LifeLink Devotions for Monday, May 20, 2024

What expectations do you have for what your children will be when they grow up? That’s an important question. But here’s an even more important one. How are you seeking to control their lives so they meet your expectations?

I see so many parents micro-managing their children’s lives to accomplish their own personal goals in life, and I believe that’s why we see so many frustrated and rebellious children. But there is a solution, and it’s found in Proverbs 22:6, which says, “Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.” 

This verse gives us our third wisdom principle for parenting. The responsibility of a parent is to train the child to become the fullness of whom God created them to be, not to become what we wish they would be.

It is vital that we understand the phrase “in the way he should go” in today’s verse. It does not mean that we as parents get to determine what they will be when they grow up. The Hebrew expression means to train them “according to their natural bent.” It is the wonderful privilege of a parent to observe the natural strengths and abilities of their child and then train them, within the context of God’s righteousness, to become all that God created them to be. So many parents make the mistake of imposing their desires on their children, and the children go through life rebelling because inside they know the real person God created has not been allowed to bloom.  It would be very unwise to expect our children to pursue our goals for them when God made them for a different purpose. It is very wise of our children to pursue the fullness of what God made them to be.

We will experience ultimate joy when we see our children fulfilling God’s purpose for their lives. Here’s how King Solomon sees it.

Prov. 23:24-25  “The father of a righteous man has great joy; he who has a wise son delights in him. May your father and mother be glad; may she who gave you birth rejoice!”

Train your children in God’s righteousness, but let God show them His purpose for their lives. That’s wise parenting.

Pastor John