We will now look into the role of husbands and wives as parents. Parenting is a great responsibility entrusted to fathers and mothers by God. It can be a difficult and challenging job, but at the same time rewarding and fulfilling too. In the modern age parents face a lot challenges in bringing up children that was unheard of twenty years ago. Parents today have to deal with issues, which their parents never even thought about. We are living in days in which families are under direct attack by Satan. The world is getting increasingly opposed to the laws of the One who instituted families. Our mass media plays a major role in presenting a distorted picture of families and thus undermines the importance of it. With the advancement of technology and social media, the family values are being torn apart.
The modern society encourages children to shun rules and biblical truths. We hear an outcry against parents imposing 'old style' values upon their children. Children are now growing up in a society that does not define or distinguish what is right and wrong. Anti- family and anti-parent concepts get passed on to the children in schools and media. As a result, parental authority is disintegrating. Nevertheless, God still holds parents responsible for their children. They are to be trained and prepared for life within the short span of time they are with us. They need to be parented in a way that will cause them to face the world with confidence, courage, love, and kindness.
The future of the society is in the hands of our children and in fact children are our future. We must train them up the right way to build a secure tomorrow. It is important to cultivate a family environment of love, in order to help them experience a sense of belonging and security as they grow up in this wicked world. The God given responsibility of parenting must be taken seriously as we are accountable to God for these precious gifts entrusted to us. God views parents as stewards of their children.
Today's children battle with issues like drinking, drugs, homosexuality, immorality, pornography, depression etc. The modern gadgets, internet, television, smart phones add to the trouble. They have pressures from all sides as they grow up - from their parents, friends, society. Christian parents face the difficult task of raising children in such an environment. But the Bible gives us clear guidelines to raise our children in the fear and nurture of the LORD.
Parenting is a difficult task. It is an awesome responsibility and a sole privilege. Children do not automatically grow up the right way; they should be trained that way. Prov.22:6 says “Train up a child in the way he should go, Even when he is old he will not depart from it.” Eph.6:4 instructs the fathers to bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.
All the children actually belong to God, but God gives them into the hands of the parents for a short time to bring them up for God. Parental responsibility begins at the birth of a child and continues for many years. We can receive God's help and blessings as parents if we seek the help of God in this great task of raising children for God. It is to be remembered that no parent can be successful without God's special help in this great task.
The Bible talks about God's great care and love for children. See Matthew 18:3-6 “And He (Jesus) called a child to Himself and set him before them, and said, “Truly I say to you, unless you are converted and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever then humbles himself as this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever receives one such child in My name receives Me; but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him to have a heavy millstone hung around his neck, and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.” Jesus continues in V.10 “See that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you that their angels in heaven continually see the face of My Father who is in heaven.”
In talking about children, it is to be remembered with horror that there are millions of unborn babies killed every year through abortion. It is estimated that there have been more than 55 million abortions in the United States alone since 1973! (Consider the number of abortions in the rest of the world). Innumerable are the children who grow up neglected and abused by parents all over the world. No doubt, God will hold the parents responsible for these heinous crimes.
The Bible teaches clearly that it is God who gives children, "Behold, children are a gift of the Lord, the fruit of the womb is a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, so are the children of one's youth. Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them” (Ps.127:3)
Gen.30:1-2 "Now when Rachel saw that she bore Jacob no children, she became jealous of her sister; and she said to Jacob, “Give me children, or else I die.” Then Jacob's anger burned against Rachel, and he said, “Am I in the place of God, who has withheld from you the fruit of the womb?” We have other passages too in the scriptures to show that God is the one who closes and opens wombs. What do we do with a gift someone gives us? We thank the giver and keep the gift with great care. That is exactly what is to be done with the gift of children too.
Gen.1:28 says "and God blessed them and said unto them be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth and subdue it.” Children are important in the plan of God for this world. Let us see them from God's perspective and take care to bring them up for God.
Parenting is an area where we need lot of wisdom. Let us ask God for this wisdom because He has promised to give it to anyone who asks for it (James 1:5).
– John Kurian