Shocking Answer...

As I was preparing to drop Matt off at school the other morning I told him that I loved him and the thought crossed my mind to ask him, "Matt, Do you know how much i love you?"

"I don't know..." he said, obviously pondering the question. We used to play this game when he was little, but being a man of 7 it was obviously too deep in the recesses of his "long-life" to remember. So I decided to ask him some questions.

"Do I love you more than this car?" I asked. "Yes." he said.
"What about our home?". "Yeah, you love me more than the house." Matt said.
"How about the world? Do you think I love you more than the whole-wide world?" I said. "Yeah." was his simple reply. Then another question popped into my mind, could i ask it knowing that it might confuse him and challenge me: "Matt, do i love you more than the church?"

"I don't know..." he thoughtfully replied. Granted that Matt may have confused the question because:

• He probably still equates the church with JESUS - Matt has repeatedly heard me tell him that we are to love the Lord with all our heart, soul, mind and strength.
• He might wonder because I work at the church. Many times, when he's been with me at the office (being the "talky-talk" child that he is) I've had to say, "Matt, I'm working man - you gotta let me do this..." Maybe that confuses him.
• He might wonder because He knows I've given my life to this... He sees his dad's passion and hears many conversations of this type.

None-the-less, I was still horrified! Nothing, NOTHING in this world means more to me than my family - nothing is more challenging to me than the responsiblity to raise them to have their own, personal, love relationship with JESUS - too many pastors have "lost" their kids to the church. So I told Matt,

"Hey man - I LOVE YOU MORE, MUCH MORE, than I love the church - you will always come before the church - i love you! Church is important Matthew - it's JESUS' Body on the earth, but you come first. Do you understand?"
"Yeah, dad." He said as he smiled.
"So which comes first, Matt: you or the church?"
"I DO."
"That's right, Matt - you will ALWAYS come before the church. ALWAYS."

I'm sorry that I had to clarify to my son. I hope that he gets it and I also hope that you get it yourselves, which leads me to ask you a question : When was the last time you told your children (no matter how old they are) that they are more important than anything in this world? (with the exception of JESUS and your spouse - in that order, hopefully. )