Children

Jesus made it very clear that children are precious and deserve to be loved and respected. He said that if anyone would harm a child, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were tossed into the sea. (See Luke 17:2.) To harm a child--physically, emotionally, spiritually--is to incur the wrath of God.

Parents have the responsibility and privilege to raise their children in the nurture and wisdom and admonition of the Lord. Parents are charged that they provoke not their children to anger. (See Ephesians 6:4.)

That is not to say that children are not to be disciplined by their parents, but that the discipline administered is to be done in love, not in anger, with the best interests of the child at the heart of the actions of the parents.

By following the directions of the Lord in raising his offspring, a parent is assured, "Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it." Proverbs 22:6

What a godly parent invests into the lives and hearts of his children is instilled within them forever. His children will grow up with his values and he will in turn invest them in his children. Those godly character traits will abide through eternity.

Let us resolve that the "living epistles of our lives will indeed be read of all men," II Corinthians 3:2, especially by the young, so those who come behind us will always find us faithful to God and faithful to impart His truth to those whose lives touch ours.

We're their main example in life. Always good to bear that in mind. ~MV