Training our children to learn to listen to our instruction and to obey our requests is such a challenging goal for us as parents. It requires that we understand the goal of our instruction and the way to secure that goal.
Paul said, "But the goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith." I Timothy 1:5
This summarized some of the over-arching goals of our training and discipline---a loving heart that is pure and a sincere valid faith in God. It helped me to realize, though, that our training was a two part emphasis--First to teach our children to learn to submit to our requests=obedience. But then our real goal was to cultivate tender hearts inside our children so that they would learn to obey us with honor, out of having learned to respect us.
If we want our children to grow up to become those adults who listen to God's voice and obey His will, then they must learn how to listen to our voice and to obey our will. Relationship is the key to helping them learn to want to submit to our own ways. When we lovingly serve them, invest in them, teach them wisdom and show them a life of obedience to God, then they will follow our pattern in their own lives.
(Oh, my goodness, listening to yourself is always interesting!--where did I get that southern accent? Who is that lady? :))
1997 HomeEducation Tapes: The Importance of Obedience. Go HERE for the tape sets.
Don't forget to register for the Mom Heart conference! HERE October discount, drawing 1 free registration from those who register early and a $10 coupon at the book table.
