The TEACHING of Parenting
Geoffrey R. Kirkland
Christ Fellowship Bible Church (St Louis, MO)
THE TEACHING OF PARENTING
Solomon said to his son: “observe the commandment of your father and do not forsake the teaching of your mother” (Proverbs 6.20). One of the most fundamental and essential obligations God has given to parents is the regular teaching of the children. This presupposes a few things. First, children need to be taught and do not know the way of wisdom on their own. Second, parents must obey God and make it their priority to actively teach their children. Third, it is a commanded duty from God to all parents to be the primary teachers and instructors of their children. The teaching of the children must include instruction from Scripture concerning the things of religion and the instruction about wise and practical living for God in society.
First, this should include formal teaching in regular, consistent family worship. Fathers have the leadership obligation to lead their families and manage them well. They should order their homes in peace, unity, love and truth around the Word of God. Fathers should gather all those in the family (wife and children) for regular times of worship to God so as to teach the loveliness of God and the gospel of Christ, to instill Truth in the hearts of the children from the earliest of ages until they are out of the home, and to provide an example to follow for the children when they are married and have families of their own. This formal teaching can include singing, Bible reading and instruction, and prayer. Fathers should take the words of Joshua and make them their own: “as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD” (Joshua 24.15).
Second, parental teaching must also incorporate informal instruction as life is lived together. As parents are “on the go” and innumerable teaching opportunities arise, fathers and mothers should utilize those occasions as God-given, providential occasions to stop and pause to teach the children how to think wisely and discern current events biblically. It could be as you are driving and see something that you need to share a word of teaching with the children. It could be as something comes up on TV, or a commercial, or on social media that provides a teaching occasion. It may be a current event or a world matter or a global disaster that may give opportunity to speak of how to think rightly, process biblically, respond joyfully, and live trustingly in God.
So then, God has given parents to be the primary instructors of the children. The job does not rest on the pastor, or youth pastor, or school teacher, or friend or social media to be the primary influencers of the children. Parents! Parents! A father leading, a mother supporting and coming to his assistance as a team to minister grace and truth to the children in a biblical worldview, to think biblically, to process everything through the lens of Scripture, and to make wise decisions in a crazy world that will honor God and magnify Him.
This is part of the ongoing blog series on parenting.
