CHRISTIAN PARENTING By Suzan X

Today I attended a little gathering of God's people, kind of like a fellowship of young Christian brethren. We were talking about salvation and the person who anchored the program asked a few of us to share our salvation story. One of the ladies at the meeting caught my attention when she mentioned that her mom was the one who led her to Christ.

Why did she catch my attention? Because it was a long way off my own salvation story! My parents (believe it or not) never told me about being saved as a child. They took us (my siblings and I) to Sunday school every Sunday and seriously taught us valuable things about honesty, integrity, hard work and respect. In short, they were morally correct but they didn't tell us what we must do to be saved. It was God in His infinite mercy that worked His miracle, pulled me out of the hole I hid myself, and made me His own. Hallelujah!
 

 Although I cannot say what would have been different if my parents were the ones that led me to Christ or told me about being saved, I have come to learn that that is what God expects of Christian parents.

 God commanded man to grow and multiply. One of the purposes of marriage is to produce godly offspring. I have found that different people have different ideas about how to raise a child. Some are interesting, even funny, but some are just plain foolish! For instance, an American couple decided that their 14 year old son's birthday present should be a stripper. So they had one come over to his birthday party which was attended by most of his friends. When criticized, their defence was that they would rather he first sees a striptease at home than have him sneak out in the night and go off to see it on his own. And they genuinely believed they were being very logical! Another woman I read about dresses up like a teenager (even though she is over 40) and goes to parties and clubs with her daughter because she feels since she is a single mother, she should be her daughter's best friend.
 

Perhaps I'm talking too much about unbelievers. Let’s talk about some things brethren do. I heard of a man who had very beautiful daughters, who were all in the university. He was so strict with the girls; they wouldn't even dare dream of being seen near a guy not to mention talking to one. He just wouldn't have it. These girls do just what daddy wants during the holidays but once they’re in school, wow! It's like birds let out of a cage!

I'm not here to criticize people's parenting skills. I always thought I had it all figured out myself until I had my own kid and, although he isn't even three yet, I'm realizing it's not as easy as I thought. There are a few things however that I think every Christian parent should know about raising children:
 

- Children are a gift from God and parents are just caretakers

-Every parent will give account of how they cared for the children given to them

 

-No parent can 'control' their child forever. You have a given time to guide them and then you have to let them lead their own lives and make their own decisions
 

-Train a child in the way he should grow and when he grows he shall not depart from it. 
 

 Christian parents should be very conscious of the enormous task of being parents. It’s from you (a Christian parent) that a child has his first idea about what life is all about. Parents, who have the habit of saying please, sorry, or thank you, are more likely to have children who would say these words without thinking twice. Children first learn about values like honesty, integrity, hard work, kindness, generosity and other good virtues, from their parents. It's also obvious that parents who live by the 'do as I say not as I do' rule don't usually get very good results out of their parenting.
 

 Most importantly, Christian parents must make sure that as soon as their children are old enough to understand, they should take their time to teach them what it takes to be born again. This is the greatest thing you can do for your child. Regardless of how well, or how bad, your child behaves while growing up (especially during his/her teenage years), when that child grows up, s/he will never forget what s/he was taught.

I once watched a program on TBN where a popular TV personality was talking about his life experiences and how God helped him to become who he is today. He didn't try to sound like a spiritual person. In fact, he kept talking about how he had messed up so many times in his life. One thing that struck me about his interview was how he kept bringing up things that his mother taught him as a child. He never forgot and he was always applying them in his everyday life. I actually felt ashamed because I who always felt like a 'spiritual sister' and knew all the popular scriptures hardly ever practiced what I knew. He, on the other hand, didn't even know how to quote any of the scriptures his mama taught him, but he remembered what they said and he applied them. My point is that this man never forgot.

     
Fathers and mothers each have special roles to play in bringing up their children and none should ever take it lightly. Men must teach their sons how to grow into the man that God wants them to be and show their daughters how to identify a good man by being a good example. In the same way, a woman should be able to teach her daughter how to grow into the woman God wants her to be and show her son by example how to identify a good woman.
 

To be a good Christian parent you must first be a Christian. Nobody is perfect and there is no perfect formula, but God will give anyone the enablement to do this honourable job. Well, if you only ask it of Him.