For many of us we are all too familiar with Proverbs 22:6. I have seen this verse on classroom walls in Christian schools and churches all around the world. It is a nice pithy statement which we believe at least in some form or another. It seems like the countless translations of this verse do not make it easier. It goes something like this: "Raise a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it" (NIV). Another translation many of us are familiar with uses the word depart. So, depart is the NKJV's word of choice.
If we sincerely follow the Lord and truly know Jesus we rightly want our children to know Him and follow Him as well. The desire is deep that our children will follow in our faith. We as parents use our familiarity with Proverbs 22:6 to comfort ourselves as we raise our children believing that they will know the Lord. We use this verse even more so when they are young adults and we stand hoping that our children will continue to follow the Lord when our influence is not as great.
There are some implications with the quoting of this verse that we seem to be accepting. Implications like; "if my children wander from the Lord it is okay because when they are old they will come back". Other implications maybe that if I raised them in Church, I raised them in the Lord and that is all there is too it. When they are old they will come back.
Is it possible that we are miss applying the outcome of raising our children? Is it acceptable that our children may wander away from the Lord and not attend church for a season because they will one day come back? They have to make their own way in life after all. We have saying like God has no grandchildren to say that our children have to make faith their own, they can't get into heaven with ours. We talk about prodigal children and use the story of the prodigal son to further justify our Childrens wanderings.
I came across this NIV translation recently and it goes like this: "Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it." One small word could make all the difference in our application and understanding of our children and their faith. Raise a child in the way that they should go and even when they are old they will not depart from it. That sounds way better to me than waiting for the day they return.
If we can change the way in which we think about the expectations, we have for our children and their relationship with the Lord. We should be able to expect that they do not need to wander from God and come back to Him one day. God keeps his promises and we do not need to home for their return to him. The question then needs to be how do I raise my children in the Lord so that they will not depart at any point?
I do not have time or space here to elaborate on how we raise our children to in The Way They Should God but that is what this blog space is all about. So like subscribe and keep coming back to read more. I will continue to address the way we raise our children in the Lord.
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