Fear Parenting? Remember Moses
Do You Fear Parenting?
Remember Moses!
The thought of bringing children into the world today causes many to fear. One Christian told me recently that she feared having children not only because of the many dangers facing them today, but also because they would surely be swept away by the many temptations in the world – “the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life” (1 Jn. 2:16). While the prospects of raising a child for the Lord appear grim today, are they any worse than they were in Moses’ time in Egypt, when every newborn Israelite son faced death in the river (Ex.1:22), and every daughter a life of bondage (Ex. 1:14)?
The eye of faith sees beyond present circumstances to God’s plan for those raised to honor Him. In Moses’ case this is revealed even in the names of his family members: Jochebed – “Jehovah is glorious,” Amram – “the people are exalted,” and Moses – “drawing out.” Doesn’t this encourage us not to fear this world because God is drawing out and exalting those who glorify Him?
Many today think that a Christian upbringing is no competition for the world’s many sinful attractions, but the story of Moses tells us otherwise. His parents had only three months with him before he was set afloat. Yet, in that short time they “hid him” (Ex. 2:2) from the enemy and reserved him for God, as the Hebrew word suggests. This hiding, plus the miraculous return of the infant to his mother for the nursing years, proved a greater influence than the worldly training he received as the “son of Pharaoh’s daughter” (Ex. 2:10; Heb. 11:24).
While Moses made some mistakes along the way, (Ex. 2:12), he grew up“choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin, esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt” (Heb. 11:25-26). If our children are hidden in and raised for Christ, can’t we by faith anticipate that they too will live for Him?
By Larry Ondrejack