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God’s Advice
By Administrator | April 4, 2006
We live in a world full of “Experts,” who often represent conflicting points of view. In the field of child rearing it is not uncommon for leading authorities to represent views on opposite sides of a matter. One expert says parents should never spank and another states spanking is the most efficient way to help children overcome certain troubles. So with so much conflicting advice, how are we to know what God’s advice is?
It seems the Christian world is not immune to conflicting points of view. How does a parent who is honestly desiring to raise a child God’s way go about understanding what God’s way is? Without trying to over simplify, I have two pieces of advice for you. First, ask God. Then, second, check out what God has written to us in His Holy Scripture.
Sincere prayer will never go unanswered. Not the quick variety, presenting only a list of needs and wants, but an honest pleading with God to know and understand His ways. Our children were born with the same sin nature we have! That alone should drive us to earnest prayer. We should sincerely seek God and specifically ask Him to help us in the extremely important job of parenting. Matthew 6:33
states we should “seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” Then, when God speaks to you, be ready to listen. He may speak to you with a prompting, by bringing a Scripture to mind or by helping you better understand a Scripture. Just remember that God will never contradict His written Word with a prompting.
Over the years man has devised many rationalizations to undermine the powerful guidance given in the Bible. There seems to be a resurgence of pre-Renaissance style elitism, where the average Christian is being led to believe he or she should not attempt to understand the Bible without special interpretation. For example, we are being told that the Genesis “day”, complete with the further definition of “an evening and a morning”, apparently does not really mean a 24 hour day. There is also a movement to view the Bible as less than a divine instruction manual containing absolutes for mankind. Instead it is being viewed more as an a la cart list of life enhancements where one gets personally “prompted” by the Holy Spirit to obey certain rules. However, because these are not absolutes, one person’s convictions may not to apply to anyone else.
I encourage you to consistently read God’s Word and seek His understanding on many matters, large and small. Don’t be intimidated by complicated explanations that require “additional” understanding. Remember, God does have absolutes for mankind and presents them plainly. So read and study your Scripture looking for clear direction.
Yes, we should use the basic tried and proven Bible study methods to have a better understanding of what we read. (2 Timothy 2:15, “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.”) We should also study and pray together. (Hebrews 10:24-25, “And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another…”) Of course there will be differing opinions, therefore, we should be gracious to one another and pray for one another, asking the Holy Spirit to gently and lovingly bring each of us to a place of understanding the Scripture.
Sincere prayer and diligent reading of Scripture will help us to better understand and follow God’s advice. The significance and importance of parenting should be enough of a drive to want to know God and His ways better!
May God’s grace and peace be with you,
Mark and Ellen Strohm
Topics: From Mark, Parenting | 1 Comment »
April 16th, 2006 at 9:14 pm
An insightful post Mark. My wife and I have often struggled over similar issues. It’s very easy to try and “think up” the best solution when help is only a call away.
Again, nicely put!
Conrad