TLP 455: Helping a False Parent | False Parents, Part 3

I love the way he said, quote, the Bible is very easy to understand, but we Christians are a bunch of scheming swindlers. We pretend to be unable to understand it because we know very well that the minute we understand, we are obliged to act accordingly.

The Show Opens by Framing False Parenting as a Serious Problem

Welcome to Truth, Love, Parent, where we use God's word to become intentional premeditated parents. Here's your host, A .M. Brewster.

Welcome back to the third part of our false parent series. If this is your first time with us, I welcome you, but I'm gonna have to kick you out. That's right, jumping into this series right here at the end will potentially cause more confusion than it will provide any help.

It will be extremely necessary for us to be on the same page as it relates to defining and identifying false parents. Only then will the biblical cure for false parenting be understood. So yes, I'm super glad if you're new to the show and you're joining us today, but I'm just trying to do what's best for you.

And speaking of what's best for you, I highly recommend you subscribe and stay up to date with the newest episodes so that you don't miss out on any of our awesome giveaways. But you should also peruse our library for episodes that interest you, or simply maybe just start at the beginning with episode number one.

You see, 99 of our episodes are evergreen because they're grounded in God's word. They're eternally relevant and practical. You don't wanna miss the old stuff. To all you newcomers, welcome to Truth, Love, Parent.

And for those of you who are ready for this closing episode, I'm glad you're back with us. The series has been explosively popular, so I pray it's been helpful for you. If it has been helpful for you in any way, will you please consider how God may want to use you to help us continue creating content just like this.

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Understanding False Parenting and the Need to Repent

Now, let's break free from our false parenting, shall we? By way of review, false parenting occurs when we lie to our children about what God says. This happens when we intentionally misrepresent God, but it also happens when we accidentally misrepresent God.

And it happens when we're not claiming to represent God at all. For example, young children and even spiritually mature children generally trust their parents. They tend to assume that their parents have their best interest in mind and are leading them accordingly.

Well, that means that if the parents lead them the wrong way, those parents are misrepresenting the right way to live. Any and every time we lead our children in a direction that God would not have us lead them, we're being false parents.

So last time we learned to identify false parenting in ours, our spouses, and our friends' lives. If someone clearly contradicts the Bible, they're a false parent. If they say the wrong or the right thing, but they say it for the wrong reasons, they're a false parent.

If they allow others to be their parenting authority, or if they are their own ultimate parenting authority, they're engaging in false parenting. If their parenting avoids discussing sin, its consequences, and its roots, they're false parents.

And if there are consistent areas of unrepentant sin in their lives, that parent is a false parent. And if the individual is experiencing any of the consequences of false parenting at all, obviously they're a false parent.

So is there any hope at all for a false prophet, false teacher, or false parent? I believe there is. I'm going to work through nine biblical principles and commands, and I have no idea how much time this is going to take.

So if you think that you need to stop it halfway through,.

You feel free to do that.

So here goes. Number one, we need to truly understand the nature and consequences of false parenting. Why does the Bible have so much to say about false prophets? Answer, God wants us to know all about false prophets, that we can not only avoid them, but also not become them.

This is why Jude, 2 Peter 2, Jeremiah 23, the many passages I've already cited, so many things in the Old Testament and the plethora of passages I didn't even mention were all written. And that's also why we, of course, created this series.

I pray that if nothing else, the previous episodes helped you to see your own false parenting with open eyes, because that is step one. It's the human condition to be blind to our sin. But by the grace of God and the faithful wounds of our friends, we can see ourselves the way God sees us.

Yeah, it's never pretty, but it's so necessary. And that's where true change is really gonna start every single time. So if you're still uncertain about what a false parent is and how false parenting functions, please study the show notes and never hesitate to reach out to the TLP counselors.

We would love to help you see yourself the way God sees you. Now, I'm assuming that you are probably a lot like me. Over the past few episodes, you've seen yourself reflected in the descriptions of the false parent.

Sure, you're probably not a false parent all the time, but you recognize that you're prone to false parenting, just like the rest of us are. And that's a good thing, because that's likely very accurate.

In fact, it's probably safe to assume that there's more false parenting in our lives than we tend to think. That means that the next step will require you to, number two, confess, apologize, and repent of your false parenting.

Confession, Forgiveness, and Repentance Before God

In 1 Timothy 1, Paul waxes eloquent concerning false teachers, but then he shares one of the most encouraging thoughts. I'll start reading in verse 12. I thank Christ Jesus, our Lord, who has strengthened me because he considered me faithful, putting me into service, even though I was formerly a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent aggressor.

Yet I was shown mercy because I acted ignorantly in unbelief, and the grace of our Lord was more than abundant with the faith and love which are found in Christ Jesus. Praise God that he takes people incapable of being anything other than false parents, and he turns them into biblical parents through his mercy and grace.

And that's all it takes, his mercy and his grace. So we need to confess our sin, ask forgiveness from those against whom we've sinned, and repent. Confession is the act of saying the same thing about our sin that God does.

It's not defensiveness, it's not blame shifting, it's taking full responsibility for the atrocity of our rebellion against God. And this really is so important. Listen carefully to the words of Revelation 2 .20.

In this passage, Jesus himself is talking to the church at Thyatira. And after commending the love and service and perseverance of some, he says, quote, but I have this against you, that you tolerate the woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, and she teaches and leads my bond servants astray so that they commit acts of immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols.

I gave her time to repent. So here we see God's abundant mercy and grace. But he continues, and she does not want to repent of her immorality. Behold, I will throw her on a bed of sickness and those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation unless they repent of her deeds.

And I will kill her children with pestilence and all the churches will know that I am he who searches the minds and hearts. And I will give to each one of you according to your deeds, unquote. My friends, if we do not repent of our false parenting, there will be consequences.

I'm not saying we are going to experience pestilence in the death of our children, but we might. The consequences of sin are vast and weighty and petrifying, and I don't want that for any of you. So we need to confess.

We need to agree with God about our sin. We need to ask forgiveness from God and from the people against whom we've sinned. And we need to repent. We need to turn away from that sin to righteousness. Then, once you've been grieved by your sin to repentance, you need to, number three, recommit to biblical parenting.

Recommitting to Biblical Parenting and God’s Authority

In 2 Timothy 4, three through five, we read, for the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths.

But you be sober in all things, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry. How do we avoid becoming a false teacher? We need to fulfill the ministry to which we've been called.

And of course, this is a huge topic. Our over 550 episodes have been dedicated to detailing exactly what biblical parenting entails. So we don't have time today to get too specific, but I do want to make four short points.

A, when it comes to parenting, God is the only authority. When it comes to parenting, I only have authority when I speak God's words. I don't have the right to decide that I know how this needs to be done and I don't need any help.

I also don't get to decide that some other quote unquote expert who contradicts God's word gets to be the authority either. We must submit wholly to God. But remember, external obedience isn't obedience at all.

1 Samuel 15, 22 through 23 warns, has the Lord as much delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice and to heed than the fat of rams.

For rebellion is as the sin of divination and insubordination is as iniquity and idolatry. Since true obedience requires doing the right thing in the right way for the right reasons, letter B, don't forget the importance of motivation.

It's not enough to obey God simply because we like obeying God. That kind of obedience is about us. It's not enough to grudgingly obey God either. We have to truly want to obey God because he deserves it.

He's awesome and glorious and wonderful and that's why we obey him. It's not because of what we receive from our obedience. It's not about how we look to others when we obey. It's about him and him alone.

And that will easily remind us that recommitting to biblical parenting is going to involve submitting to God's expectations for our parenting. So, letter C, remember that biblical parenting is perfectly summed up in Deuteronomy 6 and Ephesians 6.

If you do your best by the grace of God to understand and apply those passages to your parenting, you're going to be going in the right direction. Of course, again, this is very broad, but I'll end with one specific application we discussed earlier.

D, biblical parenting makes a big deal about God and therefore makes a big deal about sin. In Lamentations 2 .14, we read, your prophets have seen for you false and foolish visions and they have not exposed your iniquity so as to restore you from captivity.

This is why Ephesians 5, 11 through 13 commands, do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness but instead even expose them for it is disgraceful even to speak of the things which are done by them in secret.

But all things become visible when they are exposed by the light. For everything that becomes visible is light. False parents don't biblically deal with sin. They define sin and its consequences as they see fit.

But we must use the light of God's word to expose sin, not to condemn and reject people, but to help people gain freedom from their slavery. Again, there's so much more that can be said about biblical parenting.

And if you're new to Truth Loved Parent, I hope you'll subscribe to the show and check out all of the other biblical parenting resources we have available at truthlovedparent .com. So after we understand the nature and consequences of false parenting, and we repent of it by recommitting to God's expectations, we need to, number four, diligently study to know God's word.

I really love the rhetorical expression in Isaiah 8, 19 through 22. When they say to you, consult the mediums and the spiritists who whisper and mutter, should not a people consult their God? Should they consult the dead on behalf of the living?

To the law and to the testimony. When we or someone else has a parenting question or struggle, may we cry to the law and to the testimony. Let's consult our God. Do you remember 2 Timothy 2, 15? Within his broader discussion of false prophets, Paul writes, be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth.

We must recommit to being lifelong students of God and his word. We'll never be able to read it enough. We'll never know it enough. We'll never exhaust its treasure trove of wisdom. I recommend starting with Psalm 119.

That chapter beautifully illustrates what it's like to diligently study to know God's word. But knowing God's word isn't enough. We need to, number five, diligently study to understand God's word. A lot of people are familiar with various verses in the Bible, but the vast overwhelming majority don't really understand the truth in those verses.

Have you ever heard someone facing a difficult task? Make the claim that they can, quote, do all things through Christ who strengthens them. The problem with such a usage is that it's patently false. Does that verse apply to winning a high school football game?

Is God promising that he will strengthen you to get that promotion? And when we step back to look at the whole of scripture, we find that God never makes such promises to his church. Paul made the claim within the context of a discussion on contentment.

Does God promise that we can always obey him? Yes, he does. Does he promise the strength to be content and at peace and joyful and all the other spiritual expectations he has for us? Yes. But to arbitrarily use that verse to motivate myself to bench press 200 pounds is taking the verse out of context and showing that I don't really understand what it means.

This is why God commands us to be diligent students of the word. But someone listening today may argue that there are quote unquote biblical scholars who will study the same passages and come away with two very different understandings.

And yes, that happens, but it happens for just a couple reasons. Number one, the passage does have various understandings depending on what it was supposed to mean to the original reader and what it's supposed to mean for us.

But neither of the scholars are seeing the additional layer of meaning. In such cases, both are right in their understanding, but both are wrong if they argue that their understanding is the only understanding.

Number two, it's also very possible that one is wrong and one is right. There are many professional scholars who admit that they're not even born again. That means, biblically speaking, that they don't have the Holy Spirit empowerment to truly understand the Bible.

1 Corinthians 2 .14 teaches this principle. A natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God for they are foolishness to him and he cannot understand them because they are spiritually appraised.

And number three, so if it's possible that one could be wrong, it's also possible that they both could be wrong. Here's the thing. God's word is never going to contradict itself and God's word will only ever mean what it means.

There aren't multiple meanings beyond what it means. Here's what I mean. Hermeneutics is the study of biblical interpretation. Now, I don't want to oversimplify this, but we don't have time really for a longer discussion.

So typically, there are about five different ways that professing Christians today approach the Bible. The allegorical approach sees the Bible as a spiritual book full of allegories and spiritual meaning.

The rationalistic approach believes that the Bible can only be understood by human reason and the scientific method. There's a quote-unquote traditional approach that emphasizes how the Roman Catholic Church has interpreted the Bible in the past or in the present.

And then there's the subjective approach that focuses on what the Bible means to the person reading it. And finally, there's the historical grammatical approach that views the Bible as normal literature, taking into account figures of speech, history, and various genres.

But please note that one of these things is not like the others. The allegorical, rationalistic, traditional, and subjective approaches all place the final decision for what the biblical text means squarely in the reader's lap.

Only the historical grammatical approach, often called the literal or natural approach, allows the text to mean what it claims to mean. And it's a man-centered approach to Bible interpretation and understanding that has caused so much trouble in the world.

It's this kind of bad understanding of the scripture that's been used by some to justify the Crusades, slavery, homosexuality, and even abortion. But 1 Corinthians 14 .33 tells us that God is not a God of confusion, but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints.

In addition, we see from the scripture that Jesus took the natural approach when he was talking about the Bible of that time, the Old Testament. Jesus often quoted Old Testament laws and applied them in the most literal sense possible.

He never asked what they meant to the people listening. He never allegorized them. He was very practical with them. The disciples also took Jesus' teachings and commands literally. And when it comes to deliberate allegory and grammatical figures of speech that we find in the scriptures, we see the individuals in scriptures, as well as the biblical authors, interacting with those passages exactly as a normal person would approach allegory and figurative language.

I'm not certain that Soren Kierkegaard and I would agree on everything, but I love it when he said, quote, "'The Bible is very easy to understand, but we Christians are a bunch of scheming swindlers. We pretend to be unable to understand it because we know very well that the minute we understand, we are obliged to act accordingly.".

Unquote. If God's word is exactly what it claims to be and means exactly what it claims to mean, then biblical parents must understand the scriptures as God intended them to be understood. And we can only do that as we approach the Bible from a natural, normal interpretation of the text as it was written by real people under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

We can also only do that well as we know more and more of the Bible because we need the Bible to help interpret the Bible itself. But what good is it if we stop with only knowing and understanding the Bible?

The scriptures tell us that knowledge puffs up and makes us arrogant. Therefore, number six, biblical parents diligently speak God's word. If you haven't heard about the Communication House yet, I encourage you to listen to that episode.

It will give you more direction on Christ honoring family talk in general. But the point is, is that if I know and understand God's word, I will obviously speak it. That means that my parenting is going to be filled with truth, holiness, love, grace, justice, mercy, contentment, encouragement, gratitude, peace, joy, reproof, edification, admonishment, and so much more.

Now, after hearing that list, you may wonder how I can claim that our parenting will have to be defined by all of that. It's pretty simple though. God commands that all Christian speech be identified by all of that content.

I also want to direct you to our Parents 5 Job series. Not only does this series do a great job of outlining our main parenting responsibilities, our upcoming series is going to build on each of those responsibilities by carefully working through the scripture to discover how we should be communicating in our parenting.

And we're gonna look at a lot of the words that I just listed out in that previous list. It's gonna be a very robust and important series. So just make sure you listen to the original Parents 5 Job series first.

Diligently Living God’s Word and Being Content with It

So yes, most of our parenting is speaking, but speaking isn't good enough. We must also, number seven, diligently live God's word. Do you remember Matthew 7? Beware of the false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves.

You will know them by their fruits. A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good fruit. Our fruit does not consist of simply what we speak. It invades everything in our lives.

Consider 1 Thessalonians 5, 13 through 21. Paul requests that we live in peace with one another. We urge you, brethren, admonish the unruly, encourage the faint-hearted, help the weak, be patient with everyone.

See that no one repays another with evil for evil, but always seek after that which is good for one another and for all people. Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.

Do not quench the spirit, do not despise prophetic utterances, but examine everything carefully. Hold fast to that which is good, abstain from every form of evil. For the Christian, studying God's word should always produce submission to God's word.

It's never going to please the Lord to tell our kids, do as I say, not as I do. That is wickedness parading itself as wisdom. Instead, we should be able to tell our kids to investigate every facet of our lives, and with Paul, invite our children to be imitators of me, just as I also am of Christ.

This is the most glorious part of biblical parenting. We get to follow Jesus step by step, and then we get to walk side by side with our children as we all follow Christ. That is the Christian life, that is discipleship, that is corporate worship that glorifies God.

Still, as amazing as that sounds, it's not always appealing to us as you may think. I'm sure you would imagine that someone who has confessed their false parenting and recommitted to biblical parenting, and who's studying God's word to know and understand it so that they can speak it in their parenting and live it out in their whole life, you would imagine that that kind of person would be intoxicated with God's holy word.

But as we saw in the innocence of the Garden of Eden, Satan is desperately trying to make his way more appealing than God's way. Despite the fact that Adam and Eve had absolutely everything they could possibly desire in near perfection, they so readily believed the empty lie of that unknown serpent and cast aside the loving and faithful word of their creator for a fruit that really honestly could have tasted terrible.

They didn't even know what they were getting into. That's why biblical parents need to, number eight, be content with God's word. There will always be a new truckload of failure philosophies and pop culture worldviews and quote unquote new research and the like that will contradict and contend with the Bible.

And if our eye is always looking for the next new thing, we will be tempted and drawn away by the seemingly shining facade of the world's godless thinking. This is why 1 Timothy 6, three through eight says, if anyone advocates a different doctrine and does not agree with sound words, those of our Lord Jesus Christ, and with the doctrine conforming to godliness, he is conceited and understands nothing.

But he has a morbid interest in controversial questions and disputes about words out of which arise envy, strife, abusive language, evil suspicions, and constant friction between men of depraved mind and deprived of the truth who suppose that godliness is a means of gain.

But godliness actually is a means of great gain when accompanied by contentment. For we have brought nothing into the world so we cannot take anything out of it either. If we have food and covering with these, we shall be content.

There will always be this ongoing temptation from Satan, the world, and the flesh to want something new and more than what God has given us. My friend Scott Anuel has an amazing podcast called By the Waters of Babylon.

In one of his recent episodes, he quotes from an article he wrote called Why Do We Think New Is Better? I've linked that article in the description and I highly suggest you read it. But allow me to quote an extended portion as it relates to this discussion about being content with God's word.

Scott writes, anyone would admit that when it comes to machines, new is in fact always better. Machines break down, they rust, they wear. Advancements in technology do always lead to better machines. Who wants to buy an old iPhone when you can get the new one?

And I'm not claiming that technological advancement is necessarily a bad thing. We all enjoy the benefits of medical breakthroughs and I'm a huge techie with the best of them. And he continues, but what we must be careful to note is that this constant advancement does to our perception of what is best in terms of truth, goodness, and beauty.

These are transcendent, universal, absolute principles rooted in the nature and character of God, and they are very old. They are permanent, they are eternal. And again, he continues, scripturally, permanence, stability, and tradition are almost always praised as superior to new, creative, and unique.

The only quote-unquote new that is praised as good is that which transforms a sinner and gives him newness of life. But even there, that sinner is being redeemed to very old, permanent realities. The fact of the matter is that the Christian's faith is very old, and that is what the church has been called to preserve and transmit to future generations.

Let us not get caught up in the cultural frenzy of newness in our Christian life, unquote. And this point leads us very naturally to our final point for today. Number nine, test everything by God's word.

Testing Everything by God’s Word

Since the tawdry, quote-unquote new, will never cease to press itself upon us until we enter eternity, we must be reminded of Paul's powerful claim in Galatians 1, 8 -9. If we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed.

As we have said before, so I say again, now, if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, he is to be accursed. And don't forget Romans 16, 17 -18. I urge you, brethren, keep your eye on those who cause dissensions and hindrances contrary to the teaching which you learned, and turn away from them.

For such men are slaves, not of our Lord Christ, but of their own appetites. And by their smooth and flattering speech, they deceive the hearts of the unsuspecting. In 1 Thessalonians 5, 21 -22 commands us to examine everything carefully, hold fast to that which is good, abstain from every form of evil.

In 1 John 4, 1 -6 reads, Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. And lastly, Revelation 2 -2 says, I know your deeds and your toil and perseverance, and that you cannot tolerate evil men.

And you put to the test those who call themselves apostles, and they are not, and you found them to be false. Biblical parents are not allowed to swallow the world's lies. But how will we know they're a lie if we don't compare it to the truth?

Well, once we've done our due diligence with God's word, we can easily reject what doesn't conform to his word. Hilary Morgan Ferrer from Mama Bear Apologetics has this special stamp made. As a book reviewer, she, like I, read a lot of good stuff, but she also reads a lot of garbage.

And when she encounters that garbage, she doesn't accept it into her thinking. She takes out her stamp and marks it for what it is, heresy. This makes our job really so easy. We can easily reject any parenting method or styles or advice that don't align with the scriptures.

Now, I knew we would, once again, go long today, and I appreciate your patience, but here's what I want to do. I want to quickly review these nine points, and then I want to give you a practical biblical example of what it looks like to be a biblical parent.

But first, how is it, a false parent to become a biblical parent? Number one, truly understand the nature and consequences of false parenting. Two, confess, apologize, and repent of your false parenting.

Three, recommit to biblical parenting. Four, diligently study to know God's word. Five, diligently study to understand God's word. Six, diligently speak God's word. Seven, diligently live God's word. By the way, the speak and the living, that's living wisely.

Number eight, be content with God's word. And number nine, test everything by God's word. As always, all of today's points and scriptures will be available in our free episode notes at takingbackthefamily .com.

A Practical Example of Biblical Parenting from Paul, Timothy, and Colossians

Now, let's finish by looking at number 10, a practical example of biblical parenting. Now, I want to synthesize three passages for us as we close here today. We've already looked at what these passages have to say about false teachers, but I didn't really read how any of them ended.

So, allow me to start with 1 Timothy 1. Paul started his letter by telling Timothy why he was left in Ephesus. Paul wanted him to, quote, instruct certain men not to teach strange doctrines. Timothy was there to refute false teachers, and in so doing, be a biblical teacher.

But starting in verse 12, we read, I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has strengthened me, because he considered me faithful, putting me into service, even though I was formerly a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and a violent aggressor.

Yet I was shown mercy, because I acted ignorantly in unbelief, and the grace of our Lord was more than abundant, with the faith and the love which are found in Christ Jesus. It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost of all.

Yet for this reason, I found mercy, so that in me as the foremost, Jesus Christ might demonstrate his perfect patience as an example for those who would believe in him for eternal life. Now to the king eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever, amen.

That is a glorious and hope-injecting description of what God wants to do for all false parents. God redeemed the false teacher named Paul, and turned him into one of the greatest biblical teachers of all time.

And this is how Paul instructs Timothy to be a biblical teacher himself. This command I entrust to you, Timothy, my son, in accordance with the prophecies previously made concerning you, that by them you fight the good fight, keeping the faith and a good conscience.

Letter A, biblical parents fight to stay true to God. It's not a casual stroll. It's not an amusement park ride. Biblical parenting is strenuous. It requires blood, sweat, and tears. Biblical parenting is part of our spiritual warfare, and we will have to daily strive to keep faith and a good conscience.

The word translated faith refers to the assurance we have in the completed work of Christ. It's the goal toward which we run. It's the sum total of our entire belief system. And the word translated conscience refers to our practiced ability to distinguish between right and wrong, truth and lies.

This is a call not merely to blindly follow. It's a call to fight to maintain our trajectory and hone our sensitivities, so that if we stray from our calling, our conscience will sound an alarm. This obviously encompasses an understanding the nature and consequences of false parenting, as well as repenting of it and recommitting to God's plan for our parenting.

And we don't have to wonder what we're fighting for. We don't have to make it up. God's plan for our parenting is clearly outlined in the Bible. That's why letter B, biblical parents, are consumed with the word of God.

Paul expands on his instruction to Timothy in 2 Timothy 3. After listing out in verses one through five, the lifestyle of false teachers and admonishing Timothy to avoid such people, starting in verse 14, Paul tells Timothy to continue in the things you have learned and become convinced of knowing from whom you have learned them.

And that from childhood, you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith, which is in Christ Jesus. All scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.

Paul told Timothy to continue in the truth that he had already learned and then revealed the glorious, life-changing power of the Bible. It teaches, it reproved, it corrects, and it trains so that we and our children can be equipped for every good work.

That is the only way we can hope to be successful in our parenting. As you can tell, this point beautifully encapsulated, diligently studying to know and understand the scriptures as well as being contented in them and testing everything by them.

And finally, as they fight to stay true to God and fill themselves with his word, let us see biblical parents pour God's truth into their children. In Colossians 3, Paul describes what it looks like to be conformed to the image of Christ.

And starting in verse 16, he practically illustrates the natural outcome of being filled with scriptures. Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you with all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God.