DON’T PROVOKE YOUR CHILDREN TO WRATH 4

DON’T PROVOKE YOUR CHILDREN TO WRATH 4

Text: Luke 2:41-49
Memory verse:
”If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him.“
‭‭James‬ ‭1‬:‭5‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

Let’s consider another factor that can discourage or embitter children or that can provoke them to wrath (Col 3:21; Eph 6:4).
Overly overprotected children often react negatively. This happens when they are brought under strict rules that never allow any form of liberty. It’s either a ‘no’ answer or they are helped. Overprotective parents do not trust their children to take decisions, to go out anywhere unaccompanied, to choose their friends, to buy what they want and so forth. One of the consequences of overprotecting a child is that the child grows to avoid taking risks. He or she avoids even things that are known to have no potential risk because he has grown not to trust his or her own judgment and that may eventually destroy their natural problem-solving ability. However, some develop to the extreme of rebellion by taking excessive risks, which may come with grave consequences. To some, the more their parents say no to something, the more they want to try it. Rebellion is seen as a way to assert their independence and autonomy. This can manifest as defiance, disobedience, or acting out in various ways. That is why you see some youth go wild in behaviour once they get out to the tertiary institution where they are, for once, without their parents’ supervision and especially when it’s outside their residential town. It’s like a dog that had just been released from its kernel. Some grow wild in relationship with the opposite sex until they lose their chastity or even get pregnant. Others hang out with bad friends and begin to smoke, skip lectures, go to parties, and dress provocatively. While it is proper to give our children some measure of liberty, it will be the height of irresponsibility to leave them unprotected and vulnerable.
The Word of God furnishes us with the right wisdom to ultimately find the right balance between setting boundaries and allowing for independence, which is the key in raising well-adjusted, responsible and godly children. Proverbs 22:6 requires parents to train their children in the way they should go. Ideal training involves both teaching and involvement. Children must not only be taught but must be guided to practice the teaching first with supervision and then without supervision. Like the parents of Jesus in our text, parents must express their concerns, communicate that they still trust their children, encourage mutual respect and encourage a supportive environment for the children to express themselves. Their wills should be guided, but not controlled absolutely.

Prayer points
1. Father, please supply the wisdom to all parents to set boundaries for their children and allow for independence in Jesus’ name.
2. Father, please, in your mercy, encounter and restore children who are in rebellion to their parents’ overprotection, in Jesus’ name.

Today’s declarations
1. Parents overprotection can destroy children’s problem solving ability and trigger rebellion.
2. Godly parents guide their children’s will but don’t control or silence it.

Contact: pastor@thf.org.ng