Happy mother’s day ! How many mothers are here
this morning? You are a mother because you have a child. You are a mother
because you have a responsibility. Children are a gift from God (Ps 127:3) They
are like arrows and happy is the man who has many (Ps127:5). If you are not a
parent, at least you are a child and so God wants you to take your
responsibility. It is the responsibility of parents to train their children
just as the children have the responsibility to obey their parents and help
their parents. That is what they are supposed to do and so parents are like
discipling their children in all things.
That means your child can only be like you for luke
6:40 says the disciple is not more than the master, but can only be as good as
the master. Being a parent is not enough to deliver. It is more than that! You
need to guide and direct the child. That is what makes you a parent. You need
to know the child’s friends whom you can allow and those you discourage; if
they are dangerous to the life of your child. If parents fail in their
responsibility to raise their children in godly manner, the next generation
after us will be a terrible world to live in. we’ll not want to raise thieves.
Do we?
We would not like to be parents of
-
Homosexuals
-
‘Mbanga’ or marijuana smokers
-
Drug addicts
-
Fornicators No! But if we really do not want that,
then we need to take our responsibility as parents.
There are many of us who are just happy that we have
children. We are parents! The question is how parent are you? Are you really
parenting your child? If you are not providing all that the child needs then
you are not a parent. You are not better than animals and let me tell you that
even animals take care of their young ones.
How can
we train or raise our children?
1.
Build
the character of the child
a. Your
child must understand sin and the need for a savior. That is the way you have
to train your child. The way is to Christ; so that when they grow they will not
depart from it.
b. Moses
commanded that the word of God be taught diligently to your children (Deut
6:6-7) Talk about God always to your children. In the morning, during the day
and in the night.
Family devotion is your tool and the father as the
head of the family should lead this devotion (Eph 5:23) read!
The mother is not exempted because she must lead when
the husband is not available. In your teaching:
-
Sing
-
Read
-
Meditate on the Bible
-
Pray
-
Memorize scriptures.
These are the ways you can train your children. Your
child can only be like you and so you must influence them by doing these
yourself and practicing what the Bible says.
2.
Direct
their performance (Let them have a focus in life)
From the tender age you need to instruct and direct
your child because the child will be difficult to change when old. There’s an
adage which says “You cannot bend and old tree”.
a. Direct
and make them used to Christian work and help them to love doing it to their
abilities (2 Thess 3:10-12)
b. Make
them to be hard working, let them not slack for lazy hands become poor (Prov
10:4) rd
c. Give
them responsibilities and help them to achieve it without punishing but
encouraging (Eph 6:4). Do not allow your child to idle. Idle children will only
pray for their parents to die so that they inherit wealth. When this wealth
disappear they become thieves and rebels in the society. Prov 26:24 tells us
that wealth can be volatile.
3.
Take
time alone to talk with your children and show them love
a.
Every child has his needs different from the others
b.
Appreciate them, correct and rebuke in love to handle
issues in their life before they grow old.
I do my best to make sure that my children are with me
during the holidays and I try my best to study them, play with them and teach
them. That way I try to identify things to correct in them and the focus their
energy in the things I want them to grow in.
I make sure I direct the interest if the children to
those things I want them to like. This can only be possible when the child is
young. There are some children who will not want to learn but when you make
them see the interest they become very good and intelligent.
No child is born foolish but if you allow the child
the child can grow foolish. There are some who will continue to listen to you
even when they become big because of the impact to bestow on them. The young
Guy from India who visited us last week is an example of a child I impacted
values in. even at his master’s degree in actuarial science he still writes to
me from abroad to ask for advice when he has to take decisions in his
studies.
4.
Discipline
the children when they disobey your instructions
a. To
discipline is to correct, to educate and train so that they can grow and
change.
b. It
is not only by punishment but also to instruct so that the person become
discipline. When they says somebody is discipline, it means that person is
focused, and is doing that which he/she has been instructed
c. The
Lord disciplines those He loves (Heb 12:6). If we love our children, then let’s
teach them and train them. That is discipline! Your child should be your
disciple. You should be proud to here some body say “like father like son” or
“like mother like daughter” or whatever likes.
Are you ashamed when you hear people say “like father like son” or “like mother like daughter”? Then you have
not disciple your child well. A parent who trains well his/her children is
proud to hear such words. He/She is ready to tell friends that “This my child is walking in my shoes”.
That is what God wants you to do.
d. The
Bible also recommends the rod of correction on wayward children (Prov 13:24,
Prov 29:15)read
e. Some
parents are afraid to correct their children when they disobey them. I tell you
that if that child dies because of the waywardness, God will request his/her
blood from your head. You must discipline your child in:
§ Poor
dressing
§ Absence
from classes
§ Drunkenness
§ Fornication
§ Stealing
and lies telling
§ Bitterness
to others (There are some children who are just angry with others for no cause.
Perhaps they copied from their parents)
§ Smoking
etc
As you discipline them, do not annoy your children. Be
reasonable when directing them. Let it be to the measure and not more. Eg. My
children know that you cannot call any person an animal (“nyam” in the dilect);
because I do not allow them. The moment I hear that from them I take a cane.
Last time when I visited them, my son welcomed me and the next statement he
told me was that “no one has said “nyam”
in this house Daddy”. Because he knows I will not allow.
Be yourself disciplined (be self-controlled) and your
children will copy from you. If you call people animals, your children will
call others like that. If you treat people bad, do not expect your children to
do different. In fact you are training an army against you when you train your
children to attack others. When they will not have a battle to fight, they will
come back to you.
Hello
mothers! Teach your children to love, and they will love you in return. Teach
them to fight others and they will fight you when the time comes. You will reap
of your own labour.
5.
Develop
your children into maturity (1 Cor 13:11) read
a. The
Bible tells us that Jesus grew in wisdom and statue and in favour with God and
man (Luke 6:32). His parents nurtured Him, He learned from rabbis to grow
intellectually.
b. Parents
should provide for their children. They need food, clothes, to go to school, to
learn a trade and bring them to order. There are some parents who deliver and
abandon. They are not true parents. Real parents and those who take care after
they deliver.
c. Teach
them to share with the needy and those suffering. Help them make good friends
and to socialize so that they will not be social misfits when they grow old.
d. Let
them respect authority in and out of home. They must respect their parents else
they’ll not respect any one out there.
Hello children! You also have your responsibility
towards your parents. The Bible commands children to obey their parents so that
their days may be long here on earth.
Children should care for their parents even when still
young so that they will not depart from it when they grow old. Prov 23:22-24
tells us that wise children make their parents happy.
When I was between 7 and 11 years I fetched firewood
and sold. At times I will sell a bunch of firewood just for 75 Fcfa. Some days
100 Fcfa. And what I did with my money was that I buy a box of ‘match’ for 15
Fcfa and salt for 25 Fcfa which I’ll take home to my mother. Some days I will
buy 2 or 3 boxes of match to my grandmother. They were so happy and that became
a habbit that I could not stop doing giving to my mother even to the days she
passed on to glory.
Some of us do not take care of our parents even when
we have enough. Why? Because you never learned this truth. Teach your children
else you shall reap the same fruit when you get old. How many of us today have
sent something to our mothers or fathers? What about this past month? It is
time you start doing it.
Many of us shift blames to the society for corrupting
your children where as you are to blame for failing to teach them.
1 comment:
Wonderful message to the moms.Great is our responsibility indeed!May God help us to be moms after His own heart.
Norah Njini
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