Christian Parenting

Good Morning Everyone,

I decided I'd start today's blog by answering a question posed about last weeks blog. Whether or not Jesus had long hair. While it is impossible to know for sure whether Jesus' hair was long or short because no image of him has been found one can assume that Jesus' hair was short as it was the custom of the day to wear one's hair short, the one exception to this is if someone was under a Nazerite Vow than they would wear their hair long. While Jesus was a Nazarene it can be assumed he was not under a Nazerite Vow because if he was he would have to refrain from wine and laying hands on the dead, or so I'm told. In truth this is all way over my head but you asked so I found answers.

Now on to what I learned about the Bible this week. The Bible is full of references on how to properly raise your child. I find this extremely fascinating because this is truly a book that is a guide to life. The disciples where writing self help books long before it became the rage of the modern day, and yet how many knowledgeable people today pick up the Bible and read it as a guide to life? Dose anyone else see the irony in this?

The Bible speaks volumes on discipline. It gives specific instructions as to how we are supposed to gear the discipline of a child; Proverbs 13: 24 He who spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him is careful to discipline him. Proverbs 19: 18 Discipline your children while you still have the chance; Indulging them destroys them. Hebrews 12:11 No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it. But the Bible also talks about the discipline of the parents should they fail in raising a righteous child 1 Samuel 3:13 For I told him that I would judge his family forever because of the sin he knew about; his sons made themselves contemptible, and he failed to restrain them.

Hasn't every child at one time or another made themselves contemptible? Being contemptible by definition is being willful and obstinate, disobedient and showing a lack of respect. That one word sums every child I've ever know at least some of the time. The Lord knows my children are guilty of it. So I think with these passages the Bible has summed up the problems that all parents face everyday, and to be good Christian Parents we have to nip it in the but so to say.
However that isn't popular thinking when the general consensus of the time is that parents want their children to "like" them. I know many mother's personally that want to have their daughters treat them like a friend, and want to be able to hang out with their daughter's and their daughter's friends, and while I must admit sometimes the thought is appealing it is by no means acceptable.

You can hang out with your kids when they're adults, when you've done your job raising them, and when they are no longer accountable to you for their actions, but are accountable to God and themselves. I love the relationship I have with my children, and I hope that relationship will stay strong throughout the upcoming teenage years that are right around the corner. I know that I have to remain a figure of authority in my house however tempting it maybe to play the role of a friend. I want my children to grow up in a loving, healthy, safe environment that can be a refuge from the real world until they are ready to enter it, and I want to teach my children to be good Christians and give them an example of a good Christian parent so that they may grow up and be the same for their kids.