RAISING GODLY CHILDREN
Memorise: And, ye fathers,
provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nature and
admonition of the Lord. Ephesians 6:4
2 Honour
thy father and mother; which is the first commandment with promise;
3 That it
may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth.
4 And, ye
fathers provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture
and admonition of the Lord.
Bible in one year:
Deuteronomy 2:26-4:14, Galatians 6
MESSGE!
When God gives you children, He expects you to raise them in a godly
manner. For this season, He sent you this express command in Proverbs 22:6:
“Train up a child in the way he
should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.”
This passage of Scripture tells us to “train up a child”. In other
words, even when God gives you several children, each of them requires personal
attention. Every child is different from the other. Never lump children
together without making out time to teach, instruct, correct, rebuke,
discipline and lead them by example individually. Every child that God gives to
you is hungry to take something out of you. Let them take the life of Jesus out
of you. Personal attention is very crucial to the development of your children
and wards.
Also, carry along with you when you are going for church programmes.
There are parents who leave their children at home when they are going to
church. When you ask why they do that, they say their children are already
youths and should be left to decide things for themselves. That scenario
suggests that the parents are carefree. If you fail to bring up your children
in the way and admonition of the Lord, you will be courting trouble. Joshua’s
resolve in Joshua 24:15 is very important to us here. He said both himself and
his household would be devoted to the service if the Lord. In other words, he
must have made serving God an attractive thing to his family. There are some
pastors’ children whose primary desire is to become pastors; other careers or
professions are secondary options to them. Their desire shows that their
parents have done a good job on them. But if you are a pastor and your child
says the last profession he will ever consider is to be a pastor, check it out,
something must have gone wrong in the training of that child. Do you always
paint the ministry in bad light to your children? How do you present the
Christian faith to your children or wards – as interesting or as a burden? Do
you just dole out dos and don’ts to your children, or do you take out time to
patiently explain why things should be done the way you want them done, and why
certain things should not be done? It is your responsibility to raise your
children to fear and love God.
Key Point
While some families are
raising leaders and builders of nations, others are raising miscreants and
misfits. Everyone will give account of God over how they raised their children.
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