The Overwhelming Importance for Children to Receive Early Godly Training at Home!

27 Jan 2026 Leave a comment

by randyobrien50 in Christian Thoughts and Inspiration., Daily Devotion, Daily Inspiration, Inspirational Living, Spiritual Living Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

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

Then it was Tuesday, with bright sunshine lighting up the area. And life is slowly returning to normal after that awesome barrage of snow we received two days ago. Most of it has now been cleared away, but there’s one li’l anecdote I have to share. They reduced the big pile of snow at the entrance to my lane, but in doing so they blocked the walkway, so anyone walking there will have to trudge through a pile of snow to get to the other side. But other than that, there’s nothing to complain about. (smile) 

And today we’ll check out an important scripture from the pen of Cousin Sol in Proverbs which seems to be totally forgotten in these days of anything goes. It’s a scripture that most of us know very well, which says: ‘Train up a child in the way he should go: and (even) when he is old, he will not depart from it.’ (Prov. 22:6) The problem though is that in these troubled times not many parents are adhering to wise scripture, and that’s why children and young adults are running loose, and have no concrete foundation in morality and truth. 

And what does that scripture mean? The first thing we must admit and learn is that raising up a child is basically the province of the home; the duty of the parents. That’s where all training ought to start, and hopefully continue in the church and school.  But today parents are supposedly too busy with their own lives to raise their children in a proper and godly manner, and the church has apparently relinquished any part in raising up children nowadays, and schools are teaching…heaven knows what! 

Consequently, without a good home based or church training children are being reared in all sorts of negative environments. We depend on day-care centres, institutions of learning and the gangs that many young people graduate to, to raise our children. Yes friends, if we don’t pay serious attention to the rearing of our children at home, then people outside with all sorts of ungodly and evil ideas will raise them. That’s why the proverb says if we raise them right from the very beginning, even though they may stray at times, they will have the benefit of some godly wisdom and common sense that will eventually lead and keep them on the straight and narrow path. 

But if they have no sense or knowledge of God, they are good fodder for any kind of immoral and ungodly ideas. And the scholars say, ‘Train up a child  refers to the total process of molding a child’s life. The word train (chanak) comes from the root word meaning to “put into the mouth” and implies the idea of conditioning the palate. Thus, parental training should help children develop a taste for the things of God.’ And isn’t that the gospel truth! 

Then the scholars continue: ‘The biblical pattern of effective parental training emphasizes a balance of instruction and discipline (cf. Eph. 6:1-4). The ideal parent is to be neither overly authoritative nor overly permissive. Rather, he must balance LOVE and discipline so as not to “provoke” his child to rebellion. When he is old means simply, “when he is grown up,” or a mature adult. It does not refer to his elderly years. The verse stresses the simple principle that education in the home forms the man throughout his lifetime.’ 

Ah mih people, those are indeed true words. However, because of the breakdown of the basic family all that stuff has gone out the window and now there are parents rearing children who had no proper training in their formative years either, thus the lack of proper parenting continues and the children are growing up like seeds thrown haphazardly, or randomly into the earth, with no tender nurturing, and therefore are growing up however they can, most without a godly perspective on life. 

Now, let’s turn to the reference the scholars gave us above; Bruh Paul’s famous words of instruction to children and to fathers. ‘Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right. Honour thy father and mother; which is the first commandment of promise; That it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth.’ (Eph. 6:1-3) And what Bruh Paul is referring to there is the commandant of the same nature found in Exodus 20:12, where children are advised to honour their parents if they desire to see long life. 

Then Bruh Paul continues: ‘And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture (training) and admonition of the Lord.’ (Eph. 6:4) So there’s a responsibility on both sides; parents must raise their children with a good balance of discipline and LOVE, and the children ought to honour the parents so that they can live long lives. And what does all of that mean? 

The scholars explain it thus. ‘Honour means have inward respect and reverence for. It is inadequate for children to obey parents only outwardly; they must also respect or honour them inwardly. Which is the first commandment with promise refers to the fifth of the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20:3-17, the very first of all God’s Old Testament injunctions to be given that possesses an attached promise. The promise is two-fold: honouring and obeying parents ensures a long and prosperous life upon earth.’  No wonder so many children nowadays die fairly young. 

And as per the instructions to the fathers, the scholars declare: ‘Fathers can provoke their children to wrath by injustice, loss of temper, undue severity, cruelty, favouritism, suppression, sarcasm, ridicule, and misuse or abuse of authority.’ Wow! The parent does have a very narrow path to walk. ‘Then Nurture basically means “training,” here denoting spiritual education. Admonition is instruction that points out one’s responsibilities and duties. Of the Lord indicates that behind the parents’ rearing and instruction of their children stands the Lord as the chief teacher in child education. Parents do not rear children alone.’ Now that’s certainly a comforting thought (smile). 

And having reacquainted ourselves with the proper way to raise children, let’s go home now declaring our Tuesday Mantra, letting all and sundry know to whom we belong, lock, stock and barrel. As one strong and sincere voice: ‘In God’s eyes, I’m not what I do. I’m not what I have. I’m not what people say about me. I am the beloved of God, that’s who I am. No one can take that from me. I don’t have to worry. I don’t have to hurry. I can trust my friend Jesus and share His LOVE with my immediate neighbours, as well as with the whole wide world! Glory be!’ 

Now it behooves us to go out and share Christ’s LOVE and friendship with others , so that they too can come to know and LOVE Him like we do! Much LOVE!

…once we truly know Christ…it’s hard to fall of the wagon…

Hear our podcast at https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/randy-obrien

Today’s Scrip-Bit 20 June 2015 Ecclesiastes 12:1‏

20 Jun 2015 Leave a comment

by randyobrien50 in Christian Thoughts and Inspiration., Daily Devotion, Daily Inspiration, Inspirational Living, Spiritual Living Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Ecclesiastes 12:1.   Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not (before the evil days come), nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say I have no pleasure in them.

 

Warm and sincere greetings my beautiful Friends, on this Saturday morning in June, the last day of spring! Yes, tomorrow is listed as the first day of summer, so let’s hope it does come up like summer, (smile) although I don’t mind these cool days that we’ve been having recently. Anyway, there’s not much we can do about the way the weather shapes up on any given day, so we just have to take them in stride and make the best of them.

And talking about taking things in stride, here is an interesting quote from the Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882), the famous American essayist, lecturer and poet of the 19th century. Ralph reputedly said: ‘We do not live an equal life, but one of contrasts and patchwork; now a little joy, then a sorrow, now a sin, then a generous or brave action.’

And that’s the absolute truth my people! Our lives don’t flow smoothly from one day or moment to the next, but are constantly moving up and down; from good days to bad ones, from successes to failures, from joy to sorrow and back again.

As my One More Day Daily Meditations for People with Chronic Illness says: ‘A wholesome life, a productive life, a good life – whatever we call it – is not a shimmering length of perfectly woven cloth. It’s more like a patchwork quilt set together by resourceful hands. We cannot choose to discard a bad experience or a poor decision; instead, we piece it into the total colourful work that is life.’

And that’s absolutely more truth there my people! We can’t completely ignore the less than stellar experiences and/ or decisions we make over a life time, but have to weave them into our consciousness, because they are all a part of our lives, they make us what and who we are.

Yes, our lives are just like a patchwork quilt made from many different experiences. I guess the old fogeys would remember those beautiful patchwork quilts that existed when we were growing up.

Yes Friends, our lives are ones of contrasts; contrasts that we have to take and turn into unique and beautiful patterns, if we want to truly enjoy our days on planet earth.  

Now my brethren, let’s turn to another insightful quote, this one our Bit, from the Good Book as penned by Cousin Sol in his role as Preacher and Teacher. ‘Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not (before the evil days come), nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say I have no pleasure in them.’

That’s certainly wisdom and common sense, because remember that though Sol is writing about things that happen in old age, it’s advice that’s actually meant for the young. We ought to remember and pay serious attention to our God while in the springtime of our lives, because when the winter comes around we possibly won’t be interested in life, or even able to enjoy it.

Now let’s address some scripture that highlights and supports the contentions of our Bit. Cousin Sol himself, in Proverbs gives us the gold standard. ‘Train up a child in the way he should go: and (even) when he is old, he will not depart from it.

And the scholars explain: ’22:6. Train up a child refers to the total process of moulding a child’s life. The word ‘train’ (chanak) comes from the root word meaning to “put into the mouth” and implies the idea of conditioning the palate. Thus, parental training should help children develop a taste for the things of God.

The biblical pattern of effective parental training emphasizes a balance of instruction and discipline (cf. Eph.6:1-4). The ideal parent is to be neither overly authoritarian nor overly permissive. Rather, he must balance LOVE and discipline as not to “provoke” his child to rebellion.

When he is old means simply “when he is grown up,” or a mature adult. It does not refer to the elderly years. The verse stresses the simple principle that education in the home forms the man throughout his lifetime.’

And that last sentence Friends is the gospel truth! The foundation that we receive at home will go with us throughout our lives, and if that foundation is not built on a solid, godly footing, then we will most likely drift and waiver and be double minded and insecure for most of our lives.

Remember the old saying; ‘Charity begins at home.’ It’s ever so true my people, for if we aren’t taught properly at home, then we won’t be able to behave properly outside of it. And unfortunately that is what has happened to a large part of this current generation; they haven’t been taught properly at home.

For whatever reasons, be they the busyness of their parents’ lives, or their fear of offending the children through proper discipline, or simply parents who don’t care, the youth of today are sadly unprepared for godly living today. 

And we’ll end today with a great example of godly parenting. This deals with Josiah, one of Judah’s kings. The Good Book tells it thus: ‘Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned in Jerusalem one and thirty years.  And he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, and walked in the ways of David his father, and declined (did not turn aside) neither to the right hand, nor to the left.

For in the eight year of his reign, while he was yet young, he began to seek after the God of David his father: and in the twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem from the high places (places of pagan worship), and the groves (wooden images), and the carved images, and the molten images.’ (2 Chr.34:1-3)

Now Bruh David was not Josiah’s biological father, just his forefather. And I don’t know how Josiah got so godly, because both his father Amon and his grandfather Manasseh did that which was evil in the Lord’s sight.

The scholars tell us: ‘34:2. Josiah is commended as a godly king whose faith took a straight course and who was unequalled by any Judean king in his concern for the law of God (cf. 2 Kin.22:1-2, 23-25).’

Ah Friends, how many young people of today would ever be so brave and godly eh? Not too many. And we only have ourselves to blame, because we didn’t do a good enough job raising them.

However my people, it’s not too late, we can still make some amends for our less than stellar parenting by keeping on trying with our children, though many are now set in their ways, but also by doing right by our grandchildren, the next generation. That’s our only hope to reverse the ungodly process that’s now in place. Much LOVE!

…it’s true you make the children…but you don’t make their minds…however you can be a major influence on them if you sincerely try…