Page 95 - Family Life Student Textbook

to describe their successes. Then, he would ask them to describe their relationship with their father. Only
one man described a good relationship with his father. Of the remaining ninety-nine business leaders, half of
them became very aggitated and angry as they described their father whom they could never please, no
matter how well they did. The remaining half of these distiguished business leaders, broke down and cried
as they too described fathers whom they could never please. In fact, these men were continually driven to
accomplish more and more in an effort to please a father who was never satisfied.

These men were desperately searching for a blessing of encouragement from their father. They had a drive
to somehow earn a compliment from a man who was important to them and to their development. But they
were became emotionally exasperated, because they could never receive the love and approval which they
so desperately desired, from the one man whose approval would have meant the most to them.

Children need unconditional love and
acceptance from their parents. They need to
hear and feel their parents communicating to
them, “I love you because you are my child, and
nothing can change that love.” This
unconditional love gives them security in which
they can develop. God loves us with an
unconditional “agape” love. And nothing we do
will cause that love to decrease.

That does not mean that we approve of everything our child may do or say. God does not approve of all of
our actions, words and attitudes either. And he sometimes disciplines us or allows us to experience the
negative consequences of our actions and attitudes in order to teach us and help us grow. But His love for us
never changes. So, we as parents will not approve of all of the actions and attitudes of our children. And we
must discipline them in order to teach them. But our children should never have to question whether our
love for them will ever decrease. They need this unconditional love in order to be secure and know that they
are accepted as our child.

Pray for your children

1 Chronicles 29:19 “And give my son Solomon the wholehearted devotion to keep your
commands, statutes and decrees and to do everything to build the palatial structure for
which I have provided.”

It is instructive to us, that God records in scripture, that David prays that Solomon, his son, will obey
everything that God had revealed and carry on with accomplished God’s work. God does not record that
David prayed for his son in the areas of success as a king, victory over enemies, wealth, safety, or other
things parents would normally pray for their children. Notice that I did not say that David did not pray for
these things. He may well have done so. But God emphasizes, for all of history, David’s requests for his son’s
obedience to God and commitment to the task God had given him.

Job 1:5 “When a period of feasting had run its course, Job would make arrangements for
them to be purified. Early in the morning he would sacrifice a burnt offering for each of
them, thinking, “Perhaps my children have sinned and cursed God in their hearts.” This
was Job’s regular custom.

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