Gratitude: Why to be thankful for your child this Christmas season

Many parents think they love their child, and are grateful for their child. But, are they really? Most parents believe in punishing or controlling their child in some way. Think how mother Mary rejoiced for her Son, the Son of God. That is how every Hebrew parent rejoiced about their children, but Mary especially so.

It says in Ephesians 6:1-4 KJV:

Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. Honor thy father and mother, for this is the first commandment with promise; That it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long upon the earth. And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.

The Greek root word translated "nurture" is παιδεία (Latin: paideia) and refers to the proper attitude of any parent - you are entitled to nothing from children, but are to be grateful for the every joy children bring. Children owe parents nothing, and parents owe children everything, with parents expecting absolutely nothing in return for providing for their children. This attitude chastens up the parent, and thus provides a good, chastened up example for children this Christmas season. There is no need to use Santa Claus (a pagan idol under my religious beliefs) as an incentive for good behavior when YOU are obligated as a Christian parent to behave so that your child does. The Greek root word translated "admonition" is νουθεσία (Latin: nouthesia) and refers to warning children that certain behavior is completely unacceptable. The idea is to leave most childhood behaviors go, and not intervene in developmentally appropriate behavior, and only warn against behavior that is clearly harmful or unsafe, knowing children outgrow most childish behavior. This is all weighed by the Greek root word translated "provoke...to wrath" is παροργίζο (Latin: parorgizo) and literally translates to "bitter anger" and refers to provocations to anger imposed upon a child, meaning offenses against children, which are defined as the slightest of personal offense perceived by the child. This included, by intent of the pen of the Apostle Paul, as a commandment against all punishment and control against children, including corporal punishment of children. Corporal punishment did exist in the Bible, but only as a sentence of crime for adult children, with these harsh punishments not existing in the Early Christian context due to Christ abolishing both capital and corporal punishment on the cross. Paul here was simply lifting up the Law, which prohibited all forms of punishment and control from parents, deeming it either theft or kidnapping, depending on the severity and hostage-taking nature of the incidents documented by witnesses, with the child being able to be a witness/plaintiff, but not a defendant.

The Greek root word translated "obey" is υπακουο (Latin: hupakouo) and refers to rest and trust in parents, just as adult believers rest and trust in Lord Jesus Christ. Replace "obey" with "trust" and you get a roughly better translation. The Fifth Commandment was written aside to parents to keep in terms of earning trust of their child. This trust is a special kind of trust, meaning the maternal, warm type of trust in parents, in the form of attachment parenting. Children in biblical times went in the nude all of the time, and this served the purpose of mothers easily snuggling with them in skin-to-skin closeness, with children up until adulthood snuggling against the warm bosom of their mother, feeling safe and secure in parents, trusting and respecting parents later on. Children were seen then as an extension of God that issued lawful and binding demands as to their needs.

Gratitude is being happy with your child while expecting absolutely nothing in return.It is a content form of happiness that lulls you to peaceable safety and security in terms of emotion. Some of us who are convicted on the parent level feel gratitude all the time, for every little thing we see in our environment. If you are opposed to demanding more from children, you notice them in the present, as they are, and appreciate their presence in your life then, even while being a passerby. 

The depraved and entitled parents who provoke children to anger will not inherit the Kingdom of God! Let them burn in the lake of fire and burning sulfur, which is the second death, which is Satan's final resting place! Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!