One of the things I hear parents tell me all the time is that they want to raise their kids with strong morals. They want their children to be morally straight and to do the right thing.

Morality is good, but not in and of itself.

Here’s why I say that. All to often, we slip into parenting from a perspective of morality instead of a perspective of Christianity. Teaching our kids to live lives with good morals is being focused entirely upon external behavior. Building our parenting upon the foundation of Christianity is focused on an inner change which will result in outward behavior displayed.

The difference is pretty significant. On the one hand, we teach our kids to do right. But on the other hand, we teach them why they should do right. There is a huge difference there.

Our kids need to be taught the truth’s of God’s grace, and the changes that grace brings in our hearts. When God is working in their lives, the outward displays of right living are based upon an inward change of right being. And that only comes from God’s activity on our lives.

So dads, you and I need to pray for a morality that flows from the changed heart. And if we want our kids to see the need for a heart changed by God, we have to understand that change and display it in our own lives as well.

Only then will we see morality in it’s proper perspective: the right living that comes as the fruit of a dramatically changed life.

Be deliberate, Dad!

Do you parent from a perspective of morality or of Christianity? You can leave your thoughts in the comments section below.