Raising Up Children

"Listen, my son, [and daughters] to your father's instruction and do not forsake your mother's teaching.  They will be a garland to grace your head and a chain to adorn your neck" (Proverbs 1:8-9).

Overheard a grandmother speaking to a friend: "When my grandsons came home from Sunday school during one of our weekend visits t their home, I asked if either of them could tell me where to find the Ten Commandments.  Blank stares and silence were finally broken when one of them said, "Have you looked it up in the Yellow Pages?"

The advice given the Israelites just before they crossed the Jordan River into the Promised Land led by Joshua is applicable to us today.  "Only be careful, and watch yourselves closely so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen or let them slip from your heart as long as you live. (We all can look back in our lives and see where the hand of God has reached down and in some way unexplainable by human wisdom has aided us) Teach them to your children and to their children after them. (Speak those remembrances to our children, they need to see that God is real and cares)  Remember the day you stood before the LORD your God at Horeb, (the day that you made that life changing decision to follow after Jesus and put your faith totally in Him)  When he said to me, 'Assemble the people before me to hear my words so that they may learn to revere me as long as they live in the land and may teach them to their children" (Deuteronomy 4:9-10)

In our society and culture we honor athletes, movie stars, getting ahead financially, obtaining the "American Dream" are placed above our God, our creator. It is taught in our schools by those who do not believe in God, who teach our children that there is no such thing as absolute truth. We need to counter that influence for we who have been on this earth awhile longer than some know the folly of today's culture.  We (me) know the folly of living a life outside of the Commandments and principles found in the Word of God. How to protect our children is found in time spent with them and speaking into their lives the truth, the absolute truth found in the Bible.

Does it work? I know for myself that if it wasn't for my parents instilling into me, taking me to Church, reading the Bible to me, and living a godly life before me I would not have turned back to God after walking away in stubbornness searching for the "Great American Dream." I trust that whatever I have instilled into my children will do the same for them. "Train a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not turn from it" (Proverbs 22:6).  Love should drive us to follow the advice given to the Israelites for it is in that principle a principle for us today that we will have a positive effect on our children, grandchildren and may protect them from this world that is in opposition to God, and Jesus our savior.  It is a challenge but one worth meeting.

Daily Prayer:

Father thank you for your Truth. Help me be the parent, the grandparent that instills into my loved ones your word that will protect them from the world that is in opposition to You.  May they see You Jesus in me.  Protect them, guide them, and bring to their mind Your Truth and become desirous to follow You.    Amen