Training up a Child Today

Training up a Child Today

The Ten Commandments were written on tablets of stone. The Laws were verbally given to the people at proscribed times in proscribed ways. There was no TV, internet, or I-phone and only a small percentage of the people actually knew how to read. Multigenerational families lived together and shared responsibility for maintaining family values and mores.

“These words that I am giving you today are to be in your heart. Repeat them to your children. Talk about them when you sit in your house and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up” (Deuteronomy 6:6-7).

The commandment to repeat these words to your children supposes that there will be time spent together in order to talk to one another.

I looked around during a recent visit by my grandchildren. The youngest was busy with a game on the WII. The oldest boy was playing an international strategy game and my granddaughter was doing something on her phone that I have absolutely no understanding of.

We did come together for dinner and lively conversation and I realized that I just didn’t have the patience to sit and complain about the way things used to be because, to tell the truth, things weren‘t so great “back in the good old days.”

I live in a different age and I feel it is my responsibility to find ways to share the Word and Spirit of God with my grandchildren in ways that they can hear.

“…clearly recalling your sincere faith that first lived in your grandmother Lois, then in your mother Eunice, and that I am convinced is in you also” (2 Timothy 1:5).

Decisions in our lives are presented in light of spiritual values as a fact of life. We talk about our obligations to each other and to the greater community in the spirit of the Christian way.

I do e-mails and text messages. I’ve bought almost every Veggie-Tales and Thomas The Train DVD and watch them with the grandchildren. We have heated discussions about the related themes and scriptures and values and I get to learn a lot about what the children think about many issues. My grandchildren can find related scripture and commentaries on the internet 100 times faster than I ever could in books and their resources are not limited to our library.

There is nothing preachy going on here and I am so very far from perfection but it warms my heart when I hear Christian values coming out of the mouths of every one of my grandchildren.

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

My younger granddaughter put it this way: “I may not always do what you say, but I always know what I should do.” I believe she knows because we spend time in her real world dealing with real issues.

Ephesians 6:4 (New International Version)
4Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.
It is my role to provide instruction in The Way. It is my role to find ways that are relevant to my children in this time
I thank You, Lord for the guidance of the Holy Spirit. I thank You, Lord, for giving me an open mind and flexibility that encourages communication about your Word. I thank You, Lord, for resources that help me to reach people I do not know and may never see with encouragement about your blessings and promises.

May God Forever Be a Blessing in Your Life!!!