DAILY HOPE DEVOTIONAL: AUGUST 4 BUILDING GOOD FAMILY REPUTATION (4) SCRIPTURE: HEB. 12: 10; COL. 3: 21; EPH. 6: 1, 4
Yesterday’s devotional pointed at few ways parents can teach or reawaken good reputations in the lives of their households. Today’s devotional brings few other ways. The fourth method to building good reputation in family is godly discipline. Godly discipline in the sense that, such discipline must be given in the ways that it produces good results in the house rather than increasing rebelliousness and wicked acts in the person under discipline. Christian parents must discipline their children as God does (Heb. 12: 10). God disciplines to turn the bad into good.
It is important here to point at how, some African and Nigerian Christians have ruined the good reputations of their family by adopting Western lifestyles wrongly in training their children these days. It is wrong to believe that our old ways of training children how to behave goodly is evil. Where is the respect for elders in our cultures? Where is the discipline for living responsible life by training our children in farm works, cooking, and doing other domestic cores? *The Bible asked our children to honour their fathers and mothers (Exod. 20: 12; Eph. 6: 1 – 3). How are we honouring our parents today?* The Bible says whoever does not work should not eat (2 Thess. 3: 10). Christian parents who don’t allow their children to do any hard work at home should have a rethink today.
The fifth method is: parents should treat their children with honour and respect. Respect recognizes the best in people. Parents must honour their children and esteem them as people created by God. Parents must build self-esteem in their children with words of courage, telling them how they are valued in the family no matter the radical behaviours coming out of them. Many parents provoke their children by insulting them publicly, before their age groups etc., the Bible warns fathers against provoking their children (Col. 3: 21; Eph. 6: 1, 4). This caution must include mothers.
The sixth method is building self-control into the children as early as possible in their lives. A child who has the ability for self-control restrains anger, conquers appetites, suppresses immoral urge as well as developing strength to responds to challenges positively. Children with self-control ability have good control over emotional and other irrational behaviours. Christian parents are to provide their wards with guideline and discipline to grow with. The Bible says that one with self-control is better than a warrior and can protect a city (Prov. 16: 32 Easy-To-Read Bible). Without being equipped with self-control a child will grow up like a city without defense walls (Prov. 25: 28). The beloved in Christ, we are hereby challenged to see how to build good reputations into our families’ development curricula. Let this be preferred above running after money, political offices and materialism!
PRAYERS:
1. Pray, asking God to grant you the power to maintain good reputations in your family rather than pursuing earthly fame in Jesus name.
2. Ask the Holy Spirit to make Christian homes become cautious of the need to produce children of good reputations in their homes, in Jesus name.
CONTACT US? You can contact us for prayer requests or discussion through ubasimon341@gmail.com
bishopubaudenyi@hopealivechurch.
