"I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings..." - Philippians 3:10

According to Dallas Willard, sacrificing is stretching your sense of what you can do without for the sake of those who have less. How can we instill this value - this spiritual discipline - into children who are so inundated by popular culture mandates to dress a certain way?

First, we have to change our way of thinking and buying. Here are a few suggestions:

• A name brand isn't an indicator of our provision.

Adults get wrapped up in name brands, too. We know that society dictates that a sneaker from Wal-Mart isn't as acceptable as one from Footlocker. We want our children to be dressed in the best money can buy because it reflects on us. We are mandated to provide for our children, yes, but that provision doesn't have qualifiers like name brands. As long as our kids dress in clean, appropriate clothes, we've done our job.

• Only buy name brands on sale.

All the major teen stores will always have sales. It's their way of still making a buck when clothes go out of season. Adults can get in the habit of buying their children winter clothes at the beginning of summer and vice versa for summer clothes. Just buy up a size to accommodate for height and weight as needed. Although it delays your child's instant gratification of wearing that year's fashion until next year, the name brand will likely still be just as cool in a few months.

• Use your child's "jonesing" to teach appreciation.

Allowing your child to want something without receiving it doesn't make us a bad parent. Make them earn the money to buy that expensive new belt or hoodie. Although they probably won't appreciate you making them wait, they will appreciate the article of clothing so much more because they had to work for the privilege of buying it. In doing so, your child might just learn to compromise their more expensive tastes for a hoodie that doesn't cost as much but is just as cute as it is functional.

Now you should try to help change your child's thinking. Teaching them how to help those who have less might smart their fashionable natures, but it's not logistically difficult. The easiest way would be to donate clothing to a charity or thrift store, but not by just purging closets of clothes that don't fit, aren't stylish, or are ripped or otherwise less then perfect. A child won't really feel the sacrificial nature of this type giving, but passing on a favorite pair of jeans or an oft-worn sweater just might get the idea across.

Another way would be to use the difference you save when buying things on sale to get one more t-shirt or pair of shoes to give away. Your child will feel that sacrifice just as greatly - if not more so - than they would giving away something they've worn for a while. Thrift stores are used to getting used things, but what a treat it would be for someone less fortunate to find a stylish shirt with the tag still attached!

These are just two small ways to practice the spiritual discipline of sacrifice. Nothing we do will ever meet the vast sacrifice our Lord and Savior gave when he offered his life to atone for sins he never committed. But every sacrifice we make can serve to remind us of Christ's sacrifice.

Jeannie Campbell is a Christ-follower, wife, mother and Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, in that order. She got her masters of divinity in psychology and counseling from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and her bachelors in psychology and journalism from The University of Mississippi. She's a member of the American Association of Christian Counselors and American Christian Fiction Writers. In her spare time, she writes feature articles for magazines and local newspapers and blog posts for The Character Therapist. Email Jeannie.