Train Up a Child

Dan Kunz

Have you ever thought about why you do what you do and the way you do it?  Let that sink in for a minute…

Let me give you an example.  The other morning, as I was washing my face, I thought about why I follow that process the way I do and have been ever since I can remember.  I fill up the sink with hot water, immerse my facecloth in it, thoroughly wet my face with it, apply soap to the facecloth, scrub vigorously for a short period, rinse the soap off the facecloth and then, using the facecloth, I rinse the soap from my face and dry it with a hand towel.  After draining the sink, I rinse it with fresh water and use the hand towel to clean up the mess around the sink.  Finally, I refold the hand towel and hang up the face cloth to dry.  Whew!  I’ll bet you never thought washing one’s face was such a big production!

The point is, I do all of that in a few minutes and never once think about the process.  Why?  Because I’ve been doing it exactly the same way for years – just like hundreds of other things I do every day.  At some point, though, someone had to teach me.  Thanks, Mom.  Thanks, Dad.  I’m pretty sure you’re no different.  We all do the common, ordinary aspects of life a certain way because someone, usually a mom and/or dad, taught us how to do them.  What a blessing from God to have loving, thoughtful parents who care for us and teach us! 

Of course, the most important part of any parent’s “job” is teaching his or her child about Jesus and what he did for us. Proverbs 22:6 Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.  Parents do that in a myriad of ways.  Praying at various times during the day is a good start.  (Memorized prayers are important, but “unscripted” ones are equally important.)  Reading a Bible story before bed is done in many Christian homes.  Hopefully, weekly attendance at church is part of that training.  Regular discipline from a Christian perspective is important.  (A word of caution here – Be careful not to use Jesus as The Law rather than The Gospel.)  Make God a part of your everyday discussions with your children.  Talk about how God impacts what you do and how you do it.  Let your children see those things.  For example, if your child sees or hears you sin, acknowledge it and model how a Christian deals with that, asking for forgiveness and dealing with whatever the consequences are in a God-pleasing way.  Sometimes the training is intentional, like learning how to wash your face, but sometimes teaching is by example, like how to deal with being cut off in traffic!

Another word of caution – Please don’t leave it to someone else to teach your kids about Jesus.  Christian schools, Sunday schools, youth groups, summer camps, and other connections with faith are wonderful tools for a parent to use, but they’re just that – tools.  None of them replaces the loving guidance of a Christian parent.

All of us, even newborn babies, have a sinful nature which doesn’t want to be told what to do (or how to do it).  The words of Proverbs don’t guarantee that every child raised in a Christian home will be retain their faith and be in heaven someday, but their chances are better with training than without it.  Thank you faithful parents!  Keep up the good work!