Give us clear vision that we may know where to stand and what to stand for, because unless we stand for something, we shall fall for anything. – Peter Marshall

In Proverbs 28 we gleaned a bit of wisdom for an election year – evaluating candidates according to the commands and principles in God’s Word, and trusting God for the results. Many of you would agree with me, that we need to vote for people who have a sense of respect for their Creator, who are morally upright and value the kinds of things God values. But it’s a difficult task. We are often faced with a decision between a bad candidate, and a not-so-great candidate. We find ourselves voting not so much “for” someone, but rather voting “against” the less desirable choice.

Here’s the hard truth. If we want godly leaders, we must work hard to produce them years before they reach the age to run for office.

The reason we have ungodly, weak leadership is because as a nation, we’ve raised a generation of ungodly and weak pool of candidates! Strong leadership begins in the home, and when we abandon our responsibility to teach and model truth and godliness, what else do we expect?

Proverbs 29 has a few good reminders for us. As parents and grandparents, we must be diligent to parent with vision, asking God to help us raise our children to be the kind of people we’d like to elect to office – men and women who love God and are grounded in truth.

Proverbs 29:18 – Where there is no vision, the people are unrestrained, but happy is he who keeps the law.

The word translated here as “unrestrained” is pāra. It means “to be let loose, be loosened of restraint.” Left to itself, our fallen nature provides little direction toward anything good. We are naturally bent toward following the desires of our flesh, and the more our flesh is “enlightened” with what is evil, the farther we will go.

We need vision. The Hebrew word is ḥāzôn and refers to mental sight, as well as divine communication.  In the Old Testament, God gave His prophets visions to reveal His will and plans and to direct the lives of His people. The prophets delivered God’s messages, so the people would know how to obey and please Him.

As parents, we must give our children a vision of who God is, and who He has made them to be. God has entrusted them to us, to teach them His ways and create an environment in which they can hear and respond to the Holy Spirit when He draws them to salvation through conviction and repentance.

Children need a foundation from which to build their values. If all we have to offer is “do what you think is best” or “if it feels right to you, it must be good,” we send them into the world “unrestrained.” They are left to follow the whims of their flesh, inspired only by a worldly culture that lies and deceives.

Vision implies that we see beyond today. We look down the road and think about the long-term results of the choices we are making today, and how our parenting (or lack of parenting) will affect our children not just in this life, but for eternity.

Parents with vision are willing to discipline their own lives as a model for their children. They are also willing to discipline their children (teach, instruct, and correct), just as God disciplines us.

Proverbs 29:15,17 – The rod and reproof give wisdom, but a child who gets his own way brings shame to his mother. … Correct your son, and he will give you comfort; he will also delight your soul.

Hebrews 12:5-11 – And you have forgotten the exhortation which is addressed to you as sons, “My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor faint when you are reproved by Him; for those whom the Lord loves He disciplines, and He scourges every son whom He receives.”  It is for discipline that you endure; God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline? But if you are without discipline, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. Furthermore, we had earthly fathers to discipline us, and we respected them; shall we not much rather be subject to the Father of spirits, and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but He disciplines us for our good, so that we may share His holiness. All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.

Ephesians 6:4 – Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.

More than anything else, parents with vision look towards the eternal, not just the temporary. So often we can get so caught up in providing our children with all the material things we think will make their lives happy and comfortable, that we forget to teach them the spiritual values necessary for a life that pleases God. Perhaps we lacked many things ourselves as children, and we want to create a different childhood experience for our own kids. There’s nothing wrong with loving our children and providing for them, but if this is our only focus, we are in danger of raising spoiled, ungrateful, apathetic adults. We cannot serve both God and wealth, and neither can our kids! (Luke 16:13)

True vision sees beyond the temporal things that will pass away and invests in the eternal. Parenting with vision means that we make laying a spiritual foundation our first and most important priority.

What do you envision for your children or grandchildren? Do you want them to grow up to be godly men and women, productive in the gifts and talents that God has given them, and part of making our nation and world a better place? Do you desire for them to know God through faith in Jesus, and walk with Him all the days of their lives?

Then parent with vision. See beyond today and teach and discipline them with tomorrow in mind. Without vision, the people are unrestrained.