The second little boy said, What are you worried about? It sounds like you have it made in the shade with a glass of lemonade. The first boy answered, I’m worried they might try to escape!
And well they may, for parenting is tough work. We are trying to help somebody out who is parenting a prodigal right now. Here are some precious points you may have missed last Sunday.
- You have an inalienable spiritual right to define your own life according to Bible principles (and this includes your parenting). This is why Satan makes it such a struggle for you to make good personal choices.
- Your control over your children is not deigned to be permanent. As they approach the teenage years there is a power transfer, but we will leave that discussion for a later Sunday..
- SIDEBAR: You need to learn to manage your credit as well as your income. Say, "Hello somebody!" Oh, it’s never too late to live within your own income, because it will help you be who you should have been all along..
- When you see something wrong, stop doing it. (I just gave you the answer!)
The crowd always thins-out when the going gets thick. How'd you miss that, all these years?.
- Thank God he deals with us according to who we are in Christ, not according to who we are!.
Okay, those were just nuggets, we need to get jiggy with it and start heaving the ore. Our thesis was that parenting is a tough job because it requires you to have godliness in yourself, and reproduce it in your kids, in order to see it multiplied in life.
I find that many people are confused about the purpose of parenting. The purpose of parenting is to provide a secure environment that shelters children from certain temptations as they grow up, until they reach the age that God wants them to take personal responsibility for themselves. That means, the evil day is going to come to all of our children, and our job as parents is to remind them of their creator and give them God’s armor so they will be able to stand when they are tested, Eccl 12:1; Eph 6:4,13. Just remember, the character of your parenting is defined by the quality of your preparing your child, not by whether they successfully use that preparation to make adult choices. Okay, can I point you to some
Parenting Imperatives
#1. As long as your children are small, you must be large and in charge to bend their will without breaking their spirit.
#2. Kids want control sooner than we want to give it, and they deserve it sooner than we are willing to release it.
#3. Prepare your teenager to take control of who they are.
#4. You cannot lead like Jesus unless you are following Jesus.
#5. Sometimes your kids won’t recognize how good their old man was, till they hook up with the new one, who is sure enough a fool!
What about parenting the prodigal? (Luke 15:11-20)
A. Their restoration starts with recognition, 17a, 1 John 1:9
B. Recognition will proceed to realization, 17b
C. Realization comes with an internal act of remembrance, 18-19
D. Restoration ends at the point at which he is ready to return, 20
We are trying to give you a paradigm (an example that serves as a model or form) as a pattern for perfected parenting. The tentative study schedule for the rest of December is:
Perfecting Our Parenting
Sunday, Dec 9 — Paradigm for Parenting Ages 1-12, Prov 22:6
Sunday, Dec 16 — Paradigm for Parenting Ages 13-19, Prov 1:8-9
Sunday, Dec 23 — Rescuing At-Risk Children, 1 Sam 4:19-22
Sunday, Dec 30 — Painting Over Your Flaws, 2 Sam 13:1-22
Sunday, Jan 6 — Blended Family Functionality, Prov 24:3-4
