Train
up a child in the way he should go:
and when he is old, he will not depart from
it.
Proverbs
22:6
The one major thing that has been all over the news lately is the movie
theater shooting that took place in Aurora, Colorado last Friday night. As we
were watching the story on the news last night, my mother said to me, “Wouldn’t
you hate to be his parents right now? Don’t you know everyone who sees them is
going to think, ‘Oh, your son is the one who shot all of those innocent
people’”? My response may shock you. I simply said, “Well, I think they should
be held responsible.”
Why do I think that his parents should be held responsible for a crime
that he has done? Proverbs 22:6 tells
me that if parents will “train up a child in the way he should
go…when he is old, he will not depart from it.” And because of that verse, I
believe that one’s parenting skills can be judged quite fairly by the actions
of his children.
Now I am going to say something that some may think
unfair: it is easier to come to an accurate conclusion about one’s parenting
skills based on a child’s poor and rebellious behavior than it is based on a
child’s good and honest behavior. Just because a child walks uprightly does not
mean that his parents do the same. However, whenever you come across a child
whose heart is full of rebellion, you will almost always find that one or both
of his parents failed to take to heart Proverbs 22:6.
While I am not married and I do not have any children
of my own, I have seen enough people my age ruin their lives to know a thing or
two about parenting. Several years ago, I began to look at the lives of people
I know, and I began to put two and two together. The ones whose parents let
them make their own choices about everything seemed to always get mixed up with
the wrong crowd. However, the ones whose parents sheltered and protected them
from all evil proved to be more than capable, mature adults when time came for
them to leave their parents’ nests.
Tomorrow, I will share with you what I believe to be the number one key to
fulfilling Proverbs 22:6; or, as Ray Comfort says, “bringing your child to
Christ and keeping him there.”
If you do not know Jesus Christ as Lord of your life, I invite you to do
so right now, before it is eternally too late for you. If you will repent of
your sins and trust Christ alone to save you, He will save you today and keep
you saved forever.
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