It's a fact. Your children will fail. And when
they do, how do you respond? Today, we'll discover
why God promises that failure is never final.
And the way He responds to your failure is the
way He wants you to respond to theirs. Do you
know how? Well, that's today. Thanks for listening
to this edition of Living on the Edge with Chip
Ingram. We are an international teaching and
discipleship ministry that motivates Christians
to live like Christians. We're in the middle
of our empowering series, Uninvited Guests, recognizing
and resisting the attacks on your family. Last
time, Chip walked through the three biblical
practices our children need to know and explained
how our kids can use these truths like stones
in a slingshot to bring down the giants they'll
encounter in life. Today, he'll give us the final
two lessons, so let's get started. Grab your
Bible and notes as we join Chip for the remainder
of his talk, How to Prepare Your Kids to Win
Life's Biggest Battles. Let me give you some
ways to teach your children how to handle money
so they'll be faithful in a little thing. One,
teach your children the three purposes for money,
okay? And again, since I'm going fast, there's
longer material, small group, but for today,
here's just thumbnail sketch. When my children
were small, there's only three purposes for money.
Actually, only five things you can ever do with
money. But three purposes is you can give money,
you can save money, you can spend money. Actually,
you can invest money and you can pay taxes with
money. But I think for a three to five -year
-old, let's just go with the first three. And
so we took, you know, those mason jars? All my
kids on their dresser, by the time they were
even about two years old, they'd have a jar and
printed real clearly, giving. jar number one
next jar saving jar number two spending jar number
three and you know they would you know make their
little bed and help out with this and do that
and you know okay you're a part of the family
we're this is the house is god's everything is
god's we're a team together thank you and so
here's 10 dimes and they put a dime in the giving
well why do we do that one daddy because everything
belongs to him but we we as humans we forget
that We start thinking it's ours. So we give
the very first and the best of your 10 dimes
to him just to remind us. And then we're going
to use that to help people. Okay. This dime goes
into savings. Well, why do we do that? Well,
because you don't know what the future holds.
And so God says, always save because life is
what goes up and down. And you always need to
have a backstop. And we get eight of these. Yeah.
Well, what's that for? Well, just God loves you
so much. You spend that and he loves you. Enjoy
it. Oh, okay. Well, then they get a little older,
and it's $1, $1, and $8. Then they get a little
older, it's $10, and $10, and $80. Now, can you
imagine what would happen to your kids in terms
of a mind, a worldview of stewardship, if from
the time they were small up through about 25
years old they did that? If you don't suffer
well, your kids won't. If you don't work unto
the Lord, they won't. If you don't manage your
life wisely, they won't. Can you imagine? I mean,
I don't know your situation, but I know the statistics.
If just let's say at age 15 to where you're at
right now, if you didn't do anything with your
financial planner except those three things and
10 % of anything you earned you gave to God to
align your priorities and 10 % you saved with
all the bubbles and ups and downs and layoffs
and you lived on 80 % and didn't go into debt
for anything other than say maybe the mortgage
on a home, do you realize where you'd be right
now? Do you realize where you'd be financially?
You'd be like super well off. It would just take
a lot of time. But see, the world says you got
to have it now. And the way to get it now is
you put it on this credit. You do this, you do
that. And see, when you do it like that, you
don't have much. I mean, I was pastors of little
churches. We didn't have hardly any money. But
by the time my kids were 13, 14 years old, I
never had to put a car on time. I'd saved. And
even I didn't have a lot. You save for six, eight,
nine years. Then I paid for the car. Then as
soon as I paid for that car, I started saving.
In eight, nine years, I paid for the next car.
You know what happens when you don't have any
debt and no bills other than your house? You
actually end up pretty well off financially.
It's just slow. That's what you want for your
kids. To manage their finances wisely. The message
is your life is a sacred stewardship. Not just
your stuff. Your life is a sacred stewardship.
By the way, it got very quiet after that last
point. Are you all doing okay here? You know,
it was just, if I wish you could have seen you
guys, I'm like, oh, no, shut up, please, please,
you know. You told me way too late. It's never
too late. In fact, the last one we're going to
talk about is a grace -filled lives. You know
how God treats people that make really stupid
decisions, even selfish decisions, even sinful
mistakes, and totally mess up their life? The
moment they say, oh, man, why did I do that?
Will you please help me? You know what God does?
Come. I long to help you. We can turn things
around. Yeah, there's some stuff to work out
of and some consequences, maybe a little restitution,
but wow, God is loving. He's good. You want your
kids to learn that. Fourth thing you want them
to learn is teach them to make wise choices.
Write this one in. Teach them to make wise choices.
Now, the way you do that is by helping them learn
to discern the difference between good and evil.
I mean, we're living in a day where good is called
evil, and evil is called good. You want your
kids to make wise decisions. Now, you understand,
you make a decision, and my good marine dad would
say, son, let me tell you something. You make
a decision, and then they make you. And they
do. You make a decision, I'm going to go out
with this guy and get involved in this relationship,
and it makes me. I make a decision about my money.
I make a decision about where I'm going to go
to school. I make a decision about how I'm going
to respond to someone who hurt me. I make a decision
about whether I'll forgive someone or not. You
make a decision, and the decisions make you.
You know, when kids understand life is difficult,
but I'm going to walk with God and suffer well.
When I learned that, you know, working isn't
bad. I'm actually going to discover what I'm
made to do and work. And when I begin to manage
and realize God owns everything and the only
pressure is just to be a good steward, and then
you start making wise decisions, do you understand
how this blesses them? This is like marriages
that work and relationships that work and decisions
that are good. But the key behind wise decisions
is a theology of holiness. Theology of holiness.
God is holy. He's totally, I just mean he's separate.
He's totally other. He's different. He's not
like a large, ideal, perfect picture of the best
human you've ever known. In heaven at this moment,
the angels are crying, holy, holy, holy is the
Lord God almighty. Heaven and earth are full
of your glory. And they're doing that, covering
their eyes. He's unapproachable light. He's absolutely
unmitigated, pure love and pure holiness and
just and kind. and sovereign, and all -knowing,
and all -powerful. And just words come out of
his mouth, and galaxies come into being. He is
awesome. You want your kids to know he's holy.
As Tozer says, the great and amazing conflict
with God is that we're to fear him because of
his greatness and his holiness, and yet not to
be afraid because he's the most loving being,
and he invites us to be his friend. The theology
of holiness is not only is he holy, but God is
absolute truth. Jesus said, I'm the way, the
truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father
except by me. God's word defines absolute truth.
He says it's not relative. It's not this is right
today and wrong tomorrow. It's not what the culture
says. Jesus prayed on the very last night, Father,
sanctify them or set them apart by your truth.
Your word is true. So your kids need to learn
that. God's laws or morals are for our protection.
In other words, when God says don't have sex
before marriage, when God says don't go into
major debt, when God says here's how you make
a decision, when he has rules and laws, it's
not like this angry God trying to get fun. It's
like these are guardrails. The Old Testament
calls it the highway of holiness. And he says,
you know what? I long for you. I love you. I
created you. My son died for you. I want you
to get the very best. So here's the guardrails.
Don't do that because that takes you over a cliff.
Don't do that. That destroys relationships. Don't
do that. That'll destroy your body. Don't do
that. That'll destroy your soul. That's why David
would say, his law is my delight. If your law
had not been my delight, I would have perished
in my affliction. David loved the law of the
Lord. Why? Because he knew these are boundaries
for a good God that as I stay in between them,
I get the highest and the best. And that's what
God wants for you and for your kids. God's ultimate
aim is to make us holy. But don't think holy
as in, you know, some of those pictures in our
mind like holy is big black robes. There's a
candle over here. People wear hoods and sing
funny songs. Holy, holy. Or it's holy is a very
big black Bible. A praise the Lord sticker and
a self -righteous attitude. It's not holy. That's
stupid. Holy is pure, blameless, winsome, kind,
patient, sexually pure. Pure in your thoughts.
Motives that aren't manipulative. Holy, write
this in there, is Christlikeness. He is working
every circumstance, every relationship, every
issue, every school, every heartbreak for the
good of them that love him in order to conform
your son, your daughter, me, and you to the image
of Christ. That's God's agenda. The Old Testament
roots we find Moses. And there's a bush that's
burning, but it's not consumed. And out of curiosity,
he gets close. And remember what God says out
of the bush? Moses, you're on holy ground. Take
off your shoes. And he bows down. And he gives
his personal known. I am that I am. He reveals
himself. You want your kids to understand the
fear of the Lord without being afraid. New Testament
-wise, 1 Peter would say to a group that had
been through all kinds, I mean, the world that
they lived in was so immoral. I mean, it was
just so crass, so corrupt in the Roman Empire,
and they were being persecuted. And he would
write in 1 Peter, as obedient children, do not
be conformed any longer to the former lusts that
were yours in your ignorance, but like the Holy
One who called you, be holy in all your behavior.
Why? Be holy for I am holy. Now, here's the application
I want you to get. This is so encouraging for
me, is that you want your child to learn to think
biblically and critically to develop personal
convictions and character. You want them to make
great decisions, but you want them to watch TV
and watch a movie and watch a situation and friends
that are going through a difficult time. You
want them to learn to think biblically, to discern
evil from good, what's right, what's best. And
what you really want, you want them to build
convictions. As a parent, the issue is not, well,
I got them to go to youth group every week and
I made them do this and I made them do that.
What you want is you want from the inside out.
You want them to catch a heart for God because
they see it in you. And then you want them to
see it's not like, oh gosh, what a prudish God.
No sex before marriage and all my friends are
having it. Well, yeah, honey, but here's what
you need to understand. This is what happens
to them. And all my friends are living together.
Why can't I? Well, this is what happens to them.
God loves you so much. This is what he wants
for you. And by the way, we now have the research
empirically from secular sources that basically
says God's way. God's way in all those areas
is what works. Let me give you a couple ways
to maybe develop this. One is start when they're
little. Give them a really high view of God.
Get on your knees when you pray with your little
kids. Read to them. Read Bible stories early.
Read the Chronicles of Narnia. Just introduce
great, rich literature. All the bombardment that
they get. We have kids living in a video culture.
More and more kids are ADD now because the brain
actually gets changed when all they get is video
images. The third thing you need to do is monitor
what goes into their mind. Monitor how much time
on the screens. Monitor the movies. Monitor their
friends. What goes into their mind and the people
they hang out with will be the biggest factors
of how they're going to live and the decisions
they're going to make. And so they need to see
your example, God's word, great things in their
mind. And by the way, when I say monitor, this
isn't like, oh, I'll never expose them to anything.
There's times where you need to sit down and
watch things together. What's wrong with this?
Don't be afraid of the world. Empower your son
or daughter to make a difference in the world
and help them to see through it. Help them to
see they're just trying to sucker you into this.
That's not true. Does that work? But do you know
what all this takes? It takes intentionality.
It takes focus. Yeah, and it's easy to say, oh,
I'm gonna put my kid in this and I'll put him
in school here and someone else will learn here
and we're really busy and we can't eat together
and we don't have time to really pray together
and I really like to and I want to but I hope
everything will be okay and then they get involved
in a relationship and oh, I hope it's just a
phase. You know what all that's called? Denial,
denial, denial, denial, denial. The hardest job
you'll ever get, the most important job you'll
ever have is being a mom or a dad. So you think
it's gonna be easy? And by the way, if you do
quote everything right, here's the deal. There's
still no guarantees. They have these little things
inside their souls called choosers, right? Right?
So they get to be 15, 14, 13, 16, 18, 20, 21,
22, 29. And you can say, we created this, we
modeled this, we did this, we did this, we did
this. You know what they say? Great. But guess
what? You're not held responsible for the outcomes.
You're held responsible for... Did I model for
my kids what I wanted them to become? And did
I do what I know to create this kind of environment?
And then if you're starting to feel, oh my, I
didn't do it perfectly. No one has ever. See,
part of what you model is what do you do when
you mess up? So they understand they can be forgiven
like you. God, love covers a multitude of sins.
And so finally, the... The life message is obedience
is the only way to get God's best. Obedience
is the only way to get God's best. You want them
to make decisions, and as they get older, here's
the question as they get older and older, what
do you think God wants you to do? What do you
think God wants you to do? Don't make it all
a power play. Force them to process where they
start making decisions on their own while they're
with you. Final one, and I think it's the most,
Encouraging. Because I don't know about you,
those first four are hard to pull off. Stone
number five is teach them to live grace -filled
lives. A theology of grace. Grace is one of those
words that is kind of slippery, you know? Grace.
It's a nice girl's name. Hi, Grace. But, you
know, what's it really mean? Let me give you
a quick theology of grace. Grace is the unmerited,
unconditional love of God toward us. Unmerited.
You can't earn it. Unconditional. God doesn't
love you or your child if they do this or because
they did that. Grace is the opposite of performance
mentality. It's the opposite of earning. Second,
grace is freely to us but costly to God. The
scripture clearly says, do you not know that
your body is the temple of God and the spirit
of God dwells within you, that you've been bought
with the price? Christ's blood is the cost. for
your salvation and your children's. You're listening
to Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram. We'll
get back to today's message in just a minute.
But quickly, throughout this series, Chip's emphasized
the fact that great marriages require a lot of
work. And that's where we come in. Keep listening
after this message to learn more about a helpful
new resource we've created that couples can use
to grow and strengthen their relationship. Stick
around to get all of the details. For now, here
again is Chip to continue our series, Uninvited
Guests. The cross is God's greatest act of grace.
When you look at the cross, God says that God
demonstrated or proved his love toward us and
that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for
us or in our place. Salvation is a free gift
from God. Scripture says it's not by works of
righteousness what we have done, but according
to his mercy he saved us by the washing of regeneration
and renewing of the Holy Spirit. It's free. It's
grace. But it needs to be received by faith.
If you've ever watched an NFL game, what's in
the back of the end zone? John 3, 16. For God
so loved the world, he gave grace. That whoever
believes in him would not perish, but have everlasting
life. God the Son lived a perfect life. He died
upon a cross to pay for the sins of all people
of all time. It's like everyone's ticket is paid
for a relationship with a holy God through what
Christ has done. And God says, I invite you to
be my son or my daughter, but I won't force you.
If you want to stiff arm me, if you want to be
the captain of your own ship, if you want to
say, you know, I don't want the creator or God
or anybody else telling me what to do, God says
to you, in the words of C .S. Lewis, well, thy
will be done. God doesn't force. How can there
be love if he just dictated, you must love me?
But what he says is, I've provided a way that
whosoever would come and humble yourself, turn
from your sin, and with the empty hands of faith
say, will you forgive me for all that I've done?
And would you come into my life, make me your
son, make me your daughter? I want to follow
you 100 % of the time. He promises to answer
that prayer and forgive you. Not if. Not because,
but because of what Christ has done. Every ism,
every religion can be two letters. Do, do, do.
You name the religion, you need to do, do, do.
Different religion, do, do, do. Ism, do, do,
do. Do, do, do. Pray, do, do, do, do, do, do,
do, do, do, do. Christianity isn't even a religion.
It's four letters, done, D -O -N -E. God has
done for you what I can't, you can't do for yourself.
Your sins are forgiven. And the moment you turn
to Christ, you receive him. His spirit comes
to live inside of you, and it's a relationship.
And his spirit will then take his word in the
context of this community, and he will create
the very love and life of Christ in his presence
within you. That's what it means to be a follower
or a Christ one. And it's grace. Grace produces
gratitude towards God and love toward others.
It's just not some ooey -gooey feeling. When
you have that inside of you, I will tell you
what, you'll start acting the way Jesus acted
toward people. You'll be thankful. You'll love
them. The Old Testament roots are Genesis chapter
3. When the first sin occurred, a free gift,
blood was shed prefiguring Jesus, skins covered
our first parents. The word is they atoned for.
In the New Testament, it's Ephesians 2, 8, and
9. For by grace, you are saved through faith.
That is not of yourself. It's not a result of
your works or performance. It's the gift of God,
lest any man should boast. It's powerful. It's
amazing. Help your children realize that failure
is never final with God. Can I say that again?
Help your child realize failure is never final
with God. The world is telling them when they
fail, they're done. It is final. You're a loser.
There's no hope. You didn't even make the traveling
team. You messed up with the recital. You can't
dance with a flip. You can't get in college.
Your SAT scores didn't measure up. You got yourself
pregnant. I don't want to have anything to do
with you. Son of mine, what are you doing getting
logging on that internet stuff? Okay, you wanted
to marry that non -Christian? You go ahead and
marry him, and now your life's messed up? Two
and a half years, he leaves you? Well, good luck.
That's what the world tells him. You screwed
up, you live with it. God says, you mess up,
and you find yourself in a 10 -foot hole. There's
an 11. foot rope coming down if you repent and
say i need help will you forgive me and there's
a little loop at the bottom of the rope and you
put your little foot in the loop and then you
hang on and he'll pull you up if you have a hundred
foot hole because you think oh man ten foot that
you know i got two abortions two marriages haven't
quite killed someone but i tried man i got a
hundred foot there's no hope for me oh no no
no you understand here's grace a hundred and
one foot rope goes down it has a loop on it you
stick your foot in and he brings you up Is there
consequences? Of course. Is there stuff to deal
with? Yes. Maybe restitution. But he'll heal
you. He'll change you. And you say, 100 feet?
That's not even close. You have no idea. I can't
even believe why I'm even here. I've blasphemed
God. I've said things about Christians. I'm so
far away from God. There is absolutely no way.
I'm in a 1 ,000 -foot hole. A rope is going to
be lowered that will be 1 ,000 and? Your kids
need to know that. And you know how they learn
it? They learn it by getting grace from you.
They learn that not just with your words saying
the right things. You know, say, oh, it's okay,
son. And the body language is, my lands. You
couldn't hit a ball if the sticking on a stool.
Oh, yeah, that's okay, honey. I mean, for a loser
non -academic like you. We send a lot of messages
that are nonverbal that say to our kids, you
don't measure up. And then they perform pretty
well and it's, oh, oh my lands. And then we tell
all of our friends and here's their scores and
here's this and here's that and here's that.
You know what the kid says? Oh, I'm loved when
I do good, but I'm not loved when I don't measure
up. That's called non -grace. You want your kids
to understand their behavior is one thing, their
value is something else and nothing changes the
value. Nothing changes the value. You love them
no matter what. And not just with your words,
but with your action. How to do that? Be a safe
place for your kids where they can come for help.
Let them know that verbalize it early on and
then model it the best you can. And when you
don't, own it, make it right. My son was a senior
in high school. I mean, sometimes, you know,
you hear me saying these things, and, you know,
by God's amazing grace, I have four grown kids
that, despite ups and downs and rebellion here
and problems there, they all walk with God. And,
you know, you talk about wealth, greatest wealth
I have on the earth, not even close. But you
hear someone talking sort of this, like, oh,
yeah, you're a pastor. It probably is pretty
easy. You never really messed up. Senior in high
school, third son. Something pops up on the internet.
He has a year -long private secret addiction
to pornography. I find out about it. Pastor in
a church. My son's hooked on pornography. He's
leading worship on Sunday morning in the high
school group. He's led four of his volleyball
players to Christ. He has a Bible study in my
house every Wednesday night. He's hooked on pornography.
And he denied it for about 12 seconds, and then
he fell into tears in repentance. God, Dad, I'm
so sorry. I'm so glad you finally found out.
I've been a prisoner. And we were preparing.
He's a pastor now, and he was helping a group
of young people deal with this issue. And I heard
him say something that, you know, as a dad, most
of us, we're probably a little hard on ourselves.
I'm pretty hard on me. But now and then you hear
a little window of, you know, I think I did something
right. You know, yay. And I heard him share with
a group. He said, you know what? The reason I
was able to break the pattern when I got confronted
was since the time I was a little boy, I remember
my dad saying, no matter what you do, it can't
change my love for you. And he said, I messed
up as a little boy lots of times, and there were
consequences, but I knew my dad loved me. And
when that big thing happened, I knew it was safe.
And we went through it together. Do your kids
know that? Are you a safe place to come to? When
they really fail. When there is an addiction.
When they went through rehab and they've relapsed.
When they've run off and done something that
just breaks your heart. Now, does it mean there's
not boundaries and consequences? No. But it means
that they know you love them. And nothing can
change that. One of the ways they learn that
is they need to see you repent. Right? I mean,
how do people learn to get forgiveness from God?
They need to see you get forgiveness from God.
And I remember when actually the same son was
very, very small. We were visiting my parents.
And my dad, great, great guy. But I mean, you
know, a Marine Marine, you know. And so my son
did something. And it was really trite. And I
blew up and yelled. What are you doing? You know,
like that. And, you know, I started to walk away.
And have you ever had a parent just realize,
you know, the person who needs help is me, not
my kid. And the spirit convicted me. I thought,
oh, that was, man, that's about the worst dad.
And so I went over and, you know, he's like four
years old or something. I said, come here, Ryan.
I said, I just want, I'm sorry, son. And I, that
was, that was wrong. Okay, I just, I don't have
any excuse. Will you forgive me? My little son
puts his, it's your dad. He runs off, right?
My dad, the Marine. What in the heck are you
doing? I said, well, what do you mean? You're
the parent. You don't ask your kids for forgiveness.
Where'd you learn that stuff? And I said, well,
Dad, I want my kids to understand that when they
mess up, When your heart is broken over it and
you come to your heavenly father, you get forgiven.
And I figured they'll never know how to do that
unless they see me do it. And I appreciate him.
He kind of looks at me and goes, is it pretty
young Christian then? Hmm. All right. Can I ask
you something? Can you impart grace? because
you've received it? I mean, is there something
in your life that you just, it's like, wow, man,
it's, hope nobody finds out, but you just need
to come to God this morning and say, you know,
I can't be a gracious parent because so much
of my value is how my kids do this or that. I
just need forgiveness so that I could give it.
And I just wouldn't be at all surprised if there's
not at least a handful or more of people who
The fact is you kind of came for whatever reason
and you realize I've never received grace for
the first time. I'm not a follower of Jesus.
This is kind of new to me. But if there's a place
to be forgiven and have new life and eternal
life, I really want it, but I'm not sure how.
Then I would tell you that the offer is if you
will believe, if you will turn from your sin
and raise the empty hands of faith, the God who
made all that there is will forgive you and cleanse
you. His spirit will come inside your life. and
he'll give you a new beginning. And by the way,
it won't all be roses. You probably won't get
a Mercedes or a Cadillac in the mail tomorrow.
Everything's not going to... But you'll never
be alone. You will be certainly on your way to
heaven, and the very power of the living God
will live inside of you in the person of Jesus,
and he will make you like him. And I cannot think
of anything your kids need more than a mom or
dad that's a lot like Jesus. I want to pause
before we do anything else on our time together,
and that is to ask you a very personal question,
and that is, do you know for sure that you have
a relationship with Jesus Christ? I just clearly
explained what it means to receive Him as your
Savior, to turn from your sin, and accept that
His work on the cross has paid for your sin,
invite Him into your life, and begin to follow
Him. Scripture is very clear. It's by grace that
we're saved through faith. It's not of ourselves.
It's not a result of our works, but it is a gift
of God. And I want you to know that the greatest
gift you'll ever give to yourself and even more
to your children is a mom or dad that not only
receives Christ as Savior, but follows Him with
all your heart. You know, life is really hard.
It's hard for you. It's hard for me. It's hard
for all of us. But when there is the supernatural
power of the living God inside of you, he can
give you patience. He can give you endurance.
He can help you weather through a difficult time
in your marriage. He can help you be the mom
or dad that you long to become. And so let me
invite you right now just to pray a very simple
prayer. Lord Jesus, I admit that I need you.
I admit that I have sinned and I fall short of
being perfect. And today, I ask you to forgive
me for all my sins. I ask you to come into my
life and save me and live inside of me and be
my Savior and be my Lord. Thank you very much
that you promised if I would ask, you would respond.
Thank you for forgiving me. Thank you for coming
into my life. Now help me to walk with you. In
Jesus' name. Amen. And let me just tell you right
now that the greatest thing you can do is call
or text or tell the greatest Christian you know.
I'm not sure about all of this, but I just prayed
and asked Christ to come into my life, and I
know he need help. And the second thing is to
find an easy -to -read Bible that you can start
on the book of John and just say, God, I want
to get to know you. And then this weekend, find
a Bible -teaching church and just walk through
the doors, and it'll be a little scary for some
of you, but God's got a brand -new home for you
somewhere. Find a great church and get plugged
in. Thanks, Chip. Well, if you prayed to receive
Christ, we have a free resource we'd like to
put in your hands that was specifically created
for new believers. This tool will help you understand
what it means to trust in Jesus and what to do
next. Request this free resource by calling 888
-333 -6003 or by visiting livingontheedge .org
and clicking the New Believers button. That's
livingontheedge .org or call 888 -333 -6003.
Let us help you get started in your faith journey.
Well, Chip's still with me in studio. And Chip,
back in your basketball playing days, you dedicated
a lot of blood, sweat, and tears to earn a college
scholarship. You couldn't just say you wanted
to be better. You had to work at it. And that
same principle applies to our marriages and how
we parent too, right? Dave, you're spot on with
that analogy. And even in my own marriage, there's
been times where we weren't working very hard
on our relationship. Work is busy, and then pretty
soon the kids have all these activities. And
you talk about better communication and resolving
conflict and putting each other first, and all
that begins to fade away. What I realized was
I needed a tool. I mean, when I wanted to be
a better basketball player, I had dribbling drills.
I had passing drills. I had very specific things
that I did each and every day for hours with
that clear -cut goal in mind. And what we've
developed at Living on the Edge is a practical
tool. It's called the Marriage That Works Truth
Cards to help regular couples begin to work at
their marriage as they take those cards and review
a few each and every day. And as you do that,
what I can tell you, because I've done this with
literally hundreds and hundreds of couples, your
mind changes about your marriage. Your desires
change. A great marriage is possible for all
of us as we follow God's design. And that's the
goal of these cards. We want to help couples
really go to work in a good way to have a deep
and great marriage that will disciple them and
their children. So, Dave, take a minute now,
if you will, and share with people how they can
get these cards. Sure, Chip. It's actually really
simple. Throughout this entire series, for anyone
who chooses to become a monthly partner with
Living on the Edge, we'll send you these new
Marriage That Works truth cards as our way of
saying thanks. So please pray about supporting
us. Your gifts have an eternal impact as we fight
for marriages and families everywhere. To learn
how to become a monthly partner, visit livingontheedge
.org or call us at 888 -333 -6003. That's 888
-333 -6003 or go to livingontheedge .org. App
listeners, tap donate. Thanks for listening to
this edition of Living on the Edge with Chip
Ingram. I'm Dave Drewy, and I hope you'll join
us again next time.