This past week, the couples in our life group sat around our kitchen table eating the remaining pizza and brownies that our children left for us. As the kids headed downstairs to play, we opened up the sermon guide for the week and we had a fantastic discussion about the great responsibility of raising our children. As we talked, our conversation came to the following verses in Psalms.
Like arrows in the hands of a warrior are children born in one’s youth. Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them. - Psalm 127:4-5
I for one – normally don’t think of my children as dangerous weapons… to be honest there have been a few occasions… but typically I would gravitate towards things that depict innocence and fragility. As a father, I often think of needing to protect my kids from all of the dangers in the world out there. This analogy from God’s word flips things around and causes me to rethink everything. As a parent, I want to protect my children, I want to keep them safe, I want to raise them up well… but how? And what things are of utmost importance.
To be an effective weapon, an arrow must be launched with precision towards a target. As long as an arrow is kept safely in a quiver the enemy has nothing to be afraid of.
Eventually our children should be released, aka shot towards a target, to make a positive impact for the Kingdom of God. The questions is, how are we prepping our arrows to do that?
We can quickly rattle off some very important traits that we want to see in our kids:
Good students, Well mannered, Hard working, Respectful, etc.
But do they know and love the Lord? Do they know His word? Are they filled with His Spirit?
Although those of us in our life group don’t have godly parenting all figured out, and we all very much agree that we have a lot to learn… the simple fact that our kids see us sitting around a table with the bible open is a huge step in the right direction. Our kids get to see that our faith is more than just showing up at church. They get to see parents that turn to God’s word for direction, they get to see parents pray with and for one another.
In the end, what better way can we train up our children, than by giving them a godly example to follow.
Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ. – 1 Corinthians 11:1