It is every parent’s dream. It goes like this . . .

Your child is a guest at someone’s home. Maybe a friend or a relative. When the meal is over, your child is the one who, without being told, spontaneously rises from the table, gathers their plate and even grabs another place setting, and takes them into the kitchen and put them either in the sink or in the dishwasher.

What parent doesn’t live with the eternal hope that our ten thousand nudges to our kids “pick that up” and “put that in the trash” and “did you forget where the laundry basket lives?” will finally “stick”?

These reminders are not about household cleanliness. They are teaching a new generation of disciples about being thoughtful, compassionate, helpful, and loving followers of Jesus.

Discipleship is, by definition, s…