The Worth Of Knowing

About a year ago I read an interview where someone said that the Bible only has a few passages that speak directly to how to raise kids. They said the area of parenting styles is one (mostly) of personal freedom for Christians.

While I agree with this and need to be reminded of this often, I also think the Bible provides so much guidance when it comes to interacting with people and …

wait for it …

CHILDREN ARE PEOPLE.

(Which TBH is actually easy to forget if you’re focused on the repetition of EvErYtHiNg. Because, if you’re like me, your mind kind of goes either numb or insane –and always bitter– when you only focus on the actual physical tasks that need to be done over and over again).

But here’s the thing: our responsibility to raise, discipline, or punish our kids is NOT our free card to act in an un-Christ-like way.

It’s thoroughly humbling and eye-opening to read passages of Scripture that speak of how we are to interact with other people and then apply that to how we interact with our children. All the fruits of the Spirit, all the attributes of love in 1 Corinthians 13, and all the put on’s and put off’s in Paul’s letters can (and should) be lived out in the way we act, talk, and think about our kids.

The authority God has given parents lies within these boundaries of how we are to treat fellow image bearers. We’re only an example (albeit a mere shadow) to our kids of God’s authority when we operate within those bounds. The hard, humbling truth is when we act outside of those bounds we are sinning, harming, and abusing our kids.

I think it’s important to notice any resistance that rises up in our minds at this point. Is this resistance actually an attempt to excuse us as parents from our responsibility to obey God and raise their children in the Lord?

There is abundant love and grace found in turning to God in repentance. But repentance requires laying down our excuses and owning up to our sin. God is not a Father who keeps us at a distance until we get our parenting act together – we can fall into His arms.

God loves us in our messes. When we throw our adult tantrums. When we look at Him in defiance and say, “no!” He is ready and waiting for us to turn to Him and to welcome us into His goodness.

He teaches, trains, disciplines, mercifully punishes, and forgives. Everything He does as our heavenly Father is infused with love and for our good. Jesus asks us to come near and promises he will gently teach us his ways.

Sometimes, maybe, we don’t think it’s possible to parent children as if they’re the image bearers they are, in developmentally appropriate ways, and within the Biblical commands of how to treat one another because we don’t know God as a Father who does the same for us. Maybe our challenges in parenting are opportunities to examine if our view of God as a heavenly Father actually alines with Scripture.

And what difference does this make in our parenting? All. The. Difference. Even if we are physically doing the same mundane tasks as always, when we have repented of our bitterness, impatience, or whatever it is and are looking to our loving heavenly Father for strength and guidance, EvErYtHiNg becomes an opportunity. An opportunity to rest in God’s strength, to grow in holiness, to display Christ’s heart to our kids, and to know the sweet grace of God more.