God desires that all Christians would exercise godly leadership in their homes. It is His plan that parents would teach their children to grow up to Him in righteousness, becoming godly people who would later make great impact in their areas of influence, wherever God puts them.
Sadly, however, many Christians don't show this characteristic towards their family members and relatives.
Godly parents
Did you know that God meant parents to be more than just providers of financial and emotional needs for their kids? God wants all Christian couples to raise a younger generation that's in love with Him passionately.
In Malachi 2:15, God warned all the priests during the Old Testament times.
"Didn't the Lord make you one with your wife? In body and spirit you are his. And what does He want? Godly children from your union. So guard your heart; remain loyal to the wife of your youth."
God wants Christian couples to raise "godly children." These children, although they could be influenced by God-fearing friends and leaders from church, will always get their primary modelling from their fathers and mothers.
Take for example the Grahams. My wife and I were talking about them some time ago, and I am just amazed at how Franklin Graham and Anne Graham Lotz have remained steadfast and firm in their love for the Lord. Their dad, beloved evangelist Billy Graham, and their mom, Ruth, did a great job in raising their children for the Lord's purposes. What about you?
Godly children
Ephesians 6:1 says, "Children, obey your parents because you belong to the Lord, for this is the right thing to do."
Although God demands that children should be obedient to their parents, their parents should also be obedient to the Lord Himself, who said in verse 4, "Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger by the way you treat them. Rather, bring them up with the discipline and instruction that comes from the Lord."
This means that parents don't have an excuse to demand total obedience from their children when they are not doing them right.
Godly children can only be raised up by godly parents. Proverbs 22:6 says, "Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it." How parents train their kids will always determine how they will act and behave when they grow old. If they train these young ones the wrong way, for sure they cannot expect the opposite to happen.
God wants all of us to love Him more than anything, putting Him above our priorities. The same goes for all parents – so that they would raise their children up in godliness and in the fear of the Lord.
