About the Material
It has been said that having a child is like having our hearts walking around outside our bodies. Our children can represent a plethora of dreams and emotions. They carry with them our joys and aspirations, as well as our sorrows and fears. All parents can attest that parenting is a daunting task in all aspects of our lives. It is hard work. It places us in a position where we have to give of ourselves sacrificially. We desire to be loving parents who will always take into account what’s best for our children in every decision we make.
If we look at what the Bible says about parenting, it will carry even more weight. To make us understand the depth of His love for us, God used the relationship between parents and children. He is our Father. As His children, He takes good care of us. He showed us a sacrificial kind of love by sending His one and only Son to die on the cross for us. Therefore, parenthood is God’s design and is meant to be a reflection of His love. We are given the huge responsibility of representing God’s love to our children. We are called to love our children as God loves them. This means being patient, kind, and forgiving. It also means being willing to sacrifice for our children, and to put their needs above our own. There’s no way we can do this on our own. We need God and the guidance He provides in His word.
“𝘏𝘦𝘢𝘳, 𝘖 𝘐𝘴𝘳𝘢𝘦𝘭: 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘓𝘖𝘙𝘋 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘎𝘰𝘥, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘓𝘖𝘙𝘋 𝘪𝘴 𝘰𝘯𝘦. 𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘓𝘖𝘙𝘋 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘎𝘰𝘥 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘴𝘰𝘶𝘭 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘮𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵. 𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘥𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘐 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘰𝘥𝘢𝘺 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘣𝘦 𝘰𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘵. 𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮 𝘥𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘭𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥𝘳𝘦𝘯, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘬 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘴𝘪𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘴𝘦, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘢𝘭𝘬 𝘣𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘺, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘭𝘪𝘦 𝘥𝘰𝘸𝘯, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘦. 𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘣𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮 𝘢𝘴 𝘢 𝘴𝘪𝘨𝘯 𝘰𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘥, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘣𝘦 𝘢𝘴 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘭𝘦𝘵𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘵𝘸𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘦𝘺𝘦𝘴. 𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘸𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘰𝘰𝘳𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘵𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘨𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘴.” 𝗗𝗘𝗨𝗧𝗘𝗥𝗢𝗡𝗢𝗠𝗬 𝟲:𝟰-𝟵
God commands that we teach our children about Him and His ways, so that they may know and follow Him all the days of their lives. Proverbs 22:6 states that we are 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘶𝘱 𝘢 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘨𝘰 and 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘩𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘰𝘭𝘥 𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘥𝘦𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘪𝘵. As Christians, our most important task as parents is to ensure that our children will grow up knowing God and His ways. This includes not only teaching them about God’s word, but also modeling a godly lifestyle and teaching them how to pray and worship God.
Sometimes, we may feel that in order to train our children in God’s ways, we need to “fix” them whenever something is off. We turn to what we think is the best method of discipline. We look at our children’s behavior as a gauge to measure our effectiveness as parents. But parenting is not just hard work; it is heart work. Before we look at what we do or do not do as parents, we must first look at our hearts and understand why we are doing what we are doing.
We have to realize that as humans, we carry a sinful nature. Families nowadays can be very complex and far from God’s original design. When we surrendered our lives to Christ, the process of transformation into Christlikeness started. But this process will take a lifetime. Therefore, no matter how much we love our children and how much we want to obey God’s mandate to us as parents, we will fall short. The good news is that God is always at work to bring families together and back to His original design and purpose.
Parenting our children will be a journey with its own peaks and valleys. As we journey together with our children, we will experience the manifestation of our sinful nature and the restoration that God brings. As we continue to walk with God, He will expose both our hearts and our children’s hearts in order to change us into the image of Christ. This material provides general truths and principles that would help us in discerning God’s specific direction on how we should parent our children. May this material strengthen our confidence in God’s power and grace to change our hearts, mold us to be more like Christ, and empower us as parents to fulfill our God-given task of raising our children in God’s ways.
𝑇𝑜𝑝𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑙 𝑀𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑎𝑙 𝐶𝑜𝑛𝑡𝑟𝑖𝑏𝑢𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑠:
𝑃𝑎𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑟 𝐸𝑟𝑛𝑖𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑀𝑖𝑐ℎ𝑒𝑙𝑙𝑒 𝐴𝑟𝑎𝑔𝑜𝑛
𝑃𝑎𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑟 𝐵𝑜𝑗𝑜 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑅𝑜𝑛𝑛𝑎 𝐵𝑜𝑛𝑖𝑓𝑎𝑐𝑖𝑜
𝑃𝑎𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑟 𝐶ℎ𝑖𝑐𝑜 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑀𝑎𝑟𝑦 𝐴𝑛𝑛𝑒 𝑃𝑒𝑛̃𝑎
𝑃𝑎𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑟 𝐿𝑎𝑟𝑟𝑦 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑌𝑒𝑡 𝑈𝑦
