The Awesome Responsibility of Parenting [part two]

Another way parents can effectively teach their children is by their example. It amazes me how much children try to imitate their parents. Let me give you some examples of this that most of us have seen in our own children. When children are very young, they will usually say they want to have the same job as his/her father or mother. Children try to mimic the way their parents walk, and they will try to talk the way they talk. They literally try to use the same shoes as their parents. I think all parents have turned to catch a glimpse of their children’s feet lost inside of their shoes. And while all of these things, and more, are cute to say the least, they are also vivid pictures of how trusting children are of their parents. Their young minds can’t fathom mom or dad saying or doing any thing that would be harmful for them to mimic. So, with those innocent - trusting eyes, they try to do everything mom and dad does.

Far too often parents don’t walk in the ways of the Lord. Although this could result in a lot of things, one thing for sure that will result will be that their children will not raised in a home that honors God and his word. They won’t see the example of mom and dad praying and reading their Bible. Other children won’t spend their Sundays sitting beside their parents in Bible class and worship services hearing about the love of God and the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. These children won’t see their father taking part in the worship services, and come Sunday, they’ll be sleeping in.

It’s my opinion that children who are not raised in a home which honors God, are deprived of the most important ingredient of their childhood training. That doesn’t mean that these parents are not good people, good parents, and that they’re not morally good people. I’ve personally met men and women who don’t even pretend to believe in God who are more honest and more moral than some whom I know who do profess faith in Jesus as the Savior. So, I don’t mean that as an insult. It’s just a fact! Take a look around you. If your children have any hope at all in this world that’s so unashamedly filled with so much evil and so much immorality, they need the Lord in their lives. But, they desperately need YOU as their parents to show them the way! Your children deserve to see their parents honoring God! Your children deserve to see their parents worshiping God! Your children need to see their parents placing their trust, confidence, life, and soul in the care of Almighty God!

God says, "Fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord" (Ephesians 6:4). "Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it" (Proverbs 22:6).

Parents, there are no guarantees your children will turn out okay even if you do the best you can to teach them to love the Lord. They still have a mind of their own. But, you owe it to your children, and you owe it to yourselves, to at least have the opportunity to live the best life that can be lived.