24 The father of the righteous shall greatly rejoice: and he that begetteth a wise child shall have joy of him.
Most Christian parents seem to hinge their happiness on their children’s worldly achievements. They push their kids along the paths of academic and economic success at any cost. They fail to appreciate that their children’s spiritual growth and steadfastness are more significant than worldly success. Hence, they must be admonished of the great need to focus on their children’s conformity and faithfulness to Christ and His Word.
According to the next verse, “Thy father and thy mother shall be glad, and she that bare thee shall rejoice” (Proverbs 23:25). Thus, not only the father, but the mother also, shall rejoice over a righteous and wise son. Indeed, it must be assumed that the parents who sincerely appreciate their children’s commitment to righteousness and God’s wisdom are righteous and wise themselves. They must have placed great value on the things of God rather than the things of this world. Such parents would pay attention to bringing up their children in faith and obedience to the Lord and His Word.
On the contrary, parents who raise their children based on the values propagated by the television, movies, entertainment world and secular experts of child-rearing, would have great difficulty in appreciating the value of their children’s spiritual excellence. They would be more concerned with his academic, economic and other worldly advancement. Parents who focus primarily on earthly gains for their children would not be able to detect the ungodliness in their children.
But godly parents would rejoice when their children conduct themselves in sincere faith in Christ, loving and exalting Him, and bearing the fruit of the Spirit. Moreover, righteous and wise children would seek to bring joy to the hearts of their parents. They will honour their parents as the Lord has commanded in His Word (cf. Exodus 20:12; Deuteronomy 5:16; Ephesians 6:2).
Surely, as Proverbs 10:1 says, “A wise son maketh a glad father: but a foolish son is the heaviness of his mother” (cf. Proverbs 15:20). Children who walk in righteousness and divine wisdom, are “monuments” that godly parents would truly love to leave behind in this world. Godly children carry forward the legacy of their godly parents into a new generation.