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Popular parenting magazines and books are not
safe guides for rearing godly children. Look around you. Most
people in the world and some in the church were reared using those
unproven theories. Do you want your children to mature to be like
these adults? If you like what you see, imitate their parenting
style. If not, seek a better source to guide you.
What is that guide? God's Word, of course! Again,
God is not politically correct and nowhere is this truer than
as our guide in parenting. God made us and He knows what works
best. I have seen young Christian mothers steeped in the politically
correct dogma of the day for child rearing, become very discouraged
and frustrated. When things got completely out of control, they
finally turned to God and His teachings. As soon as His way was
employed, there was improvement.
Win Their Hearts For God While They Are Young Guide them towards a close, loving relationship
with the Father. Teach them to pray. Teach them to love, study,
and respect God's Word. Teach them to meditate (That is difficult
to do if there is always a radio or TV going. Also, it is hard
to accomplish if one is always on the go.)
Teach them trust in the Providence of God and
to know that God cares for them personally. God has a plan for
their life that He wants them to fulfill, just as Christ fulfilled
the Will of the Father. Teach them to pray for wisdom and for
the right attitude (This one prayer made our jobs as parents so
much easier. It made shifting them to the personal responsibility
of their own souls a lot less scary.)
Let them know that you are doing all that you
can do while they are young to get their souls to Heaven. Tell
them that the day will come when they will have the responsibility
of helping you to get to Heaven and you hope they will love your
soul as much as you love theirs.
The Bible teaches of sowing and reaping. The Bible
teaches to build our house on a rock and not on sand. Often these
words are just a song we sing to our children and we give little
thought of how our actions today will effect tomorrow. The relationship
we give, or fail to give, our children with the Father will come
back in abundance to haunt, or to abundantly reward us.
I have observed the results of the Devil successfully
using adult children to influence their parents away from a right
relationship with God, even when all his other efforts throughout
their childhood life had failed. By the same token, I know of
adult children who have carefully stuck with the narrower and
safer path and in the process, encouraged their parents to be
more righteous.
Your job as a parent will be so much easier when
your children are teenagers, if you help them to develop a close,
loving relationship with the Father from the beginning of their
lives. If you don't, you can lock them in a closet 'till they
are grown and they will still find a way to rebel.
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