WISELY BLESSING YOUR PARENTS

Can I pray for you in any way? Send any prayer requests to OurChristianWalk.com.

In Christ, Mark

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

Be wise, my son, and bring joy to my heart; then I can answer anyone who treats me with contempt.

Proverbs 27:11

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

How many times have you heard this scenario play out?

A child misbehaves in some way and automatically the blame falls on the parents. It happens, right?

I mean, we have all judged this way at some time or another. We might find a child misbehaving in public and feel like the parents are not teaching their child proper behavior at home. Or maybe a child acts out at school and we automatically blame the parents as somehow not bringing them up properly. My point is that parents often bear the brunt of the blame for the actions of their children, sometimes fairly but other times unfairly.

For example, don’t we find adults doing horrific acts and find that people start to automatically zoom in on the parents and the person’s upbringing? It happens like this and parents are often forced to defend themselves in the public eye. I’m not saying that there are cases where a person who commits crimes against society became who they were because of a poor upbringing. That does happen. But equally, if not more, I feel there are cases where people just allowed evil to overcome them in adulthood, that after a proper upbringing, they chose to do their own thing and make their own choices, unfortunately choosing wickedness over doing right and good. And yet, the blame for their actions often goes back to the parents who did nothing wrong but set their child up for success.

Summing up these points, I think you can agree with me that a child, whether young or old, can impact the reputation of their parents, good or bad.

Well, unless you think this is just a present day issue, I submit to you the following proverb from the wise king Solomon:

Be wise, my son, and bring joy to my heart; then I can answer anyone who treats me with contempt. Proverbs 27:11

Now, I think I can say in full confidence that Proverbs 27:11 isn’t a staple in a parent’s parenting toolbox but perhaps it should be along with other verses pointed toward children and the way they are to behave, verses like “Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you (Exodus 20:12).” Acting in wisdom goes a long way toward living in a way that honors your parents, wouldn’t you agree?

Friends, the word of God is in our hands to help us deal with all matters of righteous living. Want to know how to live in a way that’s in accordance with God’s will and way? Read and obey and follow His holy word. We should be instructing our children in this truth consistently and persistently, whether young or adult. My two girls are 31 and 27 now. They both would tell you that their father is constantly sharing the word of God with them as they seek to find their purposes in His kingdom. We all should be taking this stance for when we do, when we invoke the word of God in all our counsel, then we speak wisdom to our children and drive them toward seeking wisdom themselves. This was what Solomon was doing in this proverb and in doing so, leading us by example.

Note that when we encourage our children to be wise, when we live wisely ourselves, we help our children, our sons and daughters, to be wise also and through that wisdom, they, as well as their parents, receive the blessing of doing so. The children live in righteousness and the favor of the Lord through obedient conformity to His will and way and word. The parents, also living wisely, are blessed the same way but gain an additional blessing. For when their children live in wisdom, the parents can answer anyone who speaks to them with contempt about the way they parented. For any criticism brought against them will not be validated by the actions of their children.

This single verse is incredibly powerful and important to all who have children and for the children they have. Today and beyond, let’s take some time to discuss it and the ultimate wise truths it contains. All parents and their children will do nothing but benefit from doing so.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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

Send any prayer requests to OurChristianWalk@aol.com