R U Lamp, Light, or Laissez Faire?

Our culture today has adopted sort of a laissez faire mentality in childrearing; just take care of their physical needs and let them determine their course and character. After all, they have the right to pick their own friends, explore their own interests, and even select their own church -- right?

Is this laissez faire approach what God has in mind for the role of parents?

The Scriptures here declare that the father's commandment and the mother's law....

My son, keep thy father's commandment, and forsake not the law of thy mother: Bind them continually upon thine heart, and tie them about thy neck. When thou goest, it shall lead thee; when thou sleepest, it shall keep thee; and when thou awakest, it shall talk with thee. For the commandment is a lamp; and the law is light; and reproofs of instruction are the way of life. Prov 6:20-23

Do we really grasp the magnitude of the expectation God has placed upon parents? Over and over, the Bible exhorts children to honor and obey their parents. This implies an expectation: that parents will discharge their duty faithfully.

• will lead the child as they go
• will keep the child as they rest
• will talk with the child as they awake.

The Scriptures here declare that...

• the father's commandment is a lamp (to illuminate the next step on the path)
• the mother's law is a light (to illuminate the next milestone down the road)
• reproofs of instuction are the way of life (corrections keep them on God's narrow way).

Apparently, God expect parents' instruction, law, and reproofs to illuminate God's way of life. He expects parents' instructions to agree with His Word.

God expects parents to show their children

Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path. Psalm 119:105

• the practical usefulness and applicability of the Scriptures to daily life
• how the Scripture's lamp (as in luminary or candlelight) can clearly show the very next right step in life
• how the Scripture's light (as in daylight) can provide a clear view of the next long stretch of the road before us as well as the road just behind us.

How involved will you be with your children's steps today?
How involved will you be with your children's course of life?
Will your involvement be a lamp and a light, agreeing with God's Word?
Or will you settle for laissez faire?