What is the #1 Duty of Parents

by Travis L Quertermous

From The Reminder, April 3, 2011

Most parents want their children to succeed. Oftentimes, they will say they want their children to have more than they did. Parents that grow up poor understandably want their children to have a better life growing up than they did. To that end, parents will often work long hours and sacrifice to give their children a good life and pay for a good education.

But is that the top priority parents should have for their children? Have we done our job in God’s eyes if they graduate at the top of their class from a prestigious university or if they become a professional athlete? Not necessarily! Listen to Moses as he talked to Israelite parents in Deuteronomy 6:4-9, “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one! You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.”

Clearly, then, God’s top priority for parents is for them to love God above all things, know His word, and faithfully teach the Bible to their children. This is so the whole family can go to heaven together! If we miss out on heaven, will anything else really matter? Jesus Christ asked, “For what is a man profited if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26).