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. 2
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 3
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!