let them know the character that you see in them as they have gotten older and express your love for them. These do not need to be big, long letters but can be short notes of encouragement as they walk through their day. Your words matter a lot as a parent!