The Road Less Traveled

• Tue 4 Sep 2007 - Quote from "The Heart of Wisdom Teaching Approach" by Robin Sampson - Secret of Parenting

I love this quote. This is so my hope for my children.

"Here lies the secret of parenting that will produce good spiritual fruit in our children: the Parable of the Sower begins with the preaching of the Word, or the planting of the seed in the hearts of people. The seed is God's Word; the different soils symbolize different types of hearts; and the varied results show the different responses to the Word of God. It is our job as parents to sow the seeds lovingly into the hearts of our children.

The Word, unlike anything else you teach your children, is living and powerful (Hebrews 4: 12). It is necessary for the truth of God to be cultivated to take root in the heart before it will bear fruit. In the Parable of the Sower, three-fourths of the seed did not bear fruit, and there was no great harvest.

When you plant the seed (read God's Word), water it with prayer, and share it in love you are causing the seed to be rooted and established in love (Ephesians 3:17). The fruit will be seen in salvation (Matthew 7:16), in good works (Colossians 1:10), in holiness (Romans 6:22), in Christian character (Galatians 5:22-23), in winning others to Christ (Romans 1:13), in sharing (Romans 15:25-28), and in praising God (Hebrews 13:15). To plant this seed lovingly into the heart of your child, you need to have the fruit of love in your own live. It is a circle of life and you must impress them (God's Laws) on your children (Deuteronomy 6:7).

This is God's plan for passing on the truth about Himself, from parent to child. As a child matures, he becomes a parent to the next generation, and so on. The seed must come from fruit--fruit from your life--God's love, which is spread abroad in your heart by the Holy Spirit. When your own heart is full of love--as a result of God's Word planted in you--the love of Christ will overflow into the hearts of your children: it will give itself out, give itself away, and enrich the lives of others....

There is no fruit unless there is hearing first."

May we be dilligent in training our children according to God's word and planting the seeds of his word in our life.