I’m reading through the book of Ezekiel right now. Where I am at today is chapter 33. The Lord made Ezekiel a watchman for the people of Israel. He listened to the Lord and then would warn the people. He explained to Ezekiel that it was his responsibility to warn them and if he did not then he would be responsible for their deaths. But if he did warn them and they chose not to repent then it was their fault and they would die in their own sins.
When I read this it made me think, I am so thankful that we, as believers, have the Holy Spirit at work in our lives to be our watchman. I also believe the Lord makes us watchmen. We are watchmen over our kids lives while they are in our care. It is our job to teach them right from wrong, if you do this, then this will happen. We teach them what is wrong(sin) in their lives so one day when they leave us they are prepared(Proverbs 22:6).
As their watchmen we need to be mindful to point out sin in their lives. If they are never taught what a sin is then they will never turn from it. It is our job as parents to pray that sin in their lives would be dealt with. A prayer I’ve prayed and continue to pray is that my kids would be caught in sin so that they recognize sin in their lives and would repent. I don’t want my kids comfortable with sin. Dealing with sin is never a fun task but us parents have to be willing to do the hard things, speak hard truth because it may as well save our kids lives. Our kids need to understand sin is a slippery slope that leads to death. I believe this is our call as believers while our kids are in our care, to teach them about the love of God but also the fear of the Lord. We want them to have a grasp on good and evil, right from wrong, living in sin or living in righteousness. The bible says the beginning wisdom is the fear of the Lord (Proverbs 9:10). They can be wise if they fear the Lord and we want them to be wise when they leave our home. We need to explain righteous living to them, read the bible to them and with them and encourage them to read it alone (Deut. 6:6-7).
There was a lot of weight put on Ezekiel to warn the people and if he didn’t he would be responsible for their deaths. That is heavy. Us parents have a heavy call, as watchmen, to make disciples in our home, kids that love the Lord and want to live a righteous life for Him. Thankfully, we have the Holy Spirit to guide us along.
Join me in praying the Holy Spirit will guide me to train up these children and lets commit to study God’s word and see what it teaches us about being the parents, the watchmen, we are called to be.
Praying Mom,
Michelle
