John ESENE    

    Your call as a parent is a special assignment to lead your children through their sojourn here on earth under the watchful eyes of God who appointed you for that precious position. By the virtue of your position as a parent, you are a shepherd and in appreciation of this assignment, you have to lead them to God and not away from God.

    When you make efforts to align your parenthood activities with the purpose for which the children are entrusted to your care, the joy of a true leadership will overwhelm you. If on the other hand, you lead your sheep in the opposite direction and listen carefully, you will hear these words “Let the children come to me and do not stop them, for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs” Mk 10:14. So, shepherd your children well to please God!

     Do not love some and hate others as most parents do. Some parents did so and in the process created problems for their offsprings. In Gen 27 we saw how Rebekah influenced Jacob to lie to his father, Isaac that he was Esau. He deceived his father and received the blessing meant for his brother, all because Rebekah loved Jacob her second son while Isaac loved their first son, Esau. But God loves us all both sinners and righteous ones, Hence He had to send His Only Begotten Son, Jesus Christ to die for us all.

    “One day while Jacob was cooking some bean soup, Esau came in from hunting. He was hungry and said to Jacob, ‘I’m starving; give me some of that red stuff.’  Jacob answered, ‘I will give it to you if you give me your rights as the first-born son.” Gen.25:29-31. And Esau condescended. But his brother Jacob compelled him to do so! Life is lonely when nobody shares, and empty when nobody cares.

      Someone has said, “Do not make promise when you are over joyous or act when you are in distress. Well, only Esau who wore the shoe knew how the pain was affecting him then! Today we call on the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and miss out Esau. 

     Dear reader, guide your mind or your mind will cage you.  When next you have a feeling of hatred for your relation, even if you have genuine reason for hating him, reconcile with him to avoid incurring debt payable in purgatory or hell.  “A brother helped is like a strong city, but quarrelling is like the bars of a castle” Prov18:19. Pray for the grace to hear and recognize God’s voice and be humble to do his will always.        

     Please, do not make any of your children lonely and hungry like Esau in the midst of many! The way you lay foundation for your children can affect their lives positively or negatively. They are God’s gift to you and do not be surprised if you will be judged on how you shepherd them on judgment day. 

    Because a man said he loved one of his daughters more than the other children, when he was away for a while, they nearly killed her. Will this wound ever heal? Paul said in Eph. 6:4, “Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.” It may not be easy for parents to love their children equally but it is not compulsory for your children to know whom you loved most, if they do, there will be no peace in your home.

 

        Fighting a war which involves an enemy(s) within the family is not easy. It is like asking the man who stole your property to help you search for it. While you take him into confidence and lay bare all your strategies, he cuts you deeper than Marcus Brutus did to Julius Caesar. When he realized that his best friend Brutus was the one who stabbed him, he fell and died.

 

        In some cases money making through short cuts create wounds that may never heal and even if they do, they create scar that will always provoke anger and hatred among family members. Be in the plan of God and all will be well with you. If you allow the temptation of overnight riches drag you out of God’s plan for you, such wealth will desert you and you will end up being a fool “Like a partridge hatches eggs it did not lay, is the man who piles up unjust riches. When his life is half over, they will desert him, and in the end he is nothing but a fool.” Jer 17:11.       

     The man who beats up his wife before his children because he lost N2000 was solving the problem of today in a wrong way to create a bigger problem for his children, the future generations. Unless God intervenes, those children may grow up fighting their spouses. Eph. 5:28-29, 33 says, “Men ought to love their wives just as they love their own bodies. A man who loves his wife loves himself. No one ever hates his own body. Instead, he feeds it and takes care of it, just as Christ does the Church. But it also applies to you: every husband must love his wife as himself, and every wife must respect her husband”.

      “If anyone says, ‘I love God.’ while he hates his brother, he is a liar. How can he love God whom he does not see, if he does not love his brother whom he can see? We have received from him this commandment: whoever loves God must also love his brother.”  As you read on, reflect on your past to see if you have offended your relations and reconcile with them today! Hate, bitterness and revenge are luxuries none of us can afford. Forgiveness saves the expense of anger, the high cost of hatred and the waste of energy. Glory to God.