The Deep End

A while back, I pointed out three things from the Bible that parents should be for their children: Be an encourager; be an enforcer; be an example.

This time, I want to talk about three things parents should do for their children.

No. 1: Pray for your kids.

The Bible says to pray without ceasing (I Thessalonians 5:17). I know many times when I ask the Holy Spirit to help me know what to pray for, He brings my children to my mind.

When you pray for your children, pray for their safety.

[A Song of degrees for Solomon.] Except the LORD build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the LORD keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.

Psalm 127:1

I can think of numerous times that God protected my children from danger when I wasn’t around to do it.

Pray for their future. I’m even praying for three little jerks that will want to marry my daughters one day, if it’s God’s will that they get married.

Pray for your children to have wisdom.

No. 2: Play with your kids.

Lectures are good. Bible study devotions are good. But one of the greatest areas of training is just in day to day living. Take some time out – spend time with your children. There should not be a difference between “God time” and “real life” in our families. With God’s help, you can make a Bible lesson out of swimming in a lake, hitting a softball, or teaching a teen-aged child how to drive a car.

I have had the chance to visit with a few people on their death beds. These people did not wish they had worked more overtime. They did not wish they had killed one more deer, or caught a bigger bass. They did not wish they done a better job mowing their grass to keep up with their neighbors. They wished they had spent more time with their kids.

The LORD shall increase you more and more, you and your children. Ye are blessed of the LORD which made heaven and earth. The heaven, even the heavens, are the LORD’S: but the earth hath he given to the children of men.

Psalm 115:14-16

God wants us to enjoy our children. Take the time to play with your kids.

No. 3: Pay attention to your kids.

It’s easy to fall into the trap of being too busy for our kids, but even easier to fall into the trap of not having the patience to listen to our kids. “Thanks, Honey, I’ll just stick that coloring sheet in my Bible and look at it later.”

When my patience is being tried by that long story about how Sally said her hair ribbon was yellow when my daughter knew it was really orange, I need to realize that, at that moment, this story is very important to her, and she needs to see that it is important to me, too.

How does God listen when I pray? Is He bored, and wishing I would wrap it up? No, He hears my prayer about finding a parking space just like He hears my prayer that my friend will be healed from cancer.

Dad, it may take 15 minutes teach your son how to pull nails with a hammer under your careful supervision, when it would only take you 2 minutes to do the whole job by yourself. But how excited will your son be the next day, when he tells his friends about it? What will he learn in 15 minutes about hard work, about being careful, about a dad who’s willing to help him feel like a little man?

What parents should be for their children: Encouragers, Enforcers, Examples.

What parents should do for their children: Pray, Play, and Pay attention.