Parenting 101
Related Scripture Passages: For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life.” 1 Thessalonians 4:7
“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” John 10:10
This parenting gig can sure be hard sometimes. We all want our little Johnny or little Sally to be perfect little angels loved and adored by all but often times they fall short of the mark. I wonder why that is? Hmm, could it be that we as parents have fallen short of the mark ourselves? Some parents adopt the motto, “Do as I say, not as I do.” It means that you want someone to follow your advice even though you often act differently. The first half of that motto is used to tell somebody to follow the command you’ve given, while the second half is to say that you acknowledge that you don’t follow this rule yourself. But at the end of the day isn’t that more than a bit hypocritical?
In probably every management/leadership how-to book, the first thing mentioned is to “Model The Way,” which implies to be a role model for your subordinates. So with this in mind, as a parent with all of my flaws, I turned the motto around and instructed my kids to “Don’t do as I say but do as I do.” In all fairness, how could I realistically set a bar and expect my kids to live up to it if I’m not willing to do the same?
That got me to thinking about my Christian life and instructions from God my Father. In the Bible we read, “For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life.” (1 Thessalonians 4:7) The Bible is chock full of how we can get there from here. It’s the ultimate how-to book. Not to say that it’s going to be an easy row to hoe but certainly a challenge worth accepting so that we can live and enjoy life to the fullest (John 10:10).
“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” John 10:10
This parenting gig can sure be hard sometimes. We all want our little Johnny or little Sally to be perfect little angels loved and adored by all but often times they fall short of the mark. I wonder why that is? Hmm, could it be that we as parents have fallen short of the mark ourselves? Some parents adopt the motto, “Do as I say, not as I do.” It means that you want someone to follow your advice even though you often act differently. The first half of that motto is used to tell somebody to follow the command you’ve given, while the second half is to say that you acknowledge that you don’t follow this rule yourself. But at the end of the day isn’t that more than a bit hypocritical?
In probably every management/leadership how-to book, the first thing mentioned is to “Model The Way,” which implies to be a role model for your subordinates. So with this in mind, as a parent with all of my flaws, I turned the motto around and instructed my kids to “Don’t do as I say but do as I do.” In all fairness, how could I realistically set a bar and expect my kids to live up to it if I’m not willing to do the same?
That got me to thinking about my Christian life and instructions from God my Father. In the Bible we read, “For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life.” (1 Thessalonians 4:7) The Bible is chock full of how we can get there from here. It’s the ultimate how-to book. Not to say that it’s going to be an easy row to hoe but certainly a challenge worth accepting so that we can live and enjoy life to the fullest (John 10:10).
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