Parenting: Day 8

Authority

In this video, Paul David Tripp articulates one of the foundational aspects of parent-child relationships—authority—showing that parental authority is intended to be a representation of God's authority.

About the Book

What is your calling as a parent?

In the midst of folding laundry, coordinating carpool schedules, and breaking up fights, many parents get lost. Feeling pressure to do everything “right” and raise up “good” children, it’s easy to lose sight of our ultimate purpose as parents in the quest for practical tips and guaranteed formulas.

In Parenting: 14 Gospel Principles That Can Radically Change Your Family, Paul David Tripp offers parents much more than a to-do list. Instead, he presents us with a big-picture view of God’s plan for us as parents. Outlining fourteen foundational principles centered on the gospel, he shows that we need more than the latest parenting strategy or list of techniques. Rather, we need the rescuing grace of God—grace that has the power to shape how we view everything we do as parents.

Freed from the burden of trying to manufacture life-change in our children’s hearts, we can embrace a grand perspective of parenting overflowing with vision, purpose, and joy.

Video Transcript

One of the foundation issues in the life of every child is the issue of authority. Teaching and modeling the protective beauty of authority is foundational to good parenting.

Here's how God works. This is so beautiful to think about. God makes his invisible authority visible in the lives of children by putting the authority of parents in their lives every day. As a parent, you don't have any independent authority. Your authority is meant to be representative of God's authority. There's nothing holier.

That means every time I exercise authority in the life of my child, it is a beautiful picture of the authority of God because I'm there to teach children that authority is a good thing, it's a beautiful thing, it's a loving thing, it's a patient thing, it's a kind thing, it's a tender thing, it's a forgiving thing, it's a secure thing, it's a faithful thing.

The way that I exercise authority is terribly important. Harsh, impatient, irritable, selfish, condemning authority deepens the natural rebellion of a child against not just your authority, but also God's authority. Your job is to teach children how beautiful authority is, so progressively, they can find joy in surrendering to the authority God has placed in their life, and ultimately, surrendering their hearts to the authority of God.