Most parents want their children well educated. They believe the learning process doesn’t begin until they start school and begin their studies in the basics. But nothing could be further from the truth. The day your child is born the learning process begins. All a child needs to know is not in secular learning, but in rearing them in Biblical Truth. And it takes diligence, persistence and much time to set their feet on the path of righteousness. We cannot wait until they are teenagers to teach them, it must be at the cradle.
Most women I see on a daily basis are running themselves frantic, living in a pressure cooker culture which says they are of no value unless they work outside the home. What could be more important than being with your children on a daily basis and teaching them moment by moment about God? Giving them a less frantic pace. Instead moms run from football, to basketball, and endless activities and nothing is accomplished, at least not in the spiritual life of the child, and for that matter the physical and mental well being of the child.
Children need a safe haven from the world when they come in from school, not more activities to keep them pacified until we get home. They need us to build their confidence. The only way our nation, communities, and the Lord’s church will change is when the investment of time becomes paramount, and not more material possessions. People in the day care centers work for a check, and though the friendly signs out side the centers say they are teaching your children. Your children know immediately where they come in the list of things to do. And their place is usually last on the list.
Catholics will readily tell you, “Give me your child until they are 6 years old and we will have them for life.” They understand the importance of teaching children from birth. And what a child learns in those formative years will stay with him throughout his life. His or her habits and attitudes are formed during their early developmental stages. Scripture teaches us this very concept of teaching children while they are young.
“Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.” Proverbs 22:6
“That thou mightest fear the Lord thy God, to keep all His statutes and His commandments, which I command thee, thou, and thy son, and thy son’s son, all the days of thy life; and that thy days may be prolonged.” Deuteronomy 6:2
“And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes. And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates.” Deuteronomy 6:5-9
Parents are very influential in their children’s lives. No one can do the training of your children nor love them any better than you. Secular education is good at preparing them for a work life, but the most important education in your child’s life is teaching them how vital it is to their spiritual life to know His Word and to be obedient to that Word. May God bless those parents who take the time and effort to point their children’s souls in a heavenward direction.
“I urge you to hold your children before the Lord in fervent prayer throughout their years at home. I am convinced that there is no other source of confidence and wisdom in parenting.” ~ Dobson
Eileen Light