BE THEIR GUIDING LIGHT

“Let your light shine.”                                                              Mt 5:16 NIV

Every child, including yours, is born “lost” into a world of moral and spiritual darkness. So parent, your most urgent responsibility is to be their guiding light.

Paul Harvey told of a hard-drinking father who left his adolescent son in a pickup truck and went into a bar for a drink. Two hours later, Dad lumbered back to the truck, finding his boy missing. Later, in the bar, he found his son in the company of a couple of inebriated young hooligans who’d gotten him drunk. In the ensuing fight with them Dad ended up bleeding on the floor, his distressed son kneeling over him, pleading, “Please don’t be mad at me, Pop. I just followed you!”

We all follow someone, hoping they know the way. The Bible says, “Ahaziah son of Ahab…did evil in the eyes of the Lord, because he walked in the ways of his father and mother” (1Ki 22:51-52 NIV). Our children may not follow our advice, but they will follow our example, whether good or bad. We are called to be signposts at their crossroads; road maps in their confusion. Paul encouraged his spiritual children, saying, “Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ” (1Co 11:1 NIV). You don’t need a college degree in parenting to shine at home. Embracing and living out Christ’s teaching each day qualifies you to be the best parent you can be! “A righteous man who walks in his integrity—how blessed are his sons [and daughters] after him” (Pr 20:7 NAS).

Share