How to Love Your Children Titus 2:3-4 CLICK TITLE FOR AUDIO
In this passage we see that the aged women are to teach the younger women to love their husbands and their children. On the surface this may seem odd because you would think that you would not have to teach a mother to love her children. The problem is there are many things done out of love that may or may not be good for children. In this lesson we will show some types of the wrong kind of love for children and what our goal should be when it comes to loving our children.
Types of the wrong kind of love for our children:
1) Worldly Love vs. Godly Love (Proverbs 13:24)
- It is amazing how many saved parents will spend tons of money and time on books and other worldly advice on how to raise their children when the word of God has the right information without error on the subject.
- Take the verse above biblically speaking if there is no discipline then there is no love. Granted every child is different and there are many different ways of discipline, but we have all but removed discipline from children over the past 40 years and what are the results? Would you say that children and society is better off today than 40 years ago.
- Another good example of this worldly wisdom verses Godly wisdom is shown when the subject of vaccinating your children comes up today. There are many different thoughts and ideas and many times the exchanges of these ideas are heated and lead to arguments. What amazes me is that whether parents or for or against vaccinations they can give you article after article, statistic after statistic, and countless information on the subject but when asked for 5 to 10 Bible verse on the subject of how God says that they should raise their children they cannot produce them.
- Whether it is the subject of vaccinations or discipline whatever is decided is most likely based on love but is it worldly love or Godly love.
2) Misplaced Love (1 Samuel 2:29)
- In 1 Samuel 2-4 we see that the sons of Eli were wicked and that Eli did not restrain them. For this God said that Eli honored his children before him. Therefore they were idols.
- Many times parents will let their children or the wants of their children come before God or what is right when this is done the children become idols. Whenever love something more than God it is an idol. Therefore loved misplaced is idolatry.
- Parents will sometimes say “I don’t want my child to suffer” or I want my child to have it better than I had it”. These things are said out of love but what if God doesn’t you’re your child to have it better than you had it. Note in both of those phrases the key phrase is “I want or I don’t want”. It is really about the want of the parent and not the love of the child.
- In Colossians 3:5 we see that covetousness is idolatry.
3) Tough Love (Luke 15:11-32)
- In this passage we see the prodigal son. One of the hardest things to do is to watch your children go astray.
- Note in the passage that the other son knew what the prodigal had done in the far country, therefore the parents knew also.
- What did the parents do they stood firm and did not go and fix the problems for the child, that is tough love and it is very hard to do.
- Remember when the child leaves he burns the bridge not you therefore he is to return he must rebuild the bridge. If you build the bridge for him nothing in his world will change.
The Right Kind of Love:
With these examples of how to love children the wrong way, how in the world can you possible do it the right way? In John 17:19-24 we see some interesting verse on God’s love for his son Jesus Christ. Now I realize that we are not God, but if we are going to raise children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord then we should strive to love them the way that he loves us.
The more time you spend in God’s word and with God in prayer the more you understand this love and how God would have you to love your child. You should spend as much time as possible at church with your children and have them involved with church as well. You should also find someone that can give you Godly counsel from the word of God concerning your children and how to help them. Remember parents have strong emotional ties concerning their children and need someone who is not emotionally attached to help them many times.
The truth is that God has given you children if you have them and they are a heritage of the Lord. You should do everything in your power to raise them the way he would have you to raise them and not the way that you would raise them yourself.