1.Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. 2 “Honor your father and mother”—this is the first commandment with a promise:
The story is told of a mother who once went to visit her son in prison. As she walked down the corridor, she wondered how she would encourage and reassure her son. When they came face to face, the son motioned to his mother, wanting to whisper in her ear. As the woman bent her head forward, the son snapped at her ear. Biting her earlobe he said: “If only you had corrected me when I was young, I wouldn’t be here today. You encouraged me for the small misdeeds. That spurred me on. Today I have become a thief because of you.”
Our children’s childhood is spent dreaming of things to come with a yearning to reach for the stars. It is an impressionable age and a time when we are best placed to light the lamp of spiritual wisdom in their lives. Sometimes, in our eagerness to teach them, we become authoritative and hope that by being so, our children will learn fast – only to find that it can result in disastrous consequences. At other times, we choose to ignore their faults, again leading to trouble.
The Bible teaches us the path of love and peace, and that of being a model to our children. They are a gift from God, not tools to display our authority. When parents understand this truth, the bond of relationship becomes stronger.
We live in an age where the world entices our children with all it has to offer, not knowing that only in His presence there is fullness of joy (Ps 16:11). It is this truth that parents must teach their children from an young age. We are only stewards who have been given the responsibility of taking care of a new generation. We can consider our work done when we have imparted God’s word to them. We are not walking encyclopedias who have answers to all our children’s questions, we are only compasses who can point them in the right direction.
The sanctity of relationship is protected only in our relationship with God. Jesus tells us in John 15:5 - ‘I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing’. Jesus was one with His father and lived according to His will. When parents and children walk together, according to the will of God, not only do the branches become strong, the fruit that it will bear will be sweet and plentiful.
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