Start Them Off Right

 

“Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it.”

—Proverbs 22:6

God never chose to bless my wife and me with children. While we take extreme delight in our nieces and nephews and their children, we never had that first-hand experience of raising children of our own.

Nevertheless, we have observed many other families over the years. Some of the most memorable were those families where the parents maintained a relatively stress-free environment, but, at the same time, taught their children valuable lessons in self-discipline and good behavior. In all of these homes, God’s Word, the Bible, played a very important role.

Instilling true Christian values in their children became a priority for these parents. While the lives of their children have not always moved along a straight and problem-free pathway, there was always a solid foundation to which the children could return. A lot of learning took place in seeing how their faith worked itself out in a challenging and very needy world.

King Solomon knew both great blessing and great trouble. His own two sons plotted against him. No doubt some of the experiences he had led him to write these words in Proverbs 22:6:

Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it.

I’m fairly certain that Solomon wrote this admonition as much as a lament as he did an imparting of wisdom. We can all learn from Solomon’s life. And, we can seek to employ his most excellent recommendations.

As we pray for the children that cross our pathway, let’s hold them up before the Lord and do all we can to share with them how our faith helps us deal with the challenges in our lives. We do well when we can set an example for children and youth. That is certainly what our Savior did. And, without meaning to come across in a trite manner, let me simply say that if it was good enough for Jesus, it should be good enough for us, too.

 

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