Parenting

Do you ever tremble at the incredible responsibilities on your shoulders as a parent? On one hand, you are called to protect the tender hearts and minds of your children, and on the other, you are trying to do so in a terribly perverse society and while exercising faith in God. How do you balance both?

Just a little over nine years ago, I had the opportunity to attend the funeral service of Dr. Lee Roberson, a giant of the faith. Dr. Roberson was a preacher of the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ for 79 years and a pastor for 50 years.

Technology has changed the way we parent. It has become a force for good and evil. On one hand, we now have access to the largest library in the world. On the other, we have unprecedented access to unlimited evil.

Assumptions are powerful for two reasons: first, because we often don’t recognize our assumptions (by definition, we accept them as fact) and second, because they do, in fact, shape our actions. In almost thirty years of pastoring and counseling, I’ve discovered that many Christian parents hold false assumptions which they don’t recognize and which they base their parenting decisions upon.

Many of us found that the daily routines we had established in the spring, went out the window on Memorial day. Now that school is back in full swing, it may be wise to step back and assess your daily routines. In our family, we have found that developing morning and evening routines helps us be able to get up at a decent time without stressing over whether or not we have time to prepare for the day.

Two of the questions that I’m often asked is how a spiritual leader can keep his family a priority in the ministry and how we can encourage our children so they don’t feel resentful toward the ministry.

If you are building a home, you don’t want to trust your own intuition. You need God’s wisdom and God’s help.

When I was a young boy in Northern California, the only time I wanted to go inside was dinnertime. All other hours, I wanted to be outside playing. Playtime for today’s young people, however, has transformed into screen time. The nature of community for twenty-first century children and teens has been radically changed.

The eyes are said to be the most sensitive parts of our body. Eyesight is a precious gift from God! If our eyes are most sensitive to physical light and pain, how much more are they sensitive to what enters into the heart. Proverbs 7:2 says, “Keep my commandments, and live; and my law as the apple of thine eye.”

Christmas is coming! It is the most wonderful time of the year! Even the unsaved are singing about the Lord! During this season, you are able to freely say, “Merry Christmas,” to everyone you meet! Use this season to tell of the Reason for Christmas.

There are so many areas for parents to invest themselves in raising their children. And there are many resources available in learning to be godly parents. But there is one resource that is more powerful than any book, seminar, or method.

“Mooooom, I need you!” That can either be a glorious call or words that make you want to hide. As a mom of seven, I have often heard those words. Being a mom isn’t an easy task, but it is a blessed one.

Somebody will rear your children. In fact, a number of somebodys will. One of the chief responsibilities of a parent is to recognize his God-given responsibility both to be that primary somebody and to screen who those other somebodys will be.

Have you ever experienced the frustration of wanting someone to change his spiritual direction more than the individual himself desired to change? Maybe it’s a junior higher in your youth group who just doesn’t know when to be serious, a senior high girl who craves all the wrong attention, or maybe it’s a teen who is just plain apathetic toward biblical truth.

One of the greatest responsibilities of being a parent is to instill the proper values and convictions in your children. When we give our children a strong foundation of biblical values and convictions, we are teaching them that life is about more than making ourselves happy and pleasing ourselves. Rather we are to live for God and please Him.

Teenagers are a delightful challenge—even to themselves! The teenage years can be full of fun and yet puzzling and frustrating all at the same time. There’s so much growth, change, and transition taking place in this move from childhood to adulthood.

Next to my salvation and my relationship with God, nothing is more important to me than my relationship with my family. I am very blessed to have grown up in a healthy, spiritual family. My parents were saved before my birth, and early in my infancy they started attending a Bible preaching church. That Bible preaching and teaching helped them in their marriage and certainly helped them raise their children.

I recently read a news article about former NFL player, Tom Holloway, who had his house vandalized while he was out of town. It’s hard to comprehend how the consciences of over 300 high school students would allow them to break in, get drunk, steal memorabilia, and graffiti the walls, but that’s exactly what occurred in Tom Holloway’s home. It was one big, bad, out of control party…nice kids, huh?

If you are a father with children at home, you are a blessed man. It seems just yesterday that I snapped the picture above. In reality, it was twenty years ago. When it comes to parenting, time flies. And I don’t regret a second of that fleeting time that I invested in my children.

I don’t remember that I thought too much about the word legacy—not in a personal sense, anyway—until my first grandchild was born. As parents, we’re so involved in the daily aspects of guiding our children, and we’re so committed to being there for them every step of the way, that we don’t think as much in terms of what legacy we leave for them after we are gone.