Training Up Our Children…Bible Style not Worldly Style.

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

 

There is a lot of controversy over this little short Scripture. Some don’t believe it means what it says and they call it a “Truism” in defence of their position. In doing so they err. Truism means a “a self evident obvious truth. In believing that this Scripture doesn’t mean what it says (which is very plain), they believe the first part and throw away the best part. The last part of it is the “goal” you are trying to reach in their short lives. They believe they trained their children in the way they should go…but they did depart, and so they believe this is not a true statement in all cases.  So...how can we know that we  have failed?  It is plain as day, isn't it?

 

Another thing is that if young parents can’t believe this means exactly what it says…they won’t try as hard. It is a travesty to twist a Scripture to the point that it discourages efforts of a young parent. Compare it to a basket-ball team… and the team thinks they can’t win the game. They are not going to play as hard as they would if they believed they could win.

 

God lets us know the outcome of our efforts and it helped us tremendously in our efforts to train our children in the way they should go.  Yes, we made some mistakes...we all probably do…but I’m so thankful that I read this Scripture way back before I had read “man’s explanation” of it.

 

Late note:  Our daughter, when she was in her late teens said, "I've never seen a parent confess and repent and ask forgiveness for not training their children up in the way they should go.  If a parent did that...there is no telling what might happen."   Well...years later we saw that happen and what happened to their two children is simply amazing.  A couple of years after that, they became Christians and they were up middle aged by that time.