| By Lynda Keren |
Parenting is a privilege and a responsibility.
The world has a lot of ideas on children and parenting. However, the timeless principles in God’s word always stand true. In 1 Peter 5:2, the apostle refers to the sheep as God’s flock. In the same way, our children belong to God.
Children are entrusted to our care only for a season of our life. Though the relationship lasts a lifetime, the dynamics of parenting keep changing through different ages of the child.
Every child is a beautiful creation of God and bears the image of God. However, as Charles Swindoll says, they have gifts to be nurtured and bents to be worked on. Just like sheep require watchful shepherds, we are called to be watchful in our parenting. We need to guard our children from various dangers that war against their soul. Careful discipline is necessary to bring a wandering child back.
One of the goals of discipline and correction is to provide the external structure that the child should internalise. God’s law should be written in the heart of the child (Prov:3:1). This will help the child to be lawful to God by himself when he grows to be a mature adult. So our children can be like Daniel who resolved in his heart not to defile himself even when he has no human authority to watch over him.