Written by Paul J Bucknell on August, 15, 2020

The Heart of Godly Parenting (Exodus 34:6-7) — Introduction

Secrets to A Godly Family & Powerful Ministry

God shapes parents to develop well-rounded children guided by proper relationships, providing stronger leadership in the home, church, and society as a whole.

Then the LORD passed by in front of him and proclaimed, “The LORD, the LORD God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth; keeps lovingkindness for thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgression and sin; yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished, visiting the iniquity of fathers on the children and on the grandchildren to the third and fourth generations” (Exodus 34:6-7).

God has established goals for our lives set after His holy design. As we humble ourselves and embrace His design, we are forced to ask a question, “How?” This question does not have an easy answer. “Good” Christian parents sometimes find that their children are as wicked as the world. As a result, many wonder if it is possible to properly influence our children, with some, unfortunately, giving up hope and allowing their children to follow a path of hopelessness.

The Hope of Parents

God not only speaks about the ideals of love and holiness but enables His people to carry out their parenting duties in such a way that these goals are met. Jesus knew there was a way to reach God’s goals. He died on the cross to create a pathway for us to fully participate in His good work (cf. Titus 2:14; Eph 2:10). Our focus is to realize God’s design.

There are several main blockages to reaching those goals, however. Satan attempts to frustrate us from obtaining these goals. He does not want us to succeed in raising godly children that God, such as Daniel, Joseph, Esther, or Mary. He does his best to distract us and get us off course. The evil one distracts us in such a way:

(1) to keep us from ever looking at the target, 
(2) to turn our eyes off the target, and 
(3) to allow us to think that these goals are not very urgent or important.

When I pitched baseball to one of my sons, I remembered an old lesson. Unless I focused on throwing the ball over the plate, I would miss and throw the ball wide, high, or low. One time my boy had to jump to the side because I was looking at an exciting game nearby.

Satan specializes in distraction and wants us to adopt another goal, assuming it is God’s goal. To raise godly children, we need to concentrate on how to reach that goal.

Our discussion will follow three paths.

A) The Journey of Parenting

Parenting is a growing process. God is with us and shows us the direction that the path will go. We have no excuse for getting off the path nor ever getting on it. However, we need to be attentive to His instructions.

B) The Good Path of the Lord

Satan has thrown many well-intentioned parents off with half-good parenting. God has revealed a great way to parent through Christ. As we get to know God, He changes us into His image, greatly improving the way we raise our children.

C) The Challenge of His Path

We have to be always attentive to following the Lord. Whenever our parenting does not reflect God’s person, wisdom, and ways, our parenting derails into a ditch of all sorts of problems, including bad relationships and arrogant children. The more our parenting mirrors God’s ways, the better our parenting will be, and the more our children will live godly lives.

The key to good parenting starts in your pursuit of God. (Don’t mistake this as the same as being busy serving the Lord.) The methodology is critical but will never succeed without that passion for living out God’s holiness. But if you have passion for the Lord without accurate knowledge, it is still easy to go wrong. Fortunately, the Lord is there to keep us on the path and, when necessary, to forgive us when we stumble.

Each of the above points is continued on its own web page.