For an elder must be a man whose
life cannot be spoken against.
He must be faithful to his wife.
He must exhibit self-control,
live wisely, and have a good reputation.
He must enjoy having guests
in his home and must be able to teach.
In the past, I’ve received furious complaints from unsaved parents about their newly saved teenagers. Generally, these parents feel that their children became disobedient once they started going to church. The church, of course, became the main recipient of blame for their child’s new “disobedience.” At first, I used to become angry about the complaints. But after thinking it through, I would begin to feel pity for these parents. You see, whatever these people had come to believe about their child’s behavior was just something that their kids had probably learned from their parents. I've found that the real problem is more likely that parents are just not walking their talk. Jesus asked us in Matthew 7:3, "Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?” A parent's life must be filled with integrity for them to successfully teach their children. If a reputation of integrity doesn't exist, you can expect failure and that failure is a reflection of the poor spirit of the teacher.
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