My dad would often underline the books he read when a passage touched his heart and/or he wanted to read those words again. One such book is The Life of God in the Soul of Man, written by Henry Scougal. Oh, the blessing I received reading those words for the first time. This book by Scougal explores the wonder of Christ formed within us, our union of soul with God, a real participation of the divine nature, the very image of God drawn upon the soul.
The heartache parents, pastors and teachers know too well is often when a child loves the wrong
person or things or persons and things in the wrong order. Things don’t satisfy the soul and people in their sin and brokenness will diminish our happiness if they are what we love most.
“But if God were the object of our love, we should share in an infinite happiness without any mixture of possibility of diminution; we should rejoice to behold the glory of God and receive comfort and pleasure from all the praises wherewith men and angels extol him. It should delight us beyond all expression to consider that the beloved of our souls is infinitely happy in himself, and that all his enemies cannot shake or unsettle his throne; that our God is in the heavens and does whatever he pleases.
Behold, on what sure foundations his happiness is built whose soul is possessed with divine love, whose will is transformed into the will of God, and whose greatest desire is that his Maker should be pleased! Oh, the peace, the rest, and the satisfaction that attends such a temper of mind.”
Don’t stop asking yourself, who do I love most? Then use that as a springboard to talk to your children about their loves.
