Children, obey your parents in all things: for this is well pleasing unto the Lord. Fathers, provoke not your children to anger, lest they be discouraged
—Colossians 3:20–21

To become a parent is not hard; to be a good parent is. Parents are to be a platform for their children to build on, but far too many parents have no foundation of their own in place.

Jesus might ask us, "If you gain the whole world and lose your family, what has it profited you?" Say you're making a six-digit salary and living in a million-dollar house, but your kids hate you and don't want to talk to you. Hello! There's something wrong.

Good parenting requires a strong family unit to be in place as well as time from both parents. Husbands need to live according to Joshua's principle, "As for me and my house, we will serve the LORD" (Joshua 24:15). Fathers need to be the leaders of their family and take an active role in raising their children. What goes into our children will ultimately come out, and we are responsible for the environment we provide for them.

Children have an innate desire for parental approval and acceptance as well as proper discipline. While we always want to communicate that our children are precious and special, in love we must also provide appropriate correction. That means you don't embarrass or belittle them and walk around with a superior attitude that says, "I have authority over you!" The key word is properly. It means "marked by suitability, rightness, appropriateness, befitting, correct."

What we say to our children is important, but what we do is much weightier and carries so much more credence. Ultimately, your children will be products of your lifestyle and behavior. You will win your children to the Lord by the way you conduct your life and by the way you behave. We send a loud-and-clear message to our children when we "play church" on Sunday and don't "live church" the rest of the week.

Pay attention to your priorities. Working for the almighty dollar is not the most important thing in life. Realize before it's too late that your kids will be grown up and gone before you know it. It seems like yesterday when our kids were just babies, and they're growing up every day into the adults they will become in too short a time. Don't be a parent who looks back and regretfully thinks about what you should have done, where you should have been when this or that happened, or what your kids would be like as adults if you had been the kind of parent they needed. Do what you can do while there is still time

Related Texts: Psalm 103:13; Proverbs 4:1; Isaiah 66:13; Luke 11:11; Ephesians 5:23; Colossians 3:21; Hebrews 12:7