SENT HOME: RAISING ARROWS - What God's Word Says About Parenting

Parenting is one of the most demanding, humbling, and important callings a person can take on. Yet, if you have ever searched the Bible for a comprehensive parenting manual, you know it is not there. No single chapter walks you through the terrible twos, teenage years, or the moment you send your children into the world. That absence is not an accident. Scripture begins with a foundational truth: your children do not belong to you; they belong to God. He knows them more deeply, loves them more completely, and has plans for them beyond anything you could imagine. When we release the idea of ownership, parenting becomes less about executing our agenda and more about stewarding what God has entrusted to us.

Throughout Scripture, six recurring themes provide a framework for raising children who know and walk with Jesus.

1. Obedience (Colossians 3:20; Ephesians 6:1-3) teaches children to honor their parents, preparing them to understand and willingly obey God. 
2. Fatherhood (Colossians 3:21; Ephesians 6:4) calls fathers to lead with humility, gentleness, and presence rather than provoking their children to anger. 
3. Jesus (Mark 10:13-16) reminds us not to hinder children from coming to Him, but to make faith visible through prayer, worship, service, and the way we live. 
4. Discipline (Proverbs 1:8-10; 13:24; 22:6) is about consistently speaking God's instruction into their lives, shaping hearts that will eventually value spiritual discipline. 
5. Arrows (Psalm 127:3-4) reminds us that children are a gift from the Lord, entrusted to us not to be displayed as trophies but sharpened and launched with purpose, even if that purpose takes them far beyond our comfort. 
6. Teach (Deuteronomy 11:18-21) calls parents to first treasure God's Word in their own hearts and then teach it throughout everyday life. The church can encourage this responsibility, but it cannot replace it.

Here is where it all comes together: the Bible does not give us a parenting manual because who we are becoming in Christ matters more than getting every parenting decision right. Sanctification, the ongoing work of God shaping us into the image of Jesus, is one of the most powerful parenting tools we have. Christ wants our hearts more than He wants us simply to be good parents. As we abide in Him, pursue Him, and allow Him to work in us, we become the parents our children need. We cannot teach our children to love something we do not love ourselves. Our growth in Christ will naturally overflow into our homes and shape the way we raise them.

Your children belong to Jesus. He already loves them perfectly and has a purpose for their lives that is greater than anything you could plan. The greatest gift you can give them is not a perfect childhood or flawless parenting, but a parent who is genuinely, consistently, and humbly walking with the One who loves them most.

PRACTICAL APPLICATION

FOR PARENTS (Choose one or more of the following to put into practice before your group meets again.)

• Set aside time this week to pray specifically about God's plans for each of your children rather than your own plans for them. Write down what comes to mind and bring it back to the group.
• Identify one area where you may be provoking rather than nourishing. Share it with your spouse or a trusted friend and ask them to hold you accountable.
• Begin or restart a consistent rhythm of reading Scripture with your children, even if it is just one verse and a brief conversation at dinner or bedtime.
• If you have a daughter, plan a date. If you have a son, plan something active and physical to do together. Use that time intentionally.

FOR EVERYONE (Choose one or more of the following to put into practice before your group meets again.)

• Reflect on your own obedience to God this past week. 
  • Where did you obey and where did you not? (Confess where you fell short and consider how your obedience or disobedience is shaping those who are watching you.)
• Write Deuteronomy 11:18-19 somewhere visible in your home this week as a reminder of the call to integrate God's word into every part of daily life.
• Identify a younger person in your life, whether your child, a niece or nephew, a student, or a neighbor, and find one intentional way to point them toward Jesus this week.
• Spend time this week asking the Lord:
  • Who am I becoming? 
  • Is who I am becoming drawing the people closest to me toward you or away from you?

CLOSING REFLECTION

Pastor Josh ended not with a parenting tip but with a call to communion, a reminder that the most important thing is not getting parenting right but abiding with the Jesus who gave his body and blood so that we could know him. Close your group time by reading Mark 10:13-16 aloud together and praying for the children in each group member's life by name.

FOR FURTHER STUDY

• Deuteronomy 6:4-9
• Proverbs 1-4
• Psalm 127-128
• Ephesians 6:1-4
• Colossians 3:20-21

* Resources referenced in this sermon series are available in the church app, including blog posts, book recommendations, and downloadable worksheets.