There is no greater privilege for any man or woman than that of being a:
PARENT.
To be the father or mother of a son or daughter is indeed life’s greatest privilege. But with that privilege comes great responsibility. Parenting, true parenting, and biblical-Christian parenting demands commitment, real commitment. When unto those parents a child is born, life’s priorities change, irrevocably change. No matter career, education, hobby or any other thing of interest, parenting becomes:
PRIORITY #1
So says the scripture. So says the Apostle Paul. And so says God the Father who, as the supreme example of father, sent his son to this world, to us, that we might know what the ultimate and eternal father-son relationship really is. That eternal father and son provides the perfect example of what parenting should be, heavenly and earthly.
TRAIN UP A CHILD. Train him or her in the ways of the Lord, believer father and believer mother. The God-given birth of that son or daughter becomes priority #1 for BOTH father and mother. So says our heavenly father. Building a Christian home with a Chrisitan father and mother, structuring and controlling that home, is then, at birth priority #1 and always will be.
HOME, that sacred environment where there is Christian learning, loving, and listening is the very finest thing for any Christian parent.
That home must be guided by REAL CHRISTIANITY. Christian principles must apply. The morality of old and new testaments must be the Lonestar, the code of ethics and honor of that home. That is why it is critical, indispensable, uncompromisingly so that both mother and father be:
CHRISITAN – BORN AGAIN CHRISTIAN – REAL CHRISTIANS.
For only real Christian mothers and fathers, true believing parents can:
TRAIN UP A CHILD IN THE WAY HE OR SHE SHOULD GO.
For, done right, when children are raised in a real Christian home by real Christian
parents (both father and mother) and where the love of the Lord prevails, only then can
both principles, that Christian code of ethics, last a lifetime. Only then can the child
become the Christian the parent is, like the Christian parent, and believe like them for
a lifetime. Children will never depart from the belief of real Christian parents no matter
what.
Children are remarkably sensitive. They sense hypocrisy perhaps even better than
adults. If any parent is ‘do what I say and not necessarily what I do,’ the child rebels,
acts out, disavows, and comes to believe that not only is the purported faith of the
parents hypocritical, but that all of Christianity itself is hypocrisy. So, when they are
old and ready to depart the home, leave their parents, and become adults on their
own, they want nothing to do with what they believe is hypocritical Christianity. The
parents, mother and father, have failed the child in the most negative way.
Our Lord and the Apostle Paul have told us so very clearly that there are three great
things in this world:
FAITH – HOPE – LOVE
And the greatest of these is LOVE. The greatest lesson any child can learn is Christian
love and that Christian love displayed between husband and wife, father and mother,
that real love that exists between father and son, mother and daughter, and each
parent for each and every child, equally, sincerely, and without compromise. The
ultimate expression of that love was the love between God the Father and our Lord
Jesus Christ. Real love, parent for child is like that and when it is, or when parents do
their very best guided by the Holy Spirit to saturate the home with Christian love, the
child learns the greatest lesson in all of life. Nothing can equal a home filled with
Christian love, Christian parents loving young Christian children with that very same
Christian love. It is the greatest teacher, and the most important lesson to learn in all
of life.
But that takes TIME. There must be quality time between parent and child. Nothing
expresses love more, teaches better than the love between father and son, and father
and daughter, and mother and son, and mother and daughter. NOTHING! That TIME
must be qualitative, one on one, open and transparent, and consistent. To be a real
Christian parent and train up that child in the way in which he or she should go
requires quality time as first priority and always. Nothing expresses better than time
spent together one-on-one. NOTHING!
The roles of father and mother are different, but they must be guided, as scripture
clearly states, by Christian principles, morals, ethics, and commandments. The
Christian home must be full of faith, hope, and above all LOVE. Real love. REAL
CHRISTIAN LOVE! That home environment is far more powerful than any church. Or
any pastor. Or any Sunday School. Evil human beings know that as well or perhaps
even better than the good, the Christian men and women. Evil men like Hitler and
Stalin knew the power of the home and the education provided by the parents or
parent SURROGATES. The training of that young mind, heart, and soul from the first
ability to comprehend, perhaps as early as age 3 or 4, is the most formative, lasting,
training and experience any child could ever have.
Home is where the heart is, so it is said. The real home is where the real Christian
heart of love exists, where both mother and father LIVE THE LIFE OF REAL
CHRISTIAN LOVE. When a child is raised in that environment, that child will be raised
right, and have every opportunity to live the very best possible life, the very life which
God the creator intended for that child, HIS CHILD.
A real believer should marry another believer. A real mother will want a real Christian
husband-father, and a real husband-father will want a real Christian wife-mother. And
every child will want a real Christian mother and a real Christian father and when he
or she is old, mature, an adult, and living as the Lord intended, that child will not
depart from the ways of the Lord, lovingly lived out by loving Christian parents:
PARENTS WHO REALLY AND TRULY LOVE THE LORD!