Shaping Arrows

Some parents see children as a bother and a hassle. They are costly. Demanding. Often unappreciative, self absorbed, and rebel against authority.

Ps 127:3-5 Behold children are a gift of the Lord; the fruit of the womb is a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, so are the children of one's youth. How blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them, they shall not be ashamed. 

Children are a gift from God. They are a reward. My job as a father is to train them giving them guidance in God and instruction in Bible truth. I am to prepare them to be powerful weapons against the enemy. My job is to put them through spiritual basic training to prepare them for war. A spiritual war more fierce than any world war.

Our enemy is ruthless and relentless. The battle will be life long. My job as a father of four sons is to shape them as arrows to fight for their King Jesus and to give every ounce of their lives for the advancement of the Kingdom of God.

Shaping arrows is not easy. It goes against the grain of how most kids are raised in the United States and sadly in many churches. Instead of merely entertaining them my job is to shape them. This includes teaching. This includes modeling. This is includes leading down the path of servanthood even when it is inconvenient and unpleasant. This means helping them to be be more sober minded than their classmates. This means focusing their lives on a cause greater than themselves. Namely Jesus Christ!

Shaping arrows is not the path of least resistance. It is a hard life. It means saying no to the good in order to say yes to the best. It means filling their hearts and minds with Bible truth for soul nourishment. It means pushing them to endure through the tough times of life and not quit.

Training arrows is the need of the day. It has been the need of every generation. Never any more so than today. So Taylor, Tanner, Tucker, and Turner take your rightful place as arrows in the bow of God and let Him shoot you where He wills. Fight for Jesus to the death.