Tiny Devotional for Monday, 11-22-2021

A great good morning to all my friends and neighbors in Internet Land! And to family members who have dropped by, every Monday is a different Monday.

Train up a child in the way he should go,
Even when he grows older he will not abandon it.
Proverbs 22:6, NASB

I’m speaking PRIMARILY to parents here, but if you are not a parent, you may still reap some benefit. 

Here’s what this verse does not, and CANNOT mean, but which parents wish it meant:
Raise your kids right, and they won’t ever do anything wrong.

It CANNOT mean that, because kids get to choose, too, just as everybody else does. SOMETIMES that choice is going to be the wrong one; or, at least, one you don’t like. 

The verse is usually offered as a comfort to good, God-fearing parents when one of their kids wanders, rebels, goes astray, disagrees, whatever. It’s meant as an encouragement: 

“In time, they will come back.”

Here’s a clue: All too often, what “come back” means is 

“They will start acting the way you want them to act.”

LOTS wrong with that approach, but with only 300 words to work with, I can’t elaborate. 

Here’s the main thing wrong with it: it misreads the verse. It doesn’t say “Raise them right.” That’s all about behaviors, and manners, and those are secondary, at best.  

It says: “Teach the path.” 


 

What path? The path to the goal.

What goal? That with the prize of eternal life, and the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

How do we teach THAT? 

By living it! By showing love from a pure heart, and a sincere faith, and a good conscience.

Teach them THAT, and when they are old, they won’t depart from it.

Peace be on your household.

Comments

  1. Jennifer EmioheNovember 22, 2021 at 6:48 PM

    Modeling the correct path is the best teacher.

    ReplyDelete
  2. On Christ the Solid Rock I StandNovember 23, 2021 at 6:43 PM

    Yes my Brother Pat, teaching the right path is very important for a parents to do to his children and being a good example to the children. Praise God!

    ReplyDelete

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