[Biblemat] A) PARENTS WHO ARE CHRISTIANS

[J5827Sasser at wmconnect.com]

Brethren and Friends, Jim Sasser here.  A very good Monday
morning to each and everyone.  May God bless you and yours.
Here is an article from my recent files:

PARENTS WHO ARE CHRISTIANS

     In today's wicked world, it is not easy to bring up children
in the nurture of the Lord.  However, it can be done.

     It is obvious that parents have an obligation to feed, clothe, love, 
protect, and care for their offspring.  A newborn
human is about as helpless as any creature could be.

     Parents who are Christians have responsibilities which ex-
tend far beyond temporal provisions.  There is an area of
spiritual care, training, growth, and development that demands special 
attention.

     Parents who are Christians have the responsibility of disci-
plining  their offspring: -- Mischievous acts that may be dis-
missed as "cute" in the little ones can be quite annoying to
others.  Those "cute" little capers, if unchecked, can estab-
lish a pattern that turns into a nightmare by the time the child
is a teenager.  Discipline must start early.  "Train up a child
in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it" 
(Prov. 22:6).

     Parents who are Christians should teach their children right priorities: 
-- Which comes first, your personal interests
or the Lord's work?  Which is more important, a child's solv-
ing a math problem or preparing a Bible lesson?  The princi-
ple taught in Matt. 6:33 is learned quickly by a child who sees
that basic truth demonstrated by his mother and father.  Your
child needs your help in establishing the correct sense of val-
ues.

     Parents who are Christians are responsible for bringing up
their children to be Christians: -- Put your child in the tiny tots' class on 
Sunday morning and teach him to sit still dur-
ing worship.  If you do not train him, who will?  Tell him some
of the great stories in the Bible.  Those historical narratives
about Noah, Abraham, Daniel, Moses, and others will do him
more good than nursery rhymes and fairy tales.  Drill him in
Bible facts.  Make him conscious that there is a wealth of mat-
erial in the Bible.  Teach him about God and Jesus Christ.

         Some fathers leave the spiritual training to the mothers.
But the Bible says, "And, ye fathers, provoke not your child-
ren to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition
of the Lord" (Eph. 6:4).  Daddy cannot shift his responsibility
over to mother.  The spiritual training of a child calls for the
best efforts of both parents.

     Christians who are parents have much for which to be
thankful.  Children are "an heritage of the Lord" (Psa. 127:3).
But the responsibilities of parenthood are serious.  In today's
wicked world, it is not easy to bring up children in the nurture
of the Lord.  However, it can be done.  --- Irvin Himmel in
Truth Magazine, Vol. 51, No. 1, Jan. 2007.
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