HARD CHOICE FOR PARENTS

Isaiah 6:5-8 “Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts. Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar: And he laid it upon my mouth, and said Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away and thy sin purged. Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying Whom shall I send and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me.”

You might think this is a very unusual passage of Scripture to use when writing about parenting. But I think it’s a very good portion from which to make my point. Bear with me!

I know that this Scripture has been used through the years to challenge believers to volunteer to get involved in service within the local church. I have used this in the same way myself many times. It is a good portion of Scripture for this purpose.

The sixth chapter of Isaiah starts off by recording a vision that Isaiah saw of the Lord. He saw Him high and lifted up. When he gets a rightful vision of God, then he got a true vision of himself and cries out “Woe is me.”Then in verse 8 God offers a challenge of service. And when Isaiah hears that challenge he immediately responds “Here am I; send me.”

The task given to Isaiah was not an easy one. He was to preach to a hardened people. God’s message to Isaiah was that the people would not heed his message of judgment to come. Talk about a tough job! How many of us would be really excited about this kind of assignment? You would preach but no one would respond or teach a Sunday school class but no one would attend. This is exactly what God was calling Isaiah to do. This was an opportunity that carried with it a very difficult result.

God does encourage Isaiah by telling him that there would be some individuals who would heed his preaching. That has always been the case. Noah is an example of one who didn’t reach many but he did reach his family. God has always had His remnant.

There are many difficult statements in the Word of God. One of those is found when Jesus said to His disciples in Matthew 16:24 “. . . If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.” Following the Lord carries with if difficulties. We read in Matthew 8:19-20 “And a certain scribe came and said unto him, Master, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest. And Jesus saith unto him, The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head.” There is a cost to following Jesus but each of us are called to do just that.

The child of God is to follow the Lord and one part of that is to live a godly life. That is a great calling but it has a price to pay as we see in II Timonthy 3:12 “Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.”

What we have mentioned so far has been the general calling that applies to every one of us. There is a specific calling for each of our lives. And when God makes that particular call to each of us, will we answer “Here am I send me?” He may call you to be a preacher, missionary, Christian business man, or a GODLY PARENT. In each of these responsibilities and callings there will be difficulties.

The responsibility I want to highlight in this CHALLENGING CONCEPTS is that of a parent. When you make the choice to be a parent you enter into a glorious calling but it won’t be without difficulties. Too many couples enter into parenthood without much thought of what they will face before that child leaves home and is able to care for himself or herself.

When that baby is born and you hold he/she for the first time, that is an experience beyond description. But fast-forward about two years and you are reading books and surfing the web trying to learn how to handle this issue. A few years later you are trying to research Scripture to teach them how to choose friends. Then comes the teen years. This is when you want to lock them in a closet until college age.

Being the parent of children carries the responsibility of discipline. The wise man Solomon wrote in Proverbs 22:6 “Train up a child in the way he should go: . . .” We also read in Proverbs 29:17 “Correct thy son, and he shall give thee rest; yea, he shall give delight unto thy soul.”

Too many families are experiencing heartache and pain brought on by rebellious children. Is that all the parent’s fault? Not always because a child, especially teenages, exercise their fleshly will. But much of the problems have come because the parent has not made THE HARD CHOICE.

Many parents have allowed the philosophy of the world to influence them in how they rear their children. The Apostle Paul reiterated the teaching of the Old Testament by writing in Ephesians 6:4 “And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.”

The one word that many parents are afraid to use with their children is “NO!” Children need to learn they cannot be friends with all other children; go to certain activities; stay out as late as everyone else; watch certain TV programs; wear certain clothing; etc. Sometimes using the word “NO” can build character in the lives of your children.

There is a word of caution that I need to use here. You can use the word “NO” too much. In fact, it is easier to say “NO” than it is to say “Yes.” I remember a time in the life of one os our children when they wanted to do something that was not wrong in our eyes but was wrong in the eyes of some of our church members. In our discussion of the issue I told my wife, “Honey, we have to say ‘no’ so much why not say ‘yes’ on this issue.” /we explained that to our child and it made a lot of difference in our relationship.

Grace and I also learned that all rules or guidelines dealing with our children are best given and explained to them beforehand. We also learned that we had to be careful not to be harsh when we had to made the HARD CALL. Positive affirmation of our love to the children also helped to cushion times when we had to deny a request from the children. Knowing your parents love you is so important in the life of a child.

This may not make you the most popular parent on the block, but I think it helps keep your children from experiencing some things that will bring with it regrets in the future. God didn’t call parents to be popular, liked or even friends with their children, but He did call them to rear their children to bring glory to God.

I didn’t plan to go into detail about parenting but to challenge each parent to make THE HARD CALL.

That’s my view; how about you?