Is it my fault my adult children don’t believe? | David Young

Click here to read the full article at RENEW.org: https://renew.org/is-it-my-fault-my-adult-children-dont-believe/ This is an audio version of a written Article from RENEW.org Check out other great articles on RENEW.org here: https://renew.org/articles/ Raising children carries an unavoidable companion: guilt. If you haven’t felt it yet, you will. I remember the first time I disciplined my daughter. She was five years old and, influenced by a neighbor, told me a lie—laughing as she did it. I swatted her bottom twice, corrected her firmly, and told her never to lie to me again. She stared at me as though I were Mr. Hyde, burst into tears, and refused to speak to me for a day. But it worked. I never even once had to discipline her again. But now 25 years later it haunts me, in spite of the fact that I know it was the right thing to do. Now imagine the weight of guilt when parenting doesn’t seem to work at all. When children grow up and rebel. When they choose self-destructive paths. Or worse—when they walk away from Christ. The guilt can be overwhelming. I’ve tasted that too. When my son was a younger teenager, he lost his faith entirely. He was respectful, even gentle, when he told me he no longer believed in God. At the time, I was the senior minister of a large church. I believed I had been a faithful parent. And yet I was flooded with guilt. What had I done wrong? I replayed every decision, reexamined every moment, and felt regret over countless things—some real, some imagined. In both cases, and all through my children’s growing up years, Proverbs 22:6 was playing in the background of my head: “Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it” (Proverbs 22:6, ESV). Listen for more... Join RENEW.org's Newsletter: https://renew.org/resources/newsletter-sign-up/ Join RENEW.org at one of our upcoming events: https://renew.org/resources/events/ Get our Premium podcast feed featuring all the breakout sessions from the RENEW gathering early.  https://reallifetheologypodcast.supercast.com/  Be sure to like, subscribe and follow on social media!  You can find us on: Instagram: @the.renew.network  Facebook: Renew.org  Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@RENEWnetwork Twitter: @therenewnetwork TikTok: the.renew.network  Rumble: https://rumble.com/c/RENEW