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One Sunday each year is set aside for Clergy Appreciation Day. This date should also be called “Parent Appreciation Day.” It is not a replacement for Mother’s Day and Father’s Day, but it is an additional day to celebrate the unique role parents play in the religious instruction of their children.

Johnathan Edwards was a Puritan theologian. He wrote, “Every Christian family ought to be as it were a little church.” Parents are the clergy of these little churches. Edward noted, “family education and order are some of the chief of the means of grace. If these fail, all other means are likely to prove ineffectual.”

When God gave His laws to His people at Mt. Sinai He instructed them, “And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise” (Deuteronomy 6:6-7 and 11:19). Biblical instruction is to be an ongoing conversation which is engaged in as families go about their daily activities.

The knowledge and understanding of the Christian faith were never meant to be relegated to a single hour on Sunday morning. Paul encouraged parents to bring their children up, “in the discipline and instruction of the Lord” (Ephesians 6:4).

Both parents play a role in teaching the children, as Solomon said, “Hear, my son, your father's instruction, and forsake not your mother's teaching” (Proverbs 1:8-9).

As children are taught, parents are reminded of the truths in the scripture. Moses encouraged the people, “Only take care, and keep your soul diligently, lest you forget the things that your eyes have seen, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life. Make them known to your children and your children's children” (Deuteronomy 4:9).

Jesus promised His disciples that the Holy Spirit would “teach you all things” (John 14:26). The Bible informs parents that God will assist them in instructing their children, “All your children will be taught by Yehovah, and great will be the peace of your children” (Isaiah 54:13).

David said, “Come, O children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of Yehovah” (Psalm 34:11). His son Solomon learned this lesson and stated, “The fear of Yehovah is the beginning of wisdom” (Proverbs 9:10).

Solomon wrote, “Train up a child in the way he should go, even when he is old he will not depart from it” (Proverbs 22:6). Unfortunately, the compromise in his life showed that while proverbs are true in principle, they are not promises or guaranteed outcomes.

Leading children away from God is a serious offense which God severely punishes, “whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him to have a heavy millstone hung around his neck, and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.” (Matthew 18:6).