Prioritize Your Parenting. Series

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Illustration: The story of two paddleboats. They left Memphis about the same time, traveling down the Mississippi River to New Orleans. As they traveled side by side, sailors from one vessel made a few remarks about the snail’s pace of the other.

Words were exchanged. Challenges were made. And the race began. Competition became vicious as the two boats roared through the Deep South.

One boat began falling behind. Not enough fuel. There had been plenty of coal for the trip, but not enough for a race. As the boat dropped back, an enterprising young sailor took some of the ship’s cargo and tossed it into the ovens. When the sailors saw that the supplies burned as well as the coal, they fueled their boat with the material they had been assigned to transport. They ended up winning the race, but burned their cargo.

God has entrusted cargo to us, too: children, spouses, friends. Our job is to do our part in seeing that this cargo reaches its destination. Yet when the program takes priority over people, people often suffer. How much cargo do we sacrifice in order to achieve the number one slot? How many people never reach the destination because of the aggressiveness of a competitive captain?

Most people are living a compromised life just because they have misplaced matters of great importance in life. Instead of concentrating on things that are really vital and what takes them forward, they are messed up in the petty things of life that pull them down.

We have been studying on the subject of priority for a believer and we began by looking at the top three priorities of a believer. Last week we covered the area of spiritual life. Today I would speak on the next priority of a believer. Prioritize your family, starting with parenting; roles of the parents and children within a family.

Prioritize your family.

God’s second priority for us is our relationship within the family. Proverbs 14:26 Whoever fears the Lord has a secure fortress, and for their children it will be a refuge. The Bible portrays the family as a fortress. The only way Christian families can be safe in the fortress of family is when the family members live in the fear of the Lord.

A fortress has a boundary and it is the responsibility of the people living inside of it to safeguard its boundary. To guard the borders of our country, it takes the gatekeepers, the soldiers, the army, navy, intelligence all to work together to keep intruders out. As a family you are building a wall, you are protecting your marriage, your kids, and all what God has given you. Remember Satan is an intruder waiting to attack Christian families and it takes the husband, wife, and children to work together in the fear of the Lord to safeguard your family. So everyone has a responsibility and a role in the family. Only when we fulfill our God given roles in the family can our family be safe and protected.

A godly family fulfils its God-given roles.

See what God spoke to Abraham regarding his family. Genesis 18:18-19 18Abraham will surely become a great and powerful nation, and all nations on earth will be blessed through him. 19For I have chosen him, so that he will direct his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing what is right and just, so that the Lord will bring about for Abraham what he has promised him.”

Listen God is speaking about Abraham that God himself has chosen him and given him promises. But in order for God’s promises to be fulfilled Abraham will have to direct his children and his household (those who dwell under the same roof; i.e. wife, children, in-laws etc) in fulfilling what God has asked them to do. Abraham has a role as a father to lead his family and the family has to obey him.

Therefore it takes complete obedience of the family under the leadership of the father or husband to fulfill God’s promises for the family. A family constitutes of husband, wife, father, mother, children, grandparents, in-laws etc. God has specific roles laid out for every member in a family.

Role of parents and children in a family.

1. What Bible says about children.

Webster’s dictionary defines the word “father” as “a man who has begotten a child.”

Websters dictionary defines the word “mother” as “a woman who has begotten a child.”

Therefore, the father and mother have equal responsibility in raising their child.

Parents, here are some things we need to know about our children.

 a. Children are God’s possession. Psalm 127:3 Children are a heritage from the Lord.