| By PKD Lee |
How do I teach children the way they should go?
Should I send them to Sunday school? If they do not get to know God, do I blame the church? Why do statistics show that Christian children have more problems than other children? Where are we going wrong?
Deuteronomy 6:6-7 says, “And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up.”
That is a strange passage! For the children to know the ways of God, I need to know the Bible, not them!
The parents are the ones who need to be in Sunday school and need to learn the ways of God by heart. They do not need to search the Bible for the answers, they have it engrained on their heart. But what does it mean 'to speak of them in the house and on the way'?
It essentially means that in the daily chores of life, you will SHOW your children what the laws mean and why they are observed. Why the way of life as given to us by God is the only one that works. That means teaching the ways of God is not done in the class room but in the daily events of life.
Obviously, if I have to teach the children in the daily chores of life, then I need to be doing the daily chores of life in a godly manner, showing the fruit of the Spirit at every stage. Teaching is not theoretical but by practical demonstration. One of the reasons for the problems Christian children have is the wide disparity between what they learn about the ways of God and the examples of their parents, which seem to be totally different.
Remember, children are a heritage from the Lord and we need to raise them up in the ways of God by our life and not the great church we attend. Ultimately it is the life of the elders around them that draws them to God or chases them away.
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