The Christian Home

The responsibilities and obligations of parenthood are multifaceted and awesome! Few of us will really appreciate and acknowledge the tremendous responsibility that is ours when we bring children into this world. Our children at the moment of their birth are destined for joy or sorrow, heaven or hell and so much of this destiny is squarely upon the shoulders of the parents. Few of us, upon the birth of our children, realize the tremendous capabilities of development. They will develop into a blessing or a curse, into a Paul or Judas, a Deborah or a Jezebel, into an angel or a devil.

Upon parents rests the responsibility of teaching the word of the Lord. It has always been so, "Hear, 0 Israel. Jehovah our God is one Jehovah: and thou shalt love Jehovah thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be upon thy heart; and thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thy house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up" (Deuteronomy 6:4-7). Ours is still to nurture in the admonition of the Lord, "Fathers, provoke not your children, that they be not discouraged" (Colossians 3:21).

As parents we must recognize the needs of our children and provide for them, "But if any provideth not for his own, and specially his own household, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an unbeliever" (1 Timothy 5:8). The greatest of these needs is the spiritual development of each individual child; and development takes time! This time is required to develop a companionship, partnership and cooperation to bring about their spiritual maturity. It cannot come in any other way! Don't you dare believe otherwise.

Many of us trade a life for a living. Everyone is pressed for time to earn a living. Yet, "a living" is not the most important thing, a life is. Parents all over our land are scrambling daily to make more money so they can buy more and better things, but, oh, what a price they are paying! Because they want bigger and better houses, boats, cars and vacations millions of children are

dying of carnage on the marital highway, through neglect and loneliness. Because they have a void of parental time, care, love and appreciation the young people can fill the void with drugs, alcohol, rock music and lust. They can spend time with thieves, drunks, prostitutes, doctors and psychiatrists. There is plenty of time and money for them.

Parents can fill their days and nights with work, sports and hobbies, while the children wait! We are wasting the best when we waste our children. You can build empires, amass wealth and riches, become proficient in sports and enjoy your hobbies world without end, but your influence on and in the lives of your children will haunt you in the end and throughout eternity!

Never underestimate the power of influence on your children. David sowed immorality (too many wives and murder) and reaped an Absolom! David's cry of anguish should always ring in our ears as we waste the golden moments of our children's lives, "And the king was much moved, and went up to the chamber over the gate, and wept: and as he went thus he said, 0 my son Absalom, my son, Absalom! Would I had died for thee, 0 Absalom, my son, my son!" (2 Samuel 18:33), alas too little too late! Too Little, Too Late!

Thus is revealed the eternal principle of sowing and reaping. This great tragedy is relearned by millions of parents in every generation. All too soon the opportunity is gone, the children are grown and gone forever. While we were "busy here and there, and they are gone." All of us plan to do better someday and someday never comes. We cannot afford to wait! Drop whatever you are doing and choose the better thing - the rearing of your children according to the eternal principles of God. The rewards are overwhelming; do it now, do it today, do it! Things, pleasures and even work must come second to our children. God was never so busy, that He couldn't hear His son. God was never so busy, that He let anything get between Him and His Son! How about you? What is coming between you and your children? What are you going to do about it?

-- Andrew M. Connally