The Significance of a Mom, Part 2

June, 2005

by: Brock Bolde

If you were asked to state your most important job as a parent, how would you answer? Would you say that the most important job is to make sure that your children are happy and kept from harms way? Would it be making sure that they get a good education so that they can make a good living and live comfortably in this world? Would it be to have your children excel in sports or the playing of an instrument? Would it be to have children that are socially adept and well liked? What is your most important job? This question must be answered by every parent and how they answer it will reveal a lot about their faithfulness in training up their children in the way they should go! The most important thing that you and I can do for our children is to teach them the truths that are found in God’s Word; the greatest thing that we can do for them is to proclaim the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. This Good News “is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God” (1 Corinthians 1:18).

I doubt that any of you reading this article would, in theory, deny the supremacy of teaching your children the Gospel. Many an article has been written about this subject with many more slotted to follow. And yet, if an inventory were to be taken of your home, how much time would you say is being devoted to this task? How purposeful are you at teaching your child that he or she is a sinner desperately in need of a Savior? How much time do you take to explain the Bible to your children? In a little book entitled “Agape Leadership”, Robert Peterson and Alexander Strauch make a rather profound statement when they write – “One cannot teach the Bible unless one knows the Bible” (p. 14). As parents, we must know the Word of God and instruct our children to live in accordance with what it teaches. A parent who has not taken the time to study God’s Word will be of little use in leading their child to the foot of the Cross. Hebrews 4:12 tells us that “the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” According to Ephesians 6:17, it is the “sword of the Spirit,” the only offensive weapon that is to be found in the Christian’s armor. The Word of God is powerful and we must yield it wisely and often if we are to change the hearts of our children. I want to implore each and every parent reading this article to be a student of the Word. If you truly believe that the Bible is the very Word of God then I beseech you to act like it. Read it, study it, meditate on it – let it do what only it can do! Let it change your heart from a heart of stone to a heart of flesh and in the process, let it impact the life of your child. What I am writing is nothing new; this is no great secret that has not been heard before. But I’m afraid that for many this message has fallen on deaf ears. Many of us are failing to heed these words. As a result, we are training up a generation that is lukewarm to the things of God. While they are being told that the Word of God is important for their lives, too many of our children are seeing that it is the other things that really matter. Now some of you may be thinking that I’m writing to those families that go to the church back east somewhere, but let me challenge you to think through what’s being written. Ask yourselves some heart searching questions. If you were to ask your child, without spoon-feeding him the desired answer, what would he say was of the utmost importance to you regarding his life? Do you spend more time working on your child’s baseball swing than you do on his character? Do you push them to hide God’s Word on their hearts as hard as you push them to complete their piano lessons? We live in a day and age where many things are vying for our focus and attention. May God help us to be a group of parents whose actions match our professed desires!