Thoughts on Christian Parenting

 

Recently I replied to a friend’s blog on the topic of Christian parenting. Although the main point of the post was for people to describe what they do in their homes – specifically in regards to Family Worship – it got me thinking about those aspects of parenting that are vital to raising a godly child. While there are a number of important attributes of Christian parenting, two specifically have been rattling around in my head the last few days.

First, regardless (to a point) of how you do it, Family Worship is absolutely necessary – whether its just a husband and wife or a family with many children. I believe that any husband that is not leading his family in worship on a regular basis is failing as the leader of his family. All too often, parents look to the church as the sole source of Christian learning. While this is an important part of Christian growth, it is not the only source. Husbands are called to lead their families in worship – to read and teach the Bible, to sing, and to pray. To some degree, every man is called to be a theologian. This means it is the husband’s job to dig into the Scriptures and share the bounty with his family. This doesn’t mean he is a preacher, but it does mean that he is a teacher. Husbands and fathers have to let go of their pride, laziness, and insecurities and become the leaders they are called to be.

Second, and just as important, is the relationship between a father and mother. There are two points I want to make here. First, there is the security of having a mother and father that love each other unconditionally. I know personally that this made a big impact in my life growing up. Not once did I ever wonder about my parent’s marriage – which is a rare thing today. Not only do I have an excellent example of a loving marriage to hold my marriage up to, but I know that my children will also be watching and learning from us. This leads me to the second point – the marriage relationship directly affects the attitude of the child. In other words, if the marriage relationship is stressful, argumentative, sarcastic, etc…. the children will probably be harder to control, disobedient, mean to each other, etc… This doesn’t mean that there won’t be stressful times, or even arguments, but if we husbands remember to love our wives – all the time – as Christ loves the church, the home will have that sweet aroma of love, which translates into an ideal enviroment for raising Christian children.