VidDevo Church: >LAST GENERATION< "Good News" EARLY MORNING FEATURED DEVOTIONAL #4 Thursday May 3 2012 Iyar 11, 5772

4 hours ago

"Your children are a gift from God." (Psalm 127:3 TLB)

God intends families to be a haven for happiness and fun — a place to party, kick back, relax, and have a good time.

It is true that the family that prays together, stays together. Also, the family that plays together, stays together.

Your children are gifts from God, meant to be enjoyed, not just endured. A lot of parents endure their kids; they don't enjoy them. The Bible says in Deuteronomy 16, “Celebrate with your whole family.” Party down! Have a good time. If you wait until all your problems are gone to start enjoying life, you'll never enjoy life.

When my kids were young, they were never impressed with what adults are impressed by in my life. What they wanted to know is, "Is Daddy fun?" So I intentionally worked hard on this one. I used to “kidnap” my kids from school in the middle of the day to go do something fun. They're not going to remember all my sermons, but they're going to remember whether or not Dad was fun.

If your home isn't fun while your kids are growing up, don't be surprised if they don't come back often when they're grown. Why should they?

Talk About It --

How often do you party at your house?

Would you say you enjoy your kids or just endure them?

Do you plan fun times, or are you so busy that you don't have time for any fun?

Rick Warren is the founding pastor of Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, Calif., one of America's largest and most influential churches. Rick is author of the New York Times bestseller "The Purpose Driven Life." His book, "The Purpose Driven Church," was named one of the 100 Christian books that changed the 20th century. He is also the founder of Pastors.com, a global Internet community for pastors.