05/26/10 PARENT'S RESPONSIBILITY
Loving parents want to spare their children all the suffering they can, but even small children have the power to resist help, and persist in rebellion. Parents have the right and responsibility to require obedience while children are small or still in the home.
Once they are out of the house, on their own, as children get older, parents honor their right to choose their own paths, good or bad. We still pray for them and we still instruct them, if they are willing to listen, but their choices are their own. It is useless to try to force them against their will.
The only way children (of any age) benefit from wisdom is to humble themselves, listen and learn. Listening and learning are choices.
Pride is a major deterrent to learning. A know-it-all mentality, or I-can-do-it-myself attitude, stunts or robs people of reaching full potential in development and accomplishments.
TWO PASSAGES...
Wisdom Starts In The Christian Home...
Proverbs 1:7-9
7 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.
8 My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother:
9 For they shall be an ornament of grace unto thy head, and chains about thy neck.
Christian Upbringing Has No Expiration Date...
Proverbs 6:20-22
20 My son, keep thy father's commandment, and forsake not the law of thy mother:
21 Bind them continually upon thine heart, and tie them about thy neck.
22 When you go, it shall lead thee; when you sleep, it shall keep thee; and when you awake, it shall talk with thee.
