Being the Perfect Parent

I have been in the ministry over thirty years and I have talked with many heart broken Christian parents whose children have decided to reject their parents' faith and go their own way. I believe that every parent only wants what is best for their children. 3 John 1:4

As I speak with these parents, they often verbalize a sense of failure. They wonder what they could have done differently. They question why THEIR child went astray while other children have embraced their parents' faith. I am sure that all parents have areas in their children's upbringing that, given the opportunity, would have done things differently. Without making excuses, we realize that no one is the perfect parent.

There has only been one perfect parent, God the Father. He placed His perfect children, into a perfect environment and had a perfect relationship with His children. God, being absolute perfection, did everything correct and still His children choose a different path than what God had intended.

As less-than-perfect parents, we can only do our best and trust God for the outcome. Not being perfect is not an excuse not to do our best in raising our children for Christ. But we must also realize, that our children was make that choose for themselves.