Set an example for your children in practicing these 8 things. This is a powerful idea and word picture for how we live our lives.
You can think about this when you’re thinking about how we interact with our kids, how we interact with people, and then the difficult circumstances—and it’s Philippians 4:8.
So think of four—here hold up four fingers, hold them up. OK, now take your thumb and touch the first one.
Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure.
OK, second one, this is the eight…
Whatever is admirable, whatever is lovely, whatever is excellent, whatever is praiseworthy, think on those things.
So what I’ll do is when you’re at the soccer field, and there’s like this parent that’s losing their mind and yelling at their kid and your kid—I just want you to go whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever it is—just refocus—whatever is true, whatever is noble.
So when you’re tempted to just say, “Oh, they were so wrong, and it’s so unfair,” I just go like, whatever is true, whatever. So if we can harness some of the thoughts we think, it will help us refocus and reshape what we’re doing.
[embedded content]Everything isn’t a teachable moment, but you can set an example for your children. So it isn’t about giving new information. Your kids don’t need more information. They need a better example—somebody that just goes like this, why did you always do that mom, dad? Because it was Philippians 4:8. And so that is for me so many times I just do it this way.
It’s such a great reminder. I’m sitting in traffic and I’m like, ah, whatever is true, whatever is noble. None of those are like a shell I’ve found for this emotion right now. And then I’m just not going to give it a lot of airtime.
Looking for other resources on setting an example for your children?
Teaching littles: Family devotions with many activities
Five biblical truths to anchor your children’s identity in Christ
To see more from Bob Goff, check out his website and his Dream Big Framework.
