THE ROLE OF PARENTS IN THE FIGHT OF FAITH

Introduction

“The evidence clearly shows that the single most important social influence on the religious and spiritual lives of adolescents is their parents…The best social predictor, although not a guarantee, of what the religious and spiritual lives of youth will look like is what the religious and spiritual lives of their parents do look like.” -Christian Smith and Melinda Denton, Soul Searching ““Research continues to affirm that the best predictor of a young person’s faith is the faith of their parents.” -Kara Powell, Jake Mulder, and Brad Griffin, Growing Young: Six Essential Strategies to Help Young People Discover and Love Your Church

Keep Your Priorities Straight

If we want our kids to love Christ, then we must love Him.

Luke 6:40 “A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone when he is fully trained will be like his teacher.”

We must always be on guard against losing our love for Christ.

Revelation 2:4 “But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first.”

We must choose every day whom we are going to serve.

See Joshua 24:14-15...

Saturate Your Life With God’s Word

We must teach our kids about the Lord with our words and our actions.

Proverbs 22:6 “Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.”

1 John 3:18 “Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.”

Ephesians 6:4 “Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.”

We must not be overly harsh or critical with our kids.

To provoke your kids to anger carries the idea of a repeated and continual pattern of treatment that gradually builds up frustration, resentment, and a deep-seated anger in your kids that boils over in outward hostility. This would include things such as physical or verbal abuse, always criticizing and never praising, showing favoritism, over-protection, setting unrealistic standards, and by not showing love and affection.

Colossians 3:21 “Fathers, do not provoke your children, lest they become discouraged.”

We must not neglect to discipline our kids.

Proverbs 13:24 “Whoever spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him is diligent to discipline him.”

Proverbs 22:15 “Folly is bound up in the heart of a child, but the rod of discipline drives it far from him.”

Teach Them to Remember

We must teach our kids to remember the Lord, since we are prone to forget Him.

2 Peter 1:12–15...

Remembering the Lord guards us from sin, temptation, and cold hearts.

Psalm 119:11 “I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.”

Psalm 37:31 “The law of his God is in his heart; his steps do not slip.”