We are told to "seek first His kingdom and his righteousness and all these things will be added to us" (Matt. 6:33). We want to know our children will grow to love us and their hearts will turn toward us as they continue to grow, but too often we try to make our children our numer one priority. We make them our world, and then we wonder why our godly parenting has not yielded that closeness. Jesus was starkly clear when he said in Luke 14:26 "if anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brother and sister, yes, even his own life, he cannot be my disciple."

Too many of us have made idols of our own children and spouses. We think we are loving them by doing this. We think we are raising and supporting good Christian families by doing that, but we are only idolaters.

We are not going to build strong families by our own diligence, but only if we seek God and his kingdom first...and then all these things will be added to you.

The solution is seeing parents, and particularly men, seek to be Christ followers FIRST. It is seeing men love Jesus Christ more than their mothers, fathers, wives, and even their children.

Because when we do this, we have a fellowship and connection with the greatest love of all. When we make an idol out of our kids or family members, we lose connection and fellowship with the source of greatest love.

When we love Jesus MORE than anything and anyone, He gives us all we need. He returns children's hearts to their fathers and fathers to their children (Malachi 4:5-6).