Are you a father or mother? I have learned much and am still learning. A few things I have learned:
1. Being a dad or mom will help you understand how God must feel at times. As a parent you may experience great joy, great satisfaction, great disappointment, and even great pain through your children. This may be just a taste of what God experiences in us (you and me), his children.
2. Decisions you make can impact your children whether they know what you’ve done or not. Even “secret” sin in a parent’s life is shaping the person who is rearing their child. Likewise, making the decision to live a holy life impacts them powerfully, as well.
3. It is awfully hard to raise children to love, serve, and obey God, when their mother or dad is living in disobedience and not taking the Father seriously.
4. Perhaps one of the most wonderful gifts you can give to your children is to pray for them, regularly and consistently. If you aren’t praying each day for your children, who is?
5. Know that when you are a disciple of Jesus, treasuring God’s word, and seeking to rear your children in the Lord, you are giving your children such a great gift.
6. Think about the people who you bring into your home and into your lives. They are also impacting the lives of our children. Choose people whose lives are worth imitating. Our children are watching.
7. Pay now or pay later. You can invest in the lives of your children right now or you can let things slide. However, certain behaviors and attitudes may be far more difficult to address later.
8. The best thing you can give your children is to be a mother or dad who loves God deeply and who lives in daily obedience. Yes, tutoring can help them academically. A camp may help them athletically. However, if our children are going to grow up to serve the Lord, you and I must be willing to stay focused.
9. The most real, genuine parents are those who are living as they were to created to live. This mom/dad are teaching their children how to really live.
10. I knew a dad who was single. His wife died and he was left alone to raise their children. Yet, he kept his focus. He wanted to raise them to serve and love God. May all of us as parents do the same!