My wife and I just worked through a two-week devotional series on parenting. The speaker went through a number of different traits the parent is to possess and to call their child to.
At the end of each day we were to write a response to the topic. I’ll share some of my thoughts with you from those days.
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I have what I need to be a good parent by God’s grace through Jesus.
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Learn to embrace and exude grace rather than to depend on rules and regulations to change the child’s heart.
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I am unable to be what my children need. I can’t do it, even if I’m the best dad I can be. They need Jesus. What I can do is show them Jesus and lead them to Him.
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Don’t ask “Don’t you know better by now!” Embrace the long journey of disciplining a child for a lifetime.
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Realizing that each child is lost and needs saved from himself and knowing that I am responsible [and empowered] to help him find his way is a much healthier perspective than feeling frustrated by a child’s behavior.
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Every child is a fool, and the most dangerous thing they will encounter in life is their own foolishness–not temptations, not peer pressure, but their own foolishness. As James says, we are each drawn away of our own desires: That’s what leads to sin.
I must recognize my own foolish heart and surrender it to God in order to be a useful tool in shepherding my foolish child to God.
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My child is worshipping at all times. What he worships is tied to his character. I have the opportunity to help develop a character in my child with traits that lean toward worship of God. Traits such as humility, love, service, etc. will point his heart to God.
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I need to work harder to always bring the conflict of my child back to God.
It is not the child against me or against others or against rules; it is the child’s self against God.
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The system of discipline is not what controls the child’s heart. It is the Spirit.
We must connect them to God’s Spirit.
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I am to be like God, operating first out of mercy and kindness and instruction, and only after that, to be the judge.
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The clinching thought was that we are to be agents of mercy, shepherding our child towards a saving relationship with God.
I’ve found child-training has a funny way of being parent-training at the same time. Parents should make the most of this opportunity because it offers tremendous potential for glorifying God and for blessing many others beyond the parent and the child.
Juan David 