PARENTING HELP
If you are a parent, do you have any goals? You should.
“An archer who aims at nothing is sure to hit it.”
If you’re don’t have a plan on how to raise children you’re setting yourself up for a world of hurt. Your future happiness depends on what you do today.
Proverbs 23:24-25 says: “The father of the righteous will greatly rejoice; he who fathers a wise son will be glad in him.Let your father and mother be glad; let her who bore you rejoice.
So you want to rejoice in the future? Raise a righteous person. But how do you do that? A lady told me once that she doesn’t want to push religion on her children because she wants them to make their own choice.
Would you let your children play in the medicine cabinet and make their own decisions? Obviously, no. Likewise, religions are like poison. Children need to be taught about the one true God found in the Bible.
Proverbs 22:6 says, “Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.”
So here are 5 basic Biblical goals in parenting:
- Train them to receive Jesus Christ. Your primary goal should be to lead your children to Christ. Just as a farmer prepares the soil for the seed, so you must prepare the heart of your child to receive the seed of the gospel. A child’s heart needs unconditional love and discipline. They need to learn that we are all sinners and to fear the consequences to sin. “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” (Proverbs 9:10) They also need to understand that God loves them so much that Christ died for them. Read Bible stories to your kids. Don’t preach but teach them about Jesus Christ and that they were created in God’s image.
- Show them how to live a godly life by living it in front of your children. Just as dogs can’t reproduce cats, you can’t reproduce what you aren’t. Children learn from example. The only way to live a godly life is by the Holy Spirit living it through you. 2 Corinthians 5:17 says, “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” If you’re not living a godly life, your children won’t either. Be consistent. Don’t act godly at church and live like the devil at home.
- Pray for them. You may change your baby’s diaper, but only God can change their hearts. Pray for your baby’s salvation. Pray for God to help you to lead them to Christ. Pray for your baby’s physical and spiritual health. And pray for yourself. Pray for patience. Raising godly children is not a sprint. It’s a marathon.
- Time — Spend lots of time with your children. Spiritual life is more caught than taught. So spend time with your children by playing, praying, working, worshipping, eating, lounging, talking and even moments in silence. Deuteronomy 6:7 tells us to impress upon your children your love for God. Teach them to see God in the mundane things of life and in the hard times of life. Children are always watching and listening. If you curse, they will too. If you pray and read the Bible, they probably will too.
- Forgiveness. Children need to be forgiven when they repent. AND when you as a parent loose your temper or sin in anyway, they will benefit from hearing you ask for their forgiveness. I was not a perfect parent and neither are you. Forgiveness is the glue that can bond your relationship with your child.
- Love your spouse passionately. Children learn about marriage from watching their parents. “Husbands love your wife as Christ loves the church and gave Himself for it.” (Ephesians 5:25) “And let the wife respect her husband.” (Ephesians 5:33)
Someone once said that children don’t know that when they were young and learning, so were their parents. That’s true.
Five things: Train them, show them, time with them, forgive them and love your children. There are no guarantees. You can do everything right and the devil can lure your child away. (Remember Adam and Eve).
But when you follow Jesus with the goal of leading your children to follow Him too, you are planting seeds that have a great chance of reaping a fruitful harvest.
