MOMS Help 911 - another in a mini series. For more reading go here.
If there were just one thing that I would encourage moms to do – it would be to teach (educate, instruct, school, tutor, edify) their children the truth about God and His law.
Fathers Too
Yes, according to the Old Testament, it’s the Father that is to teach their child all along the way and Proverbs gives tons of examples of exactly what that is, but a mom spends the majority of the time with their children and some of her daily margins really ought to include teaching about God and His law.
Responsibility
It’s a given that a child cannot be left to himself/herself and he/she must be guided to become a God-fearing adult. It is the parent’s responsibility to help their child to obey. Ephesians Chapter 6 says that children are to obey and honor their parents so that life goes well with them.
I tell moms that if a child doesn’t learn to obey and respect authority then he/she can’t know God.
What to Teach Children
Children must be taught obedience and submission to authority. Another thing I have told moms is that obedience is immediate. If a child has to think about obeying, then it’s not obedience. That may sound radical, but if God requires something of me, he expects me to obey without questioning. That’s the same to be expected with children.
When you teach your children about God you want to teach them about humility, how to love others, serve others, and what repentance looks like.
Moms and Obedience to Hard Things
If I as a mom is not living in obedience then how difficult will it be for her to train her children with any confidence when she’s not doing what it is that she’s expecting them to do? For example: submission, respect, not being lazy, not acting out of anger, etc?
Fighting God’s Authority
If your child fights against you in obedience ~ they are really fighting against God. Should this fighting against authority become a pattern in your child’s life then he’ll be at risk for some serious judgment by God. How your child learns to respond to you is how your child will learn to respond to God. Children need to know this. Children have to be trained and not in ANGER – that’s not training.
Your children also need to know that obedience to you is their ticket to a happy life. God blesses obedience.
4 comments:
So far so good Lylah!
Im doing wonderous at this new role, and I realized I needed help. Jeff just needs to be taught that things dont have to be like his moms and dads...that we can make our own rules here. And that he can have a voice and decide things. Ive made a very conscious effort to:
*think before I speak
*rephrase things to give him an option of presenting his thoughts
*not get upset when he says, I dont care...
Hugs to you!
Beth Ann
well,bethann - good job...you're a good student! i think moreso, husbands are shown what life can be like and often it takes three months before they realize things are different. mainly it takes awhile, because we and they are locked into past patterns.
love to you!
Great post! So true! I think back & my parents just didn't phrase disobedience in this way. It really helps frame the "big picture". I read somewhere a great question, "Are you teaching/training your child to obey God the first time or when you count to 3?" OUCH! We are trying to teach the kiddos that obedience is freedom, not boring or weak as the world would have us believe. Thanks for the good reminder today : )
great comment! i love the first time, immediate and all the way obedience - http://lylahledner.blogspot.com/2008/05/dont-make-me-count-to-3.html
thanks for connecting today!
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