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When I taught elementary school, I could not “wing it” when teaching my students. I had to think ahead about the year’s schedule. I had to search for effective teaching materials and look up creative ideas. I spent hours planning each lesson to give my students the building blocks they needed to succeed in the next grade and beyond.
Likewise, God gives parents the job to prepare our children in their spiritual lives. We cannot leave this vital teaching to Sunday school teacher or educators. As parents, we must provide guidance as much as possible.
Why Should Parents Train Their Child Up?
Outside of your home—at school, with neighborhood children, or with others out in the world—there will be times when your children will be influenced by people who are somewhat beyond your control. Your children will encounter influences that are ungodly. That’s why we must commit and seek to teach them about God’s ways.
Eventually our children will grow up, and leave home to go to school or start a job. Leaving the nest is natural and normal. But it means that you’re not always going to be there for your children. They will be in situations that require them to make some life decisions on their own. Before that happens, we parents need to give them wisdom for spiritual discernment and teach them how to make godly choices on their own. Isn’t that our main goal as a godly parent?
How to Train Your Child Up
As our children grow, we should be training their spiritual sensitivity so they can “distinguish good from evil” (Hebrews 5:14). If you are a parent, think through what’s going on in your home. Who are your children’s friends at school? Where are they spending their time? What are they reading and viewing?
As you instruct your children in God’s ways, put these practices into place:
Whenever you and your child are together, take this opportunity for you to teach your child about Him. Be purposeful with the gift of such times. But, if these times are too few and far between, plan, schedule, and determine to make them happen, as if it were your most important job on earth—for it is!****
Dear Lord, thank You for the gift of my child and the time that I have with them. Help me make the most of it, teaching them Your Word and Your Ways. Amen.
“A Girl After God’s Own Heart” by Elizabeth George will help guide your young daughter as she seeks to become a godly woman.
What discussion or activity can you plan today to guide your child into a better understanding of God?
“Train up a child in the way he should go, And when he is old he will not depart from it.” (Proverbs 22:6)
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Jim and Elizabeth George are bestselling authors and national speakers dedicated to helping people live a life after God’s own heart. Together, they have written over 150 books with more than 14 million copies sold around the world. For over 35 years, the teachings and steadfast example of Elizabeth and Jim have helped countless men and women:
Jim and Elizabeth George are bestselling authors and national speakers dedicated to helping people live a life after God’s own heart. Together, they have written over 150 books with more than 14 million copies sold around the world. For over 35 years, the teachings and steadfast example of Elizabeth and Jim have helped countless men and women:
How did men and women in the Bible accomplish great things for God? There wasn’t any secret formula or bestselling book on success for them. In fact, they were ordinary people like you and me. What made them effective was their willingness to obey God—one decision at a time.
