Having a child stray from the faith is one of the most painful experiences any Christian parents can go through. When one of the parents is a high-profile minister, the pain and shame is all the more. Such a leader must constantly struggle with the fear that he or she has lost credibility; if they couldn’t keep their own child on the path, how can they minister to others?

That is why I carried so much admiration for the way John Piper conducted himself when his son Abraham rejected his upbringing and wandered away into a life apart from Christ. Piper neither made too big a deal about this in public, thus protecting his family’s privacy; nor did he try to hide it away, instead inviting the church to pray with him for his son and, from time to time, sharing how he and his wife found strength in Christ for their trial.

Abraham eventually came back to the faith of his father. Now the prodigal tells his own tale, as Abraham Piper shares 12 Ways to Love Your Wayward Child. His counsel is Christ-honoring, and at the same time intensely practical. At its heart is a message to get over yourselves and your revulsion to whatever sin your child is in and love him or her in the same way Christ loved the prostitutes and tax collectors. And trust them to God. And pray and pray and pray.

HT: Justin Taylor

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 10th, 2007 at 1:36 am and is filed under Christian Community, Discipleship. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.