Since the Proverbs 31 Woman has an “enterprise perspective” she sets goals for herself. She also sets goals for her children to reach and helps them reach those goals. She teaches her children the benefits of a goal reached. She sees an earthly and a heavenly gain in this. She has trained up her children to help her and to take on worthy projects themselves that she watches over for their profit.
She has put a lot thought and course-plotting to the future of her children. It is pitiful to see young men and women wasting away because they have no clue what life is all about or what they should be doing with their time, their talents, and their money. They just live each day for what they can get out of it, without a care for their future.
There are more parents making idols of their children; giving their children everything they scream and ask for, than there are parents who are making godly role models out of their little darlings. If we allow our children to be lazy and unproductive – we assist them in ruining their lives. As wise and productive mothers (and fathers) we should be the ones our children are taught by. We are wise to employ our own children under us in any way we can think of. It allows the parent to instill the right value system in them.
Children will fall away from godliness if sent off too soon to learn and be accountable to someone else but you, and especially someone without the fear of God in them. Putting your child in a place where God and His principles are not honored is the perfect way to destroy your child’s future. If that child has been offered to God and dedicated to Him then you are responsible for your child’s understanding of the Lord and for your child’s upbringing in the truth. If you do not follow through then it puts God in a position He shouldn’t have to be in; that of doing what you should be doing for the children you dedicated to Him and that He has entrusted you with. The blessing will go to another, not you.
As Christian parents most of us have dedicated our children to the Lord, but do we understand what that really means? Like most Christian parents, we had the pastor pray over each one of our children and over us as their parents. We should understand the responsibility we have to God on behalf of these children to care for them properly and to raise them up for His glory and Kingdom. The thing that so grieves God’s heart is that He sees so many parents (who have dedicated their children in this way) not following through. When times get tough, they fall away from the Lord, from their marriage, from being the parents their children need. God expects us to live up to our vows we’ve made to each other and to Him; to be faithful. He will help us to be faithful if we will not give up and go our own selfish way. Our children need us to be faithful more than we realize.
I believe that God assigns children to parents so that they are evenly yoked together; to the perishing God assigns the perishing; but to the godly He assigns the godly. God knows the outcome of our choices in life; the future our choices made. The parents you end up with might not be the parents/parent you started with. God gave me new parents after He saved me so that I would grow up for Him. My husband’s older brother and wife have been spiritual parents to us.
We made mistakes as all parents do, but God trained us by those mistakes. It made us better counselors to our adult children when they began raising our grandchildren.
God has given us His standard of living that has never changed. We should deny and remove whatever is in the way of our own godliness and that is in the way of our marriage and children growing in godliness. From generation to generation the godly will thrive, multiply and dominate the earth for eternity. (Exodus 20:3-6, Psalm 22:30-31, Psalm 33:11, Psalm 45:16-17, Psalm 78:4-8) This is the will of God. What God expected His people (Israel) to teach their children is what God expects us to teach our children. There are not two standards. There are not two roots. (Romans 10:11-13 and chapter 11)
Many parents send their children off to Sunday school, to public school, on mission’s trips or into the military to learn what they should already know and have established in their character. These parents either didn’t know, or in knowing they neglected to follow through with God’s commands to them as parents. (Deuteronomy 11:13-26)
When you send your son (or daughter) off to do something good for other people they should be able and willing to give of themselves; to be of good (godly) use simply from the way you raised them at home. A troublemaker (rebellion) should be conquered at home according to God’s way and wisdom. A child’s meanness is to be removed at home or they will become a threat to society. The ignorance in children is the responsibility of the parent foremost and not the schools, not the church and not the government. When you take your stand on this, ‘trusting the Lord to uphold you and protect you,’ He will. Before you send your young adult off anywhere in the world ‘with your blessing’ you better be sure your child will be a blessing there. They represent your parenting skills; they represent the values you instilled in them.
As one wise man said, “Parenting isn’t for cowards!” Parents are afraid to spank their children because of all the false teaching of men of women who do not fear God. They fear the laws that have been made that will imprison the parent that disciplines their children the way God says to. It simply comes down to whether or not you believe that God has the power to protect your good parenting, and the overruling authority to prevent anyone from removing your children from you.
Courageous parents expect God to uphold them as they train up their children the way God tells them to. They stand on the promises of God. Gutless parents buckle under their child’s demands afraid of what their child will think of them. Cowardly parents want to be liked by their children no matter what. They do not think ahead and consider the outcome of such childish parenting. What we see today is the ungodly teaching and training children, who in turn are training their parents, instead of parents training children in what it means to be a genuine child of God.
My husband and I have helped send young men in our church (fresh out of high-school) to far-away places only to hear that they caused trouble partying or slacking off – wasting their team leader’s time. When you send your child or anyone off they are representing you – the sender. It is your responsibility to make sure they are ready and prepared for the work of the Lord there. If you are financially supporting someone for their ministry or work in an area you better know if that person is responsible or not before you back him up and send him off hoping he/she will be useful and commended.
Whatever the Proverbs 31 Woman has that is of value she is not selfish with it. She finds a way to share her wealth with others if the Lord has put some person, family, community or nation on her heart. Whether it be Bibles, food, clothing, words of hope and encouragement or even her children – she will get it all where it needs to go, and with a sense of urgency about it.