Family
Flower gardens, vegetable gardens, vineyards, apple orchards, and orange groves all begin with seeds. A child is like a young, tender seed in God’s garden. The garden of souls is like any other; the seed grows and produces good fruit when it receives careful attention.
Even someone who has never had a garden understands that seeds require proper care to grow productive fruit. The seeds of Abraham are no exception. Water daily with Good News, feed them with God’s Word and fertilize with prayer. Frequently pluck away the weeds of sin—such as jealousy, hatred, anger, self-satisfaction and worldly desires. Otherwise, the seed will be deprived of nourishing water and Sonshine, which will allow the weeds of sin to take over.
Neglecting the seed will cause it to perish. Even when proper care is given and the seed seems to be failing to thrive, don’t give up on it. Special attention and proper care will almost always assure productive growth when it finally reaches maturity. Some seeds may simply take a little longer to reach spiritual maturity, or sometimes weeds of sin sneak in to try and ruin our attempt to provide a good harvest for God. Still, the difficult seed can become part of the good harvest if we continue to nurture it.
Parents have the important task of taking care of God’s most precious creation—children. Feeding them and clothing them are essential, but directing children to the right path that leads to God is the main task as Proverbs 22:6 states. The word “right” can refer to: truth, honesty, goodness, morality, fairness, and justice. When a person learns and keeps these virtues, God protects them. Without these virtues, there are gaps that allow sin to creep in.
Our job as parents is to see that our children get these lessons and not simply assume others are doing this for us. Parents should be the lead role models for their children. Neither teachers, babysitters nor a group of young peers should be substitutes for our parental duties. Even if they go to church, practice making sure they are being taught the truth. The world is full of false prophets as was made clear in the books of Jeremiah and Ezekiel.
Without divine guidance, our children will go to hell. Take a moment to dwell on the image of your child suffering in hell for eternity with no rest from the horrifying tortures. Any parent who pictures their child burning, crying, screaming and thirsting forever should be heartbroken and reserve time to protect their children from this ceaseless punishment.
Take your role seriously. It isn’t like throwing out bread crumbs for children to follow. Our Christ-like actions need to burn an image of proper life procedures into their minds and hearts. Even if you think they aren’t watching or listening, continue to express your faith so they can fall back on that when the world tries to lure them off the right path. Teach them that pleasing God should be their goal and not pleasing themselves or the world.
Spend more time with your children, read the Bible to them and live a Christian life in front of them. Practice patience instead of anger, trust instead of jealousy, prayer instead of unkind words. Live the Golden Rule of Matthew 7:12 to treat others the way you want to be treated and NOT to mistreat others when they mistreat you. Teach children to refrain from anger and avoid the temptation to lash out with harsh words as stressed in Proverbs 14:29 and James 1:19.
The branches of salvation extend from one generation to the next when loyalty and reverence for the Master is practiced. God loves those who obey Him as we read in Psalms 103:17. Place emphasis on how important a relationship with God is. Atonement (at one with God) is God’s purpose for us. He desires our friendship. Living right and helping others to live right is the way to gain God’s friendship. Teach children to seek friends who share this thought, but remind them that no earthly friend is more important than God.
It is important to be sure children understand the boundaries and rules to prepare them for the journey so that once they leave us, they will continue to follow the path and walk with God. Teach them to avoid sin, and the next generation will be rooted on the right path as well.
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