One of the things that I’ve found has improved my parenting immensely over the years is this concept:
God is the perfect parent
What exactly does that mean? To me it means that even though the majority of scripture doesn’t speak directly to the issue of parenting – I can glean parenting examples and nuggets of truth from the way God relates to His people. Really? Yeah, really…
For instance:
- If God seems to be relating to His people harshly… what can I learn from the circumstances regarding when such responses may be warranted toward my kids?
- Was God ever angry toward His children? (Duh?!) Then what does that say about the appropriateness of my anger toward my children? Is it ALWAYS wrong to be angry or discipline in anger?
- What are the ways God expressed His love to his children (both positively and in a discipline sense)? Is there anything I can glean from that?
These are just some of the examples that come to mind right off the bat… but overall it’s a very helpful principle – God is the perfect parent, so His example in that realm can be very helpful.
Filed under: Bible, Parenting | Tagged: Biblical parenting, children, example, God as an example of parenting, in the way he should go, Parenting, raise up your child, raise your kids Biblically, train up a child
