These words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up.
Deuteronomy 6:6.7.
A Christian watched with wonder the first flight of two young owls. Their lesson was remarkably well organized under the control of the attentive parents who were perched on an electric cable to teach the young birds the rudiments of their first flight. Soon those owls would be hunting and feeding themselves, living and practising what their parents had taught them.
Those moments of initiation were a reminder of the role of Christian parents. How important it is to be ever within reach of our children and teach them through reading the Word of God all that sets forth the moral virtues of Jesus: obedience to the Father, humility, love, goodness, patience, uprightness, forgetting oneself etc.. This is truly the incontrovertible role of believing parents.
It is true that Jesus alone can lead our children to the faith needed to become their Saviour. But we can, at any rate, help them by showing a real affection for the Lord and His Word. Guiding them step by step in reading the Bible, we can mark out the pathway for them to follow day by day during their life. Our presence alongside them is necessary not only to provide their vital needs or their education, but also to acquaint them with the One who can save them. Let us ask God for the strength and the ability to fulfil this difficult parental task. Let us commit our children to Him in prayer. He loves them and will take care of them. But it is up to us to confide them to Him.
Image: By the Providence Lithograph Company – http://thebiblerevival.com/clipart/1902/deut8.jpg, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=16019794
