BLESSING YOUR CHILDREN

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In Christ, Mark

The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

A good person leaves an inheritance for their children’s children, but a sinner’s wealth is stored up for the righteous.

Whoever spares the rod hates their children, but the one who loves their children is careful to discipline them.

Whoever fears the Lord has a secure fortress, and for their children it will be a refuge.

Children’s children are a crown to the aged, and parents are the pride of their children.

Discipline your children, for in that there is hope; do not be a willing party to their death.

The righteous lead blameless lives; blessed are their children after them.

Even small children are known by their actions, so is their conduct really pure and upright?

Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it.

Proverbs 13:22, 13:24, 14:26, 17:6, 19:8, 20:7, 20:11, 22:6

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

I have been richly blessed in my life with the opportunity to be a father. God placed first one and then another little baby girl, two of His most precious and priceless possessions, into my care and tasked me with the responsibility to raise them up as disciples unto His Son Jesus. It wasn’t easy. Parenting never is. But the Lord helped me all along the way, providing wisdom and strength and perseverance and most of all love. The end result were two adult women who have remained believers and are making it each and every day, not through their own strength but through the strength of the same Lord who empowered their father to make it through life’s challenges.

But God wasn’t done blessing me with children in my life. For I now have three beautiful grandchildren, two grandsons and a granddaughter. They are my children’s children and each and every day my wife and I give thanks for them, and pray over my daughter and her husband as they go about the daunting task of raining their children just as I had done before.

Indeed, the matter of parenting is a universal concept that goes back to Adam and Eve and the first children born to a man and woman. Go back to that experience and you’ll find that they had their share of problems with their sons. It happens. So what do you do when you face trials in parenting, or anything else for that matter? You turn to the Bible and seek direction from God’s word. It truly is God’s gift to us, an instruction manual for living this thing called life.

What do the scriptures have to say about parenting?

There’s certainly plenty of text we could draw from but as my readers know, we’re in the study of Proverbs right now so I will center on the following key points found in eight of them. Here are some actions parents should take to ensure they bless the precious children that God has placed in their care:

1. Parents not only look to leave an inheritance for their children but also for their grandchildren.

A good person leaves an inheritance for their children’s children. Proverbs 13:22a

As parents get older and their kids move out and on in life, they typically find themselves with more finances than they had before. What they do with their finances is of course up to them. They could spend it on themselves, traveling to exotic places or purchasing luxurious cars and homes. Or they could choose to save the extra money they have so they can pass it onto their children and their children’s children after they pass away. It’s obvious that God’s word supports the latter, blessing your kids and grandkids by leaving an inheritance to them upon your death.

2. Parents are to discipline their children.

Whoever spares the rod hates their children, but the one who loves their children is careful to discipline them. Proverbs 13:24

Discipline your children, for in that there is hope. Proverbs 19:8

Ask any child if they consider discipline a blessing and I don’t think many would say it is. It’s never pleasant suffering through consequences. But it’s critically important that parents exercise discipline on their children to teach them the differences between proper and improper conduct, between righteousness and sinfulness. A parent is to discipline their child in love, a tough love motivated by an unwillingness to allow kids to grow up unknowing of sin and the negative penalties it brings. That discipline becomes the child’s hope for a bright future with the God who is their Heavenly Father and parent for life, a parent who would far more like to bless than correct.

In the end translation, you don’t discipline your child because you love them less. You discipline because you love them all the more. And you teach them the importance of discipline so one day they will know how to do likewise with their own children.

3. Parents are to fear the Lord and they teach their children to do likewise.

Whoever fears the Lord has a secure fortress, and for their children it will be a refuge. Proverbs 14:26

Fear of the Lord here isn’t referring to one running and hiding from Him. It means respecting and revering the Lord, so much so that one doesn’t want to violate Him by sinning. One who fears the Lord in the way they live has security and safety, knowing that they are walking in God’s favor and protection. And this blessing is extended to their children, a refuge for them as they grow up under their parent’s care, learning to fear the Lord and walk in His ways.

4. Parents are to live in righteousness.

The righteous lead blameless lives; blessed are their children after them. Proverbs 20:7

Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it. Proverbs 22:6

When parents live in righteousness, then they model the kind of lifestyle that the Lord desires and their children, who are ever seeking to model their parents, will grow up living in righteousness as well. Righteous living leads to blameless lives and the Lord blesses those who always strive to live blamelessly.

5. Parents seek to have a good reputation before the Lord and others.

Even small children are known by their actions, so is their conduct really pure and upright? Proverbs 20:11

Parents are the pride of their children. Proverbs 17:6b

Parents should always be wary of their standing before the Lord and others. If small children are known for their actions, how much more so will their parents be?

When parents dedicate themselves to live pure and upright, then their reputation for purity and righteousness will follow. And their children will be blessed as they are related by association to their righteous and wholesome parents. In other words, parents become the pride of their children.  

6. Parents are to revel and give thanks for the gift of grandchildren

Children’s children are a crown to the aged. Proverbs 17:6a

My life has been so richly rewarding to this point and if it ended today, I would go with thanksgiving for all that the Lord has done. But He wasn’t willing to allow me to enter the latter stages of life void of His continued reward and so He gave me grandchildren. Truly, they are a crown to me for watching them grow up and seeing my daughter raise them in the ways of the Lord have elevated my spirit to where I feel like a king, richly blessed in every way by the One who gives us every good and perfect thing from above.

Friends, if you’re a parent, revel in the opportunity God has placed before you and do everything in your power to honor Him as you raise your children to adulthood. If you’re a grandparent, revel in the gift of grandchildren and enjoy the crown that God has given you in them. And whether you’re a parent or grandparent, always do whatever you can do to ensure your children or grandchildren are blessed.

They deserve nothing less.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.

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