Biblical Wisdom for Raising Young Children

7 minutes to read

One of the foundational verses that we learn and teach others in discipleship is 1 Corinthians 10:31 “So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God”. Paul believed that everyday activities, like eating and drinking, should be done for the glory of God. How much more then should parents seek to use biblical wisdom in parenting for the glory of God!

Children are a huge blessing, especially in the lives of believing parents. No matter what the world may say to influence us, they are not a burden but a blessing and an inheritance from the Lord (Ps. 127:3-5). The Lord has placed them under our care for perhaps two decades, which will fly by quickly, and then they will most likely move out from our homes. These years of having them under our roofs and our authority will never come back. So we must make every day count by applying God’s wisdom to our parenting.

There is no quick-fix formula that guarantees the salvation of our children. Parents are called by God to faithfully and in utter dependence on Him use the wisdom from God in raising children (Ps. 127:1). However, along with a state of humble dependence, we must also have confidence when we look at the dealings of God in the Bible and throughout church history. God has been working in and through believing families in such a way that “one generation shall declare His works to the next generation” (Ps. 78:4).

When we put these verses together, we can safely conclude that as believing parents we use God’s biblical wisdom with humility and hope in the Lord to do wonderful things in the lives of our children. These would be few pearls of biblical wisdom we can practice in parenting our children.

The first pearl of biblical wisdom in parenting is to teach the Word of God to the children (a prophet-like ministry).
We ought to be grateful for all the Sunday school teachers in our churches who prepare well and teach wonderful Bible lessons to our children. But, sadly, there is an over-dependence on them to teach the Bible to our children. It is primarily the parent’s responsibility to both formally and informally teach God’s word (Deut. 6:1-20).

As our children live with us, we ought to be so excited for the opportunity to teach and explain to them the truth of a God who cannot lie. We need to be giving them a biblical worldview; otherwise, the world is waiting to bombard them with its worldview. When children are toddlers, they will be happy to hear their parents read them stories from Gospel-saturated story Bibles. As they grow from ages 6 to 12, they will be mentally better able to receive and process a good catechism like the Westminster Catechism for children and the Baptist Catechism for children.

Whatever your approach, the main aim is to gather around the God revealed in the Bible to hear of His greatness and glory seen in His redeeming love demonstrated in Christ Jesus. It is a wonderful experience for children to see that God’s Word is the chief authority that shapes everything in the family. Let us also remember that bringing our children to church and encouraging them to listen to the Word is a unique privilege they have as a member of a believing household (1 Cor. 7:14). God has used the corporate gathering of the saints around the preaching of the Gospel in amazing ways in the lives of children throughout church history.

It is a wonderful experience for children to see that God’s Word is the chief authority that shapes everything in the family.

The second pearl of biblical wisdom is to pray regularly for and with our children (a priest-like ministry).
Prayer is a wonderful, blood-bought privilege Jesus has given to draw near to our Heavenly Father for all our needs in thanksgiving (Phil. 4:6). What a wonderful blessing it is for children to see their parents acknowledging their frailty before an Almighty God and recognising His grace by giving thanks.

We are in desperate need of God’s grace and mercy for the many challenges in life. One such great challenge is in raising our kids in this crooked and perverse generation. We need to consistently acknowledge our need for God to keep them from being influenced by this godless world’s corrupt temptations. While we readily make great sacrifices for our children’s physical well-being, we should be equally diligent in labouring in prayers for their salvation and spiritual maturity (Rom. 10:1).

There are so many wonderful examples in church history of how God answered the prayers of parents in preparing and using mighty men and women of faith. Monica, the mother of Augustine, John Wesley’s parents, and Spurgeon’s mother are just a few encouraging examples of how God answered the prayers of parents for their children.

The third pearl of biblical wisdom is to be consistent in admonition and disciplining our children (a king-like ministry).
Ephesians 6:4 instructs Spirit-filled fathers to bring up their children in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. Being filled with the Spirit of God is related to letting the Word of God dwell richly in us (Col. 3:15, 16). Therefore, the whole training and disciplining of our children must be done in a godly and loving, yet firm, way.

It is important to emphasise that there is no room for parents to physically abuse their children in anger. However, we must also avoid the other extreme of very rarely rebuking, admonishing, or spanking our children (Prov. 13:24). To admonish is to put God’s truth into the mind of a child, especially regarding their sin and the consequences of choosing a sinful path. Discipline has the idea of bringing correction, sometimes even with the rod of chastening, into the lives of the children to encourage them to stay on the path of pleasing God.

Children are like sponges, absorbing many things from us throughout the day.

It is crucial to remember that this training and admonition is “of the Lord.” He is the reference point; not our own traditions or ideas of morality. Hence, after dealing with their sin, we must show them the hope of the Gospel and encourage them to trust in Christ, whose grace truly transforms and trains us in godliness.

The fourth pearl of biblical wisdom is to model a ‘Christ-treasuring life’ before them.
Paul tells Timothy towards the end of his life in 2 Timothy 3:10-11, “You, however, know all about my teaching, my way of life, my purpose, faith, patience, love, endurance, ¹¹persecutions, sufferings—what kinds of things happened to me in Antioch, Iconium and Lystra, the persecutions I endured. Yet the Lord rescued me from all of them.” As with many other things, more is “caught than taught” in parenting. Children are like sponges, absorbing many things from us throughout the day. They keenly observe and are influenced by our actions, reactions, attitudes, and convictions.

Our children are watching to see whether we truly love God and if He truly is the centre of our lives. They observe whether our church-going, Bible-reading and learning are genuinely transforming our lives on different levels. This is a weighty truth to think about. However, there is hope in the sanctifying power of the Word and Spirit for us, parents. By the grace of God, let us be humbled, cross-centred, and grace-empowered parents because our ministry to our children can be graciously used by God to make our children attracted to Christ and His glory.

Some helpful online resources for catechising (biblical instruction of the Christian faith in a question-and-answer format) and leading family worship:

Ages 3 to 5