A Piece of My Mind

What Do Parents Do?

Apparently, the only requirement for being a parent these days is a sex drive. You don’t have to have a license, as in a marriage license, and no one requires any instruction on how to perform one of the most important jobs in the world. One of the greatest needs in our society is for someone to write a job description for being a parent.

In His Word, God has done just that. The major passages in the Bible on how to be a parent are in the books of Deuteronomy, Proverbs, Ephesians, and Colossians. These passages indicate that parents must love, teach, and discipline.

1. Love. Moses wrote, “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. And 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” (Deut. 6:5-7). Before parents teach their children, they must be lovers. They should love the Lord and each other (Eph. 5:25, Titus 2:4). As has often been said, ‘The greatest thing a father can do for his children is to love their mother.” Obviously, parents should love their children. Parents are to be, first and foremost, lovers.

2. Teach. Moses also mentions that parents are to diligently teach their children. Both parents are teachers. The children are students and the Word of God is the curriculum. While others such as pastors and school teachers may supplement the information given by parents, there is no substitute for parental example, education and exhortation. God’s philosophy of education begins with parents.

3. Discipline. Solomon says, “Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it” (Prov 22:6). Parents are not only to teach, they are to train their children. Training includes discipline. Solomon says,

“He who spares his rod hates his son, but he who loves him disciplines him promptly” (Prov. 13:24).
“Foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child; the rod of correction will drive it far from him” (Prov 22:15).
“The rod and rebuke give wisdom, but a child left to himself brings shame to his mother” (Prov 29:15).

Paul concurs (Eph. 6:4, Col. 3:21). Solomon and Paul’s instruction are sorely needed.

Oh, by the way, the Word from God assumes that it takes two, a male and a female, who are married to each other.