Transcript:

Hello, this is Pastor Don of Christ Redeemer Church. Welcome to The Kingdom Perspective.

If parenting is anything, it is a divinely mandated opportunity to grow in patience.

Now, for many of us, this suggestion may feel like a cruel joke, or at least somewhat tone deaf to the painful madness of parenting in the real world. We are tired of being patient!

Patience is perhaps the most difficult virtue. It takes work. Hard work. But, no pain; no gain.

Perhaps you know the old joke: you should never ask the Lord to grow you in patience—for the only way God can answer that prayer is to allow challenging people or problems into your life. Situations that force you to bear up underneath—to wait! Indeed, the New Testament word for patience, quite literally, means “long tempered” or “long suffering”.

Nonetheless, St. Paul lists patience first in his description of what love is (1 Corinthians 13). “Love is patient. Love is kind.” Etc. Indeed, patience belongs to the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23). So, we can be assured that patience is exactly what Jesus is working in us.

Now, to assist you in your parenting, I’d like to direct you to some helpful resources. The book Parenting with Patience: Overcoming Anger in your Home by Chap Bettis is excellent. Likewise, Parenting by Paul David Tripp provides a good overview. Go to the transcript of this podcast on our website for details and for more suggestions.

Bottom line: we grow in our patience when we feast on Jesus’s patience toward us.

Something to think about from The Kingdom Perspective.

“Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. ‘Honor your father and mother’ (this is the first commandment with a promise), ‘that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land.’ Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.”

~Ephesians 6:1-4 (ESV)

“Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord. Fathers, do not provoke your children, lest they become discouraged.”

~ Colossians 3:20-21 (ESV)

Some parenting resources:

• Parenting with Patience by Chap Bettis
• Grace-Based Parenting by Tim Kimmel
• Parenting by Paul David Tripp