Title: Parents' dedication (Parents' dedication service)!
Contents
1 Samuel 2:22-25
Parents must commit
May is Family Month. In our church, children's devotion worship is held on Children's Sunday in the first week of May, and parents dedication service is held on Parents' Sunday in the second week of May. God has entrusted our children to our parents. It is the responsibility of parents to ensure that their children believe in Jesus and devote their lives to God. For that work, parents must commit themselves. Because when parents set an example of devotion, their children can see it and live a life of devotion. Today's text is talking about the priest Eli, who is a typical parent who failed in their children's education, their children's faith, and their children's devotion. It's the wrong parent's model. In a nutshell, it is saying that you should not become parents like the priest Eli. Parents must first devote themselves to be good parents.
First, you must have the desire to be a good parent.
According to the Bible, children are an inheritance given by God. Children are a gift that God has entrusted to parents. Children do not belong to their parents, but to God. God has entrusted them to their parents for a while to raise them well as God's children. If so, parents should be good parents even for the children God has entrusted to them. Being a good parent is definitely God's will. At this time, I hope that I can first dream of becoming a good father and a good mother.
You must be a good father.
You must be a good mother.
The wife of Captain William Booth, founder of the Salvation Army, is Catherine Booth. She was so good at educating her children that she was called the mother of the Salvation Army, and is considered one of the great mothers. The reason that Catherine looked great in the eyes of many people around the world was that she had great support for her husband, but more than that, she raised all of her children to be excellent and dedicated them to God. Catherine Booth had 8 children, and all of them lived to the fullest of their abilities, and while continuing her father's evangelism work, they have grown into dedicated workers for the kingdom of God. Many people have asked her the secret to educating their children. She replied: “Because he was always ahead of the devil. Before I learn bad habits, I teach good habits, before the devil teaches bad thoughts, I first teach good thoughts, before the devil teaches bad wisdom, I first teach God's wisdom, and the devil teaches lies, hypocrisy, and evil. Because before I taught God first.”
How many points are we in the eyes of our children? How many points is your father? How many points is the mother? I hope you have a holy wish to become a good father and a good mother. Because being good parents is God's will.
Second, we must become parents who receive God's blessing.
Parents want our children to do well. No parent in this world wants their children to go wrong. Parents have a heart for all our children to be blessed. No parent in this world wants their children to be cursed. We want all our children to be well and blessed, but the problem is next. The fact is that there are very few parents who make sure that our children are well and blessed. What should parents do so that our children can live a prosperous and blessed life? Parents must first become people of blessing. Parents should be a model of blessing to their children. According to the Bible, Abraham was the model of blessing to Isaac. Isaac was a model of blessing for Jacob. Jacob became a model of blessing for Joseph. Joseph served as a model for blessings to Ephraim and Manasseh. You can see the blessings continued to be passed on.
Ladies and gentlemen, if we want our children to be truly blessed, we as parents must first be blessed. You must be able to stand in front of your children as a blessed person. You must be able to confidently tell and show your children that ‘I have been blessed by God in this way’.
It's easy for parents to be models of blessing. Parents can receive God's blessing only when they fully dedicate themselves to God. Only then can you become a model of blessing. Don't be content or happy with receiving filial piety from your children on Mother's Day today. For parents to dedicate themselves to God, it is a very important thing that affects their children as well.
Are you a model of blessing or a model of curse in front of your children? Are your children growing up seeing the blessings in you, or are they growing up seeing the curses in you? I hope that we, as parents, will fully commit ourselves to God during this time so that we can become people who have received God's blessing.
Third, we must become parents who bless their children to the fullest.
When parents become people who are blessed, they are passively a model of blessing and actively becoming a channel of blessing. To become a channel of blessing means to become a parent who can bless their children to their heart's content. In Old Testament terms, parents are like priests in the home. That is why you should bless your children to your heart's content. But sometimes we see parents blaming, cursing, and cursing their children for being angry with them. That's not very wise. To put it a little harsher, the parents are doing the devil. Who should bless our children? Parents must. But the reality is not so. Who will curse our children? Parents. I hope you will continue to bless your children as you consider it a task given to parents to bless their children.
When raising children, you have to do it from two perspectives. One is prayer and the other is the Word. First of all, I want you to raise your children through prayer. Parents should pray a lot for their children. When Jesus was carrying the cross, He exhorted Jewish women who wept for themselves to weep for your children.
A woman entered a chapel in Italy in broad daylight. As soon as she sat down, she sobbed and cried and prayed. After weeping and praying so much, the bishop of the church came out and patted the woman on the shoulder and asked, “Madam, what's going on?” “Bishop, my son has fallen into heresy. I have fallen into sin.” Then the director left her famous saying: “Madam, children of praying parents never perish.” She was Augustine's mother, Monica. Monica prayed with tears for her prodigal son. Eventually Augustine returned to God. He became a great saint in the history of Christianity. Hannah prayed constantly for Samuel, and through that prayer, Samuel became the great leader of Israel, a servant of God. This is the power of prayer that parents give to God. No parenting method for children can surpass prayer.
Pestalozzi, the father of education, defined his parents as the first teachers. It means that children learn from watching their parents from the moment they are born. There is a western proverb that says, “Children do not learn in front of their parents, they learn behind them. This means that we learn by precept rather than by admonition. It's about seeing and learning rather than listening and learning.
tidy up.
Today is Father's Day. As I spent last week on Children's Day, I thought of the devotion of my children. As we celebrate Mother's Day today, we think about the devotion of our parents. When parents devote themselves to God, our children will also devote themselves to God. When parents become good parents, our children can also become good children. First, you must wish to be a good parent. Second, parents should be a model for blessings. Third, we must raise our children through the Word and prayer.