PASTOR JOHN COLLINS, EVANGELIST: PARENTING, THE ART OF SELFLESSNESS
Our children are our biggest resource.
When we grow old, it is our children who will
be making choices that will affect us.
Children today seem
to be encouraged to grow up fast and childhood is lost through abuse, neglect,
selfishness, and ignorance.
The phrase
children should be
seen and not heard was a phrase that was coined during the Middle Ages.
Some would like to say it comes from the
Holy
Bible, but that is wrong.
The
Holy
Bible is very clear about how to raise children, and Jesus spoke to
the disciples who tried to keep children away from Him.
Children are precious to God,
and when we become parents, we are being given a blessing and a responsibility
to raise a child for God ~ Pastor
John Collins, 2017 (paraphrased).
Unfortunately, like so much in this world, children can be
as much as something to throw away or ignore as a used tissue.
When
David
Wilkerson went into the streets to work with gangs and drug addicts
in
New York City, he also
discovered a lost generation-these are the children of the addicts that were
left alone while parents went out in search of a fix, and often they were left
alone for long periods of time.
Those
children didn’t smile or play as children are supposed to do as part of growth
and development.
They were left alone in
ghetto apartments with boxes of cereal or crackers (if there was any food at
all).
These children were quiet because
to make noise would draw abuse.
They
were neither seen nor heard.
They were
not called children;
Reverend
Wilkerson called them little people because they never experienced
childhood.
They were little people, neither
adults nor children.
“We have got to grow
up and get right with God. Parents need to parent. We have to be able to see
that selfish pleasures and needs in our own lives do not serve our children
well. There is too much partying and romance that keeps parents from their
children. People don’t want to hear that faith is the answer but that is the
truth. The solution to every problem lies in the hands of Jesus. The change
that comes from believing and trusting in God is truly miraculous. The hope
that comes from the Cross is eternal.” Pastor John Collins,
February, 2018.
Pastor John Collins writes:
“Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is
old he will not depart from it.” Proverbs 22:6 (NKJV).
Our way of life has got to change. What happens when kids
have kids? What happens when the “parents” put their social lives and partying
ahead of their own children? What happens when a parent’s love life takes
precedence over spending time with their kids? What happens when a child’s
right of passage to maturity is their first beer, their first drag of a
cigarette, their first joint, their first line and their first sexual encounter?
Too many parents are clinging to youth by partying and
dressing to impress. Too many parents are living lives that are teaching the
young that social interactions are at the top of the priority list. Too many
parents are going out and cutting loose because they feel that they have lost
so many of their “good years” to raising children. What example are we setting
for the children we are meant to care for when we put ourselves first?
Raising children is a big responsibility and it is a
challenge to remain selfless. It is not always fun to act like the adult. When
you have kids at a young age and those children get to a rebellious stage it is
not always easy to handle the problems that arise with maturity and confidence.
There has got to be a point when parents make a conscious choice to parent.
Parenting is the most important job that a person can have.
A parent is responsible for teaching their children how to be respectable
people, how to behave appropriately, how to prioritize correctly, how to deal
with confrontations and challenges that come with life and most importantly how
to get to heaven. If you do not teach your child how to enter the kingdom of
God, you have failed. If you do not live a life that exemplifies those lessons,
you have failed. If we don’t make it home, we have failed.
We have got to grow up and get right with God. Parents need
to parent. We have to be able to see that selfish pleasures and needs in our
own lives do not serve our children well. There is too much partying and
romance that keeps parents from their children. People don’t want to hear that
faith is the answer but that is the truth. The solution to every problem lies
in the hands of Jesus. The change that comes from believing and trusting in God
is truly miraculous. The hope that comes from the Cross is eternal.
Be willing to be selfless. Be willing to change your ways
and become a beacon of hope for your families. Children are a joy and such a
gift. Let us learn to parent with the love of God and Jesus in our hearts and
the devotion and commitment that our children deserve.
“Then they also brought infants to Him that He might touch
them; but when the disciples saw it, they rebuked them. But Jesus called them
to Him and said, ‘Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them;
for such is the kingdom of God. Assuredly, I say to you, whoever does not
receive the kingdom of God as a little child will by no means enter it.’” Luke
18:15-17 (NKJV).
Love That Cross, Pastor John Collins
Parents need to be parents.
Parenting is a choice to become selfless, not selfish, so that children
can grow and become the generation of Christians that will
be caring for aging generations to come.
