What's our goal as parents? If we're honest, there are days when we just want do whatever it takes to make the kids happy and get some peace & quiet. It's important to pick our battles, but it's also important that we pick them for the right reasons. We need clear-cut objectives to guide our decisions in the times when decisions seem difficult to make, and the decisions never seem to get any easier. And although setting a goal of "raising happy kids" is good, there's a far better target we can aim for.
Ephesians 6:4 says: "Fathers, do not exasperate your children..." It's easy to become so focused on the external details of how our kids perform that we spend the bulk of our time pointing out where they need to improve. That's exasperating for you and for them. The Bible goes on to say "... instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord." So the goal isn't simply for our kids to be more moral - the target is for them to be more like Jesus: kind, others-centered, disciplined, pure. We want to set them up for success as God defines it.
Once we're aimed at the right target, then the tough choices will get easier. And if our kids learn godly character, then we won't need to try to impose godly restraints around them.
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Growing churches are led by leaders who “make the ask”
11 months ago
Being a parent is not easy!
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That is a really good point. I think as kids get older they need to have been taught correct principles so that they learn to govern themselves. The Law of Moses had the children of Israel under those godly restraints while the Gospel of Jesus Christ allows for us to govern our selves more freely by following Christ. It is like the people of God were children who have grown up on the whole.
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