Godly Parenting

At the age of 25, I can’t say I know too much about parenting. But from the sermon, one can say it is a daunting and weighty task. It is a command to raise children in the way of God-to cause them to hope in him, to remember his works, to obey his commandments. I can only imagine how hard it must be to somehow cause this on our own-whether it be through tactics or discipline; it came upon me that maybe, godly parenting doesn’t start with when you have kids but actually now.

It’s science- who we are as people stems from our environment: what we see, what we learn, what we believe is all shaped by what is around us and low and behold parents or at least whatever we childhood we grow up in are the source of the foundation. It can be changed, but man what you set as the foundation is one that is the stepping stones for the future. I can say from personal experience that parents have so much power in how a child can see themselves, perceive others, and even how they eventually view God. But back to the passage we studied, Psalm 78- one thing that stood out was this “He established a testimony in Jacob

and appointed a law in Israel,

which he commanded our fathers

to teach to their children, that the next generation might know them”. Two words pop out - “Might” and “know”.

And I’ll start with the later- to know something or someone goes beyond head knowledge- it’s the difference between knowing a mere fact versus deeply understanding something and operating out of that belief. We as future or current parents are to help the future generation to not just know about God but to know Him deeply that they operate from this truth. And the second word “might”- it reminds me there is no guarantee that our efforts will be fruitful and two that God is ultimately the one in control when it comes to knowing or not knowing him. There are numerous verses that talk about God showing mercy on whom he shows mercy or how He is the one that has chosen us from the beginning ; verses of that nature. All that to say, to be a godly parent is to know that we pursue godly parenting while holding it loosely because we have no control of the results. I’ve seen people my age grow up in the church and fall away and I’ve seen people in non-christian homes come to Christ.

But back to my point, what does it mean to start to become a godly parent now? I feel like when I was listening to the sermon, even though it was geared towards parenting, it reminded me of how easy it is for me to want to do life God’s way- marriage, dating, parenting, work, etc. but similar to parenting, in order to do it God’s ways, it may start with how well we know God ourselves. In other words, godly parenting isn’t about being the perfect parent, but about deeply knowing and trusting the perfect God. “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” ( Matt 6:21). This passage comes with the context of loving money over God. But I feel like it can easily translate into even loving godly things more than God and that may just turn into pure morality and striving without understanding the real purpose- to know God and to make him known.

In other words, godly parenting isn’t about being the perfect parent, but about deeply knowing and trusting the perfect God.