What Is The Purpose Of Parenting?

Dirty diapers. Temper tantrums. And the uncomfortable teenage years.

Raising children certainly isn’t a breeze, and if we have a selfish motivation, parenting can be downright discouraging.

So, why did God command parents to have children in the first place? Author and speaker Gary Thomas says the answer is simple yet profound: Parenting is to be an act of worship, as it teaches moms and dads to become more Christ-like. In other words, God uses children to teach us about Him.

Thomas is the author of the revised and expanded book, “Sacred Parenting: How Raising Children Shapes Our Souls” (Zondervan). He also is this week’s guest on Words of Wisdom.

Parenting, Thomas says, is just as much about “learning lessons from God” as it is about “teaching our children about God.”

“The process of parenting can be one of the most spiritually formative seasons of our lives,” he says.

Listen as Thomas explains what Scripture says about parenting – and how our culture gets it all wrong.