I recently read this Parents' Ten Commandments and believe that within the contents there is infinite wisdom to be shared. I wanted to make sure that I can look back and find it easily when I am stumbling as a parent or need a gentle reminder... let it serve as a reminder for all of us on our quest to be good parents.
It goes as follows:
1. Teach them, using God's Word (Deuteronomy 6:4-9)
Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.
2. Tell them what's right and wrong (1 Kings 1:6)
His father had never rebuked him by asking, “Why do you behave as you do?”
3. See them as gifts from God (Psalm 127:3)
Children are a heritage from the Lord,
offspring a reward from him.
4. Guide them in godly ways (Proverbs 22:6)
Start children off on the way they should go,
and even when they are old they will not turn from it.
5. Discipline them (Proverbs 29:17)
Discipline your children, and they will give you peace;
they will bring you the delights you desire.
6. Love them unconditionally (Luke 15:11-32)
The Parable of the Lost Son
Jesus continued: “There was a man who had two sons. The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them.
“Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.
“When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants.’ So he got up and went to his father.
“But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.
“The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’
“But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate.
“Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. ‘Your brother has come,’ he replied, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’
“The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. But he answered his father, ‘Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’
“‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’”
7. Do not provoke them to wrath (Ephesians 6:4)
Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.
8. Earn their respect by example (1 Timothy 3:4)
He must manage his own family well and see that his children obey him, and he must do so in a manner worthy of full respect.
9. Provide for their physical needs (1 Timothy 5:8)
Anyone who does not provide for their relatives, and especially for their own household, has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.
10. Pass your faith along to them (2 Timothy 1:5)
I am reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and, I am persuaded, now lives in you also.
