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Train Up a Child
Train Up a Child
Proverbs 22:6 "Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it".
Building on these words my thoughts turn to the instructions given by Paul in Ephesians 6:4: "Fathers, provoke not your children to wrath but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord". I feel pretty sure each of you has heard the following statement or something similar to it: "When I was a child, my parents made me go to church all the time so when I got older I quit going to church". Our hearts should fill with joy and admiration when we see mothers and fathers who will not only "make" their children attend all the service assemblies of the church but will take them to those assemblies. Mothers and fathers are to be commended who will at those assemblies set an example for their children by being attentive and showing interest by being a participant as much as possible, not just a spectator. As I think about this, my thoughts turn back to a time long past when parents did not allow their children to bring toys and games to play with during the worship service. Today, even though the toys are still there to some extent, the scene has shifted to allowing children to play games on electronic devices. It just seems to this writer that during those years between 4 to 12 children learn some tremendous lessons about God, the word of God, about being a Christian and about the church. It is my firm conviction that as children grow older their attitude toward temporal things as well as spiritual things is determined to a great degree by the example their parents have set before them in those earlier years of life. Maybe I am old fashioned, living in the past, but this is the way I was raised and if any of these comments tend to anger or offend anyone, please know that is not my intent.
I pray we all understand that the training and nurturing of our children goes far beyond an assembly to worship God. This is a 24 hour per day job, 7 days per week without end. I sometimes find myself wondering if some parents really realize the awesome responsibility they bear in the shaping of a precious soul. Parents need to ask themselves what is my child (or my children) learning from me. Are they being taught by my example those values and attitudes that will serve as a foundation for building real Christian values? Parents need to understand that every day of the week they are teaching their children to either love, honor, respect and obey God or to consider spiritual values as unimportant. Bringing our children to the worship assemblies is important but we must understand that if they truly come to love God and his word, it will be mainly because we have not only told them about God and his word but have shown to them by our example we love, honor, respect and to the best of our ability live for him each day of our lives.
Charles Hicks, Gallatin, Tennessee
