The scriptures teach that children are very important to God. Biblically oriented parents are to consider their children as a trust and heritage from God. Parents gazing into the beautiful face of their new born baby are usually filled with awe, at the thought that this little life was created by them and belong to them. Christian parents can identify with these feelings, but there is an added dimension to our awe, because we know that the child is God’s creation too and only given to us for the time being.
God tells parents, (as Pharoh’s daughter told the mother of Moses) “Take this child…..nurse him for me………and I will give you a reward.” Ex.2-9. Thus, children are given to parents not as their Possession but as a Gift to the world through them. The privilege of raising a child for the glory of Christ is a great one. There is no other way in human experience to influence the life of another person more profoundly than by being a parent. Neglect of carelessness on the part of the parents may handicap their child for the rest of the life of the child.
This involves giving the child a good Christian upbringing. There is no more sacred duty we can fulfil as parents than to bring up our children in spiritual, mental and physical health. Here is an illustration:
Once upon a time, a farmer and his wife were looking around their orchard when they were astonished to see the king. Before they would speak, he walked across to them explaining, “Just the people I wanted to see!”
“We’re honoured” said the farmer, would you like to come indoors?”
“No thank you” answered the king, much to the relief of the farmer’s wife because her house was not in the condition, she would have wished it to be for a royal visit. “I find it very pleasant out here, so let’s just walk and talk, if you don’t mind”.
So, they strolled around the orchard in the gathering twilight.
“I ‘ve been looking around my kingdom” said the king, “trying to find just the right people and places for growing some special trees for me until they are ready to be transplanted into the palace garden. And I have decided that you are two of the right people and that this orchard is one of the right places. Would you be willing to take and grow the seed of one of my special trees?
“We would be delighted,” said the farmer and his wife agreed.
“Thank you” said the king and he stopped walking and he opened his hand to show them a tiny brown pip. The farmer took it, wrapped it carefully in his hand kerchief and put it in his pocked. Thus, they want on walking while the king explained how to look after the plant so that it would grow into the right shape and size.
“Be careful to prepare the ground well” he said, “making sure that nothing will hinder the roots from growing deep into the soil so that the plant will be straight and strong. If you tend it well, in time it should grow into a sturdy tree bearing glossy leaves, cloudy blossoms and glowing golden fruit in their season. I hope you will enjoy its beauty, shade and fruitfulness. When I am ready, I will send my gardeners for the tree and they will dig it up with great skill and transplant it to the place where I have chosen for it in my palace garden, where it will blossom forever.”
After entrusting the farmer and his wife with this task, the king departed.
Does this story make sense to us in the way He considers our children and the responsibility we have as parents?
In the Bible, in the book of Judges 13th chapter we read about a couple- Manoah and his wife, the parents of Samson. When they were told about the birth of Samson, they asked “O my Lord, please let the Man of God whom You sent come to us again and teach us what we shall do for the child who will be born.” One version rightly brings this out to depict the concern of parents for their child and their responsibility for him when they asked, “What is to be the rule for the boy’s life and work?” Manoah committed the whole upbringing of his unborn child to God. They would not plan the boy’s life to please themselves but fulfil the will of God. They were to take and follow God’s instructions and leave the child in God’s hands. They recognised that the child had a place in the purpose of God Thus they gladly accepted their position as agents for this purpose. Can each of us as parents accept our role?
Parents are not adequate within themselves to fulfil its requirements. God never expects His children to lean on their own resources in this giant venture. The basic principle of Psalm 127:1 relates to this point: Unless the Lord builds the house, They labour in vain who build it;.” Without the Lord’s wisdom strength, grace, love, understanding and patience, parents might labour in vain in all of their good intentions. Parenting is never a two-way relationship, rather it is three-way: God, Parents and the child.
