After discussing the parenting paradigms from Ephesians 6 and various Proverbs, there is one, final, critical truth to discuss: Just because we adopt these paradigms does not mean there is a guarantee of our children’s salvation or even that our kids won’t make boneheaded decisions with significant consequences. There are countless godly parents who carry the long-term burden of a wayward child. And of course, there are many godless parents whose children get saved. Salvation is by grace, meaning it’s a gift granted by God, however God uses means to save, namely prayer, evangelism and a faithful life. That is what propels us forward in any area of Christian obedience.
So what if the blessings of Christian parenting don’t come to pass? Does it automatically indicate that there was faithless parenting involved? No, it does not. Listen—we will all look back on our parenting and wish we had done certain things differently, however there’s a big difference between imperfect parenting and parenting which utterly neglects the biblical principles. As it relates to that last category, we need to keep something in mind: The world will not stand before Christ on judgment day and give an account for our children. Neither will our family or our friends. We, as parents, will stand before Christ and be assessed based on how we conformed our parenting to Scripture.
So, we are back to the question from last week: Does your pursual of Christ include your parenting? Let’s press on in Christian parenting, beloved, because the consequences produce urgency, the directives have been clearly given and the blessings are wonderful and lasting.