Training Camp at Home!

“Train up a child in the way he should go, Even when he is old he will not depart from it.”  — Proverbs 22:6

This past week, my best friend and his wife welcomed their first son into the world. He is a very happy and healthy baby boy and is already his daddy’s reading buddy. One thing I can say for sure about this young boy is that he is going to be raised in a Godly home and taught from an early age to love, trust, and obey the Lord Jesus Christ. I know his parents very well and can’t see them doing anything less than their best for their small family.

The verse I gave above is often used in teaching how to rear a child up for God, and some have even used it as a promise of good results. “Do this, and this will happen in return.” But that’s simply not how it happens. I know several young people who were brought up in Godly homes, where God was loved and welcomed and talked about openly, yet these young people still left and went to do their own things. Does that mean this verse is wrong? Not at all. And I’ll explain.

This verse in Proverbs is just that. It’s a proverb, a saying. It is not a promise and should not be treated as such. It’s not a “this for that” kind of scenario. It’s a phrase that gives good words to live by. If you want your child to live his/her life a certain way, than you live your life that same way and raise your child(ren) in that kind of home. A young person is far more likely to follow Christ if he was raised in a home that followed Christ as opposed to a home where Christ was ignored and/or hated. 

A child, whether he likes it or not, takes on different traits of his parents. I have been told from an early age that I look like my dad, which I guess I should. I am his. But I’m also noticing that I put on some of the same traits that my dad has. A little over a year ago, I was driving home down the main roads and drove past a dark but kind of colorful clump of something on the side of the road. It didn’t look alive, nor did it look like it was ever alive. I knew it wasn’t and animal. I turned my car around and drove back to go pick it up. It was a small blanket that I still have in my closet. Walking back to my car, blanket in hand (I washed it, don’t worry), I remember telling myself, “I’m becoming my father.” Going back for an old blanket like that is something my father would do and has done from time to time. It doesn’t happen very often but it has happened. Children often become a replica of their parents, so we need to make an effort to be the best and Godliest example we can be for them. What example are you leaving in your kids’ minds?

Now, the Holy Spirit still has to do a work in that young person’s heart. It’s ultimately up to God and the young man whether or not lives his life according to the Bible, but a good parent will give their child every opportunity possible to get in touch with God. Do not expect to raise your child in a worldly and sinful home and still watch him go off to become a Godly preacher or teacher? It happens, God can reach a man anywhere He wants to. But how much better would it be for the young man to know his heavenly Father far better than he knows the sinful world around him? My parents brought seven young people into the world, and we’re all faithful to our churches. We have disagreements at times on some minor and major things, but that’s not my point. We have all stayed true to God, in one way or another. We’re all striving to serve God where He has us today.

This is just my encouragement today, to my best friend and his wife, and to any and every other young parent out there. (If you feel young, you qualify for that category!) Raise your children in a Godly home, teach them the truth of God and His love from the beginning. There’s no promise your kids will follow it all their days, but the chances of that are better when you do start it early and remain faithful to it. Train up your child in the way he should, and when he is older, he is likely to not depart from it. What way are you training up your child?