Christian Parenting

Q: What exactly does God expect of parents? I mean we hear phrases like the "helicopter mom" or other terms tossed about to basically illustrate what not to do. But it seems like Christians aren't really getting a whole lot of advice on what we are to do. Doesn't the Bible have guidelines for us Christians as parents?

A: Most certainly the Bible has plenty to say to Christians about their role as parents. But they aren't specific guidelines or instructions in a separate section. Rather they appear throughout the Old and New Testament. The place to start though is with yourself and not your children.

God is much more interested in who we are versus what we do ... and that includes what we do as parents. Simply put, the best thing you can do for your children is to give them the most godly parents ever. Make sure that you walk the talk in every way. Go out of your way to be sure that you're surrendered and submitted to Jesus Christ. Be obedient to the Father.

Beyond yourself, the next thing you must do is to be intentional about teaching your children who God is and how they are to relate to Him. Some of the godliest people in the Bible were still guilty of neglecting their children when it came to spiritual discipleship. As a result, their children grew up to do awful things and didn't reflect the godliness of their parents. How do you do this? Read the Bible with your children, especially as they grow older. Have a family time with God at least every week - if not every day. Read the Bible, pray. Discuss God's Word. Help your children acquire a Christian worldview. Teach them to think about things with God's values instead of the world's.

One could develop a list of things to do or not do for Christian parents. But frankly those are just tactical in nature. The truly strategic things are what I've just explained here. Get these right and everything else will take its place.

Raising Children

Dear Victorious,

The Bible speaks of children as blessings from God, etc. But it seems that society sees children more as a burden. The newspapers are full of stories about the problems with children. Educating them, pulling them out of poverty, making them behave and other issues seem to be constantly in front of us. Isn't this a dichotomy of sorts?

Love My Children

Dear Love,

Yes, the Biblical truth of the matter is that children are blessings from God. However, they do present society with a dichotomy. While an individual mother or father may truly love their child, that is not the child that society struggles with.

Indeed, society struggles with the exception children. They are the children who have natural issues - such as handicaps, orphans, and expensive or heartbreaking diseases. Those rub society the wrong way. Then there are the unnatural issues with children - such as child abuse, sexual slavery, kidnapping and of course, children who are rebellious. These natural and unnatural problems that stare us in the face.

If it were not for these natural and unnatural problems, everyone would find joy in children in general. But society as a whole would still be challenged. Education, health care, economic opportunities as they mature and other issues would still challenge our governments - and impact our tax base. So while individuals would embrace children, the society as a whole would still find the dichotomy as present as ever.

Make no mistake, children are a blessing from God. But blessings often arrive with great responsibility.