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Offensive Parenting
I love being a dad!
For some reason God saw it fit to give me two wonderful gifts in my son and daugher despite me messing up so many things in my life. When I look at my children I have a tremendous sense of calling and responsibility. I truly believe I was meant to be their dad and they were meant to be my children. Even more, I see so much potential for their lives and I don’t want to screw it up by being a dad in name only.
I don’t want to raise my kids- I want to train them.
Good training leads to Jesus. This includes not only teaching them right from wrong but also love, repentance, and forgiveness.
In my family we have a conviction that all Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness. However, I’ve known Christian parents who will quote Scripture at kids as a form of punishment. Guess what view of the Bible those kids will have when they grow older? The Bible says that Scripture is a sword and they’ll see it as a sword all right. A sword you used to cut them off at the knees.
That’s sad, incomplete, and lazy parenting.
Parents love where the Bible says to honor your mother and father. That’s true, but we ignore (or don’t know) that God also says, “Do not exasperate (really tick off or annoy) your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.”
I want to be a good dad and parent playing offense. The best training is proactive not just reactive. I want my kids to see that God’s Word is used in all circumstances.
One proactive step we’ve taken is to bring a Proverb (or five) to dinner with us and talk about it. We try not to be lame about it and the kids actually dig it. I’m amazed at the insights my kids have and it leads to great discussions and stories about their (and our) own real life experiences.
We also have taken our family mantra right out of Scripture- To love God with all that we are and love other people as ourselves. It is the only rule in our house.
We’re teaching them biblical principles before they break them. And hopefully, so they won’t break them. And if when they do, now they now know better and have an opportunity to apologize, forgive, and receive forgiveness.
We’re not perfect parents by any means. Far from it. But we don’t want to miss opportunities to teach our kids. Everything, good or bad, is an opportunity to train our children. From a TV show, to an incident at school, to a trip to Chuck E. Cheese’s. Teachable moments are all around us.
I have a core belief that all parents are teachers and all parents are leaders. We have to be.
Mom’s and Dads, let’s teach and lead like our kids lives depend on it.
Because they do.
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Tags: parenting, dad, mom, children, Bible,
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