Category: Raising Children

Proverbs 22:6 (NKJV) 6 Train up a child in the way he should go, And when he is old he will not depart from it.

This verse has always fascinated me and caused me to ponder on it.

On the surface, it would appear to be saying that if we raise our children based on Biblical principles, they will never stray or go wrong.

As many can attest to, this isn’t always the case.

Why is that?

Well, there are a few factors to take into consideration.

First, the principles that we raise them by must be lived out by us, the parents, not just spoken to them. Children will tend to do what we do more than what we say, especially if what we do contradicts what we say.

Second, every human being is given a free will to choose the path they will take and how they will conduct their lives. So, even in cases where we raise them under the nurture of lovingly-instilled, biblically-grounded principles, they may still wander at times as they test their wings, so to speak.

Lastly, let’s talk for a minute about the “will not depart from it” part of this verse.

On the surface, as mentioned above, it would appear that God’s word is stating that this verse guarantees that children “raised right” will never stray.

In reality, though, some do stray. Why would that happen if this scripture was promising otherwise?

Maybe, just maybe, we’ve been taking it in a way that it was never intended to be taken.

You see, if we raise our children by Biblical principles, and we instill those same principles in them, those principles can never be “untaught”. They will carry them in their hearts and minds for the rest of their lives.

They cannot “unlearn” them.

Oh, they may not always live exactly by them, but they can never take out what we (and God) have put in.

It’s that embedded truth that they carry with them for their entire lives, which pricks their conscience and brings conviction if they stray. And even though that conviction may fade if they continue in sin, the knowledge of the truth will never be taken away from them.

This may very well be the “will not depart from it” that God’s word is talking about.

We need to trust God with our children as they walk out their adult lives, just as God trusts us with ours, remembering that as we’ve made our own bad choices and mistakes, God has never given up on us or abandoned us in the midst of those messes.

And remember; His truth will never leave them if we have imparted it into them.

Trust Him!

Pastor Curt & Pastor Ellie

Seven Seas Ministries
P.O. Box 272
Bradford, RI 02808

401-315-0902

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