Don’t Lie to Yourself!

In this dysfunctional age of child-rearing that we are living in, Christian parents need help.  So many families struggle with knowing the right way to train their children because they were not raised Biblically.  Just because you are now a Christian doesn’t mean that you automatically have the Biblical pattern for raising your children down pat. 

But, what a blessing!  You have the Word of God to show you the path to take in proper training of your children.

The problem….?

You have to be honest enough to admit that you need help and then choose to seek for Biblical help. We all need help in training our children.  There are no perfect parents! You will never raise spiritually vibrant, emotionally well adjusted kids if you can’t first be honest about your own inadequacies!   God blesses humility and teach-ability!

I’ve said this a million times if I’ve said it once…..

Raising children involves parent training first!

The problem is that you can’t train a parent who doesn’t want to be trained or thinks that their child’s problem is someone else’s fault!  Becoming honest about ourselves and the true condition of our own child’s attitude is key in successfully training our children for the glory of God.

Training Pitfalls:

1.    Don’t make excuses for your child’s rude actions or disobedience.

~ If you excuse them now…they will blame someone else later and their character flaw will never be corrected.  Don’t defend your child’s lack of character on any level.  Deal with it with your child so you can rescue their soul from hell.

    

Proverbs 23:14

2.    Don’t lie to yourself about the true character of your child or teenager.

~ Listen when someone tries to share with you what they saw in your child that needs correcting.  Don’t be so proud that you can’t take input from others.  There may be something that you are missing in your child’s character that is glaring to others.  Listen to that person and willingly assess whether it’s a legitimate cause for concern. 

Don’t despise the person who shared the insight with you…. Consider it a blessing and an early warning from the Lord!  Be grateful for the concern!  Then deal with your child about what you have come to realize.

3.    If you choose to ignore advice, resent help and continue your training in pride and self importance, then prepare to reap the same…..in your children.

The day will come when your child will ignore your advice.  They will turn on you for what they perceive as your “unwanted involvement” and in pride and self importance they will break your heart and destroy their own lives. 

We all reap what we sow!  That is a Biblical promise from the Word of God that no man or woman can escape.

I have seen more than my share of protective parents who shunned Biblical help, protected their children from truth exposed, resented concerned help from a Christian brother, sister or teacher and winked at the lack of character in their children.  They now live in rejection, separation and even estrangement from the very children they excused and failed to teach and train.  They coddled the child’s feelings at the moment and lost their respect and their hearts in the end.

What a horrible way to finish up the training of God’s precious gift to you! 

Please dear sister….get honest with yourself!  Repent of pride.  Train yourself to be teachable and start sowing in your children the things you want to see in them at the end of your training trail.

What are you sowing in your manner of child-rearing?