Raising Children
Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord. Eph 6:4
There must be countless Christian books about raising children. They usually spruik a set of Biblically based principles about how to do it. A few of them might have good advice.
The passage quoted above seems to take a different angle. It starts by describing blokes who are leaning into the wind in their fatherhood, and who then take out the frustration they feel for being an inadequate parent on their children.
So what alternative does the passage give us? The way the second half of the verse is usually read is as an encouragement to take the Bible to our kids and to train them in the way the Scriptures tell us to. Although this must be a good direction to be heading, when I looked at Eph 6:4 today it was plumbing deeper riches.
The vast theme of God’s fatherhood in Scripture expresses to us His passionate participation in the lives of those he loves. It is thus worthy to consider this passage as an encouragement to recognise our adoption into God’s family, in which He is working in fatherly discipline and encouragement to bring us through until the final day. All He has called in covenant fall under this mantle, and this necessarily includes our children.
We are thus to acknowledge God’s willingness to be a present blessing to our families and a right response is that we bring our children to Him so that they may come under and appreciate His training and instruction. In this sense the latter half of the passage could be worded “bring them up in the Lord’s training and instruction”.
On reflection, this reality came home to me a number of years ago when a health crisis made visible the possibility that I may not be around to father our five young children. It’s where the rubber hits the road, you might say. God’s assurance to me and my family: “I will not leave you as orphans” (John 14:18); “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you” (Heb 13:5)
Recommended Reading: Christian Parents and Their Children
April 2nd, 2007 at 8:23 pm
I was just thinking the other day, wondering to what extent I could prepare myself for bringing up a family. Raising a child seems to be a huge leap in responsibility. It means you can no longer live for yourself, because you have to feed and clothe another person. What you are saying shed’s some light on the fact that we are really just carrying out His good work, and I think it’s a glorious position to called to. What a way to praise God for being our great Father, to do the same for our own kids, and even more get to know his character! I guess it isn’t such a leap, and I can start training for that now, walking humbly with the Lord and obeying his command to love selflessly, and trusting in Him as every other challenge in life calls me to do.
February 19th, 2010 at 7:17 pm
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