If you happen to not know, this is the title to a song made popular by Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson in March 1978. The song’s purpose is to challenge mothers to not let their children grow up to be part of a rough, rugged, roaming life of a cowboy but to make something of themselves like “doctors and lawyers and such.”
My purpose for mentioning the song has nothing to do with cowboys but with the word . . .”your.”
Psalm 127:3 says, Children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb is His reward. God creates children in the womb, beginning at conception, and causes them to be formed. Once they are born, our goal as parents is to bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord (Ephesians 6:4), and their goal all the days of their life is to live for the glory of God (1 Corinthians 10:31). You see, God owns our children; they belong to Him. For by Him (Christ) all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible . . . . All things were created through Him and for Him (Colossians 1:16).
Therefore, the word “your” does not apply to the popular definition of parenting. Our children are not “yours,” they belong to God. That adds great weight to how we train them.
When children are infants on into their teen years, we (parents) are their world. They depend on us for everything (food, clothes, bed, transportation, education, etc.). At some point, and that needs to be early on, the decision must be made to begin to release them from being totally dependent on you. They must come to the place where they can obey God’s directive to “leave (parents) and cleave (to their spouse and/or God’s plan for their lives)” (Genesis 2:24). Therefore, you must begin very early to prepare them to leave home.
Here’s the first of what I hope will be some words of encouragement to you.
1. Parents, live and train with an eternal viewpoint.
When you come to understand the gravity of the Judgment Seat of Christ (Romans 14:10-12; 2 Corinthians 5:9-10), you will train the children God has lent to you to live for that day of rewards because it will affect how they serve in the Eternal Kingdom. This world will one day be destroyed (2 Peter 3:7, 10-13), and all believers in Christ will dwell in one endless day on the new earth (Revelation 21:1-8). Live and teach “your” children the gospel and the Word of God. Exemplify and train them what it is to live the Christ-life (John 15; Romans 6-8) as well as how to prepare for eternity (2 Peter 3:11-13). Contrary to popular opinion, we are not going to be sitting on a cloud playing a harp but going back to Genesis 1-2 . . . forever.
As well-meaning parents, we want to give them a good life now, see them be successful, win awards, have nice houses, wear sharp clothes, travel the world, etc., but this life is a vapor (James 4:13-17). There is nothing wrong with the aforementioned things, but they are misplaced priorities if they become the goal of parenting. They can even become idols in our lives and theirs.
More on this in another post, but in the meantime, mom and dad, live and train “your” children with an eternal viewpoint.
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