Age of Offense - Part 5

Wednesday, April 5, 2023

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

We are finishing our series today on parenting to change a culture falling-apart.  We’ve shared about the need for parental stepping-up when it comes to involvement, because of the violent nature of today’s world, as well as the process of how to go about that with wisdom, integrity, and developing interest.  It’s all about how violence trickles-down from adult actions to imprint young minds, and, to combat that effect on our children we must train them up. 

This morning we close with some thoughts about what happens when a parent effectively trains children with Solomon’s wisdom, pointed at getting to know God in Christ Jesus.  What does that look like?

The Proverb writer declares that if the Process is followed (training), and the Purpose is understood (the way he should go), then the Product will be that, when he is old he will not depart from it. 

What does that mean?  The word itself has many applications, but the key idea that seems to fit the context is:  The child will not leave unfinished business when it comes to the important matters of life.

Central among the vital issues of life stands relationship.  According to the Bible, a right relationship with God is first, both in chronology and importance.  In all other human relationships, marriage, friendship, parenting, or business, the kind of relationship we build will determine the kind of eternity we experience.  A child that is trained in the way (the purpose of God for his life), will not leave business unfinished. 

Does that mean every child will eventually accept God, and serve Him well?  No, but it stresses the parental responsibility to move in that direction, giving the child every opportunity to respond. 

For You Today 

It’s not just wise advice from Solomon, but a solemn charge we have as parents, given from God in Heaven to train them up.  And as, with every other promise of God, He will honor the one who takes it seriously.

Here is an excellent target to shoot at for building a home that will set great parameters for serious parenting, shared with me by our friend Maria:

• My home won’t be the place where kids gather to go against their parents rules and wishes. 
• My home won’t be the place where I turn a blind eye to underage drinking.
• My home won’t be the place to meet up with someone you shouldn’t be around.
• My home won’t be the place that encourages drama.                                
• However, my home will be the place to go when life is drowning them, a place of refuge and encouragement.                                  
• My home will be the place to go when they need wisdom.                 
• My home will be the place to go when they need to hear truth and be held accountable.
• My home will be the place to go to experience the love and goodness of God.
• My home will be the place to go to find peace and rest for their souls.        
• My home will be the place where they find forgiveness and grace.          
• My home will be a place where a kid can be a kid!                                      
• My home will be the place where both fun and holiness exist together.      
• My home will be a place of healing for their hurts.                                   
• My home will be a place where no one goes hungry.                                   
• My home will be a place where I will love them as my own.                             
• My home will be a place where parents can rest easy, knowing their kids are safe, taken care of, and in a healthy environment.  That will be my legacy.[1]

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!

Go to VIDEO (read by author)

There are about 2,500 devotional posts and 400 sermons in the Rocky Road Devotions library.  To dig deeper explore some of these:  Happy Father’s Day – PART ONE and  PART TWO   and  PART THREE    

Title Image:  Pixabay.com  1 &  2    Images without citation are in public domain.

Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©  

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[1] Facebook, reposting Hannah Underwood

Age of Offense - Part 4

Tuesday, April 4, 2023

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

We are continuing with our series on parenting to change a culture falling-apart.  In the first two posts we shared about the need for parental stepping-up when it comes to involvement, because of the violent nature of today’s world.  Violence trickles-down from adult actions to imprint young minds.  We’ve allowed our children to become overly exposed to violence in every sphere of today’s culture. 

This morning let’s turn to the purpose, or the target, the substance of why we take such pains to be Christian parents.  Solomon says (in the proverb) we are to train children in the way they should go.  Way is a metaphor to describe the pathway through life.  It comes from a root word that depicts stringing a bow.   Go is the Hebrew word for mouth/breath, which, in the ancient world was the same as the deeds of a life.  The word spoken was the deed done.  Put together, this phrase, the way he should go, becomes something like, Bend the bow the way it must point, and eventually fire the arrow.  The purpose of training, therefore is:  What is accomplished in training sets the course of a child’s life.  There are at least three main priorities in the purpose of Christian training:

INTELLIGENCE  Imparting wisdom is not the same as knowledge.  Knowledge can simply be the combined weight of the Internet at your child’s disposal.  Separating out how to use knowledge is the chief aspect of wisdom.  The Bible declares that the fear (reverence) of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. 

Teaching our children to learn of God, and to reverence Him, is the purpose for the process.

INTEREST  This is a two-pronged fork.  We must notice the natural instincts God has placed within our children, and then seek to bring it out, all with the purpose of creating an interest in Christ.  Biblical scholar and author Howard Hendricks tells of a Sunday School teacher who came to his yard when he was nine.  He was out playing marbles.  

The teacher invited him to Sunday School.  Hendricks figured anything connected with School was not appealing, so the teacher asked a different question.  He said:  Wanna play a game of marbles?  After he wiped out the nine year old kid in a couple of games, he then asked:  Wanna learn how to play this game better?  Dr. Hendricks noted that by the time he’d taught me how to play marbles over the next few days, he’d built such a relationship with [Howard] that I’d have gone anywhere he suggested.  He ended up in a Sunday School class with 12 other boys, 11 of which ended up in vocational Christian work.^[1]

INTEGRITY  Training them in the way they should go, certainly includes teaching them that there is an only way!   Jesus said that about Himself!  We need to be clear about this.  It does matter what you believe.  If there is any other way to heaven, then Jesus is wrong.  If there is any other way than to repent of sin, confessing it before men and God, and trusting only in Christ, then Christianity is a fake.  Parents, with integrity, teach your children – intentionally – that Jesus Christ is Lord, and He alone can save them.

For You Today 

Diligent parents are involved with their children to teach them basic stuff, like brushing teeth, using the potty, and not hitting their annoying siblings.  These are menial, and pale in comparison to teaching them to know their Creator!

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!

Go to VIDEO (read by author)

There are about 2,500 devotional posts and 400 sermons in the Rocky Road Devotions library.  To dig deeper explore some of these:  The Ripple Effect of Faith and Passing Along the Faith

Title Image:  Pixabay.com  1 &  2    Images without citation are in public domain.

Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©  

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[1]Howard Hendricks, Say It With Love

Age of Offense - Part 2

Friday, March 31, 2023

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

An “age” is an measure of humanity’s time.  If you add a modifier to the noun it tells you what kind of age it was.  The Stone-age, Bronze-age, and Iron-age are three successive periods of humankind’s development from the primal to more sophisticated eras of lifestyle.

On a more “local” level there is the age of a single human being, passing time in a microcosm (compared to antiquities).  First is the primal age spent in the womb, followed by the baby age, toddler, pre-teen, teen, young adult, middle, and old ages.  When you’re a pre-teen, undergoing the beginning stages of hormonal and bodily changes, it seems an eternity before you’ll get a driver’s license.  Time speeds up when you’re 75; every time you turn around it’s a new decade.

I have called our current dilemma the Age of Offense.  Every word or deed offends (at least) somebody.  Depending on your tribe (Millennial, Gen-X, Z, Boomer, or whatever epoch you occupy), the later the generational label, the more likely you’ll spend most of your days angry, stressed-out, or ready to kill.  The chart in yesterday’s devotion (part 1) depicted a glum indicator of the fast rise of K-12 mass shootings in America in the last decade.  

Personally, I can think of no other time when children have been under more stress, pushed to the limit.  The sense of hope, joy, and wonder seen in a child’s face is rarer now, than anxious despair or downright fear.  Children are abused by violence!

Scripture enjoins parents to train them up.  This is an imperative command.  Solomon says:  YOU train them.  He’s sounding the alarm to parents that they must engage with their kids.  That means you don’t leave it up to the guidance counsellor, or the preacher, or some babysitting device (phone, TV, et al).  You spend time with them. 

Solomon also says to train them in the way.  This phrase can refer to a specific path for them to follow, but it more likely refers to helping them find the path where they learn God’s way best.  Some children are introverted, they learn best by reading and observing.  Some are extroverts, they learn best by experiencing.  But one factor that’s true of all children is that they learn by YOUR example.  If you send them to church, they will eventually come to the conclusion that church is for children, and they will grow out of it.  The “bussing of children” to attend Sunday School in the 1950’s-90’s proved that.  We now have generations of adults  who believe they’ve outgrown worshipping God.  They were trained-up by lazy parents that were too busy to bring them to church, and those kids now are not departing from what they learned.

Parenting is not a one-size-fits-all discipline.  You must engage, spend time understanding who they are, and how they learn.  That’s a big project!  The five minutes before bedtime, reading them a story, will not accomplish that.  Frankly, it means putting your own time on hold to work with, study, talk to, play with, instruct, protect, celebrate, hold accountable, and encourage your children. 

I can hear the eyes rolling….but, please…if Susanna Wesley (who had 19 children) spent quality time with each of her children, you can manage your two, three or six kids.  It depends on your adult decision making about what’s important!

For You Today 

The mess of children and young people using guns to solve their insecure relationship with life is a problem that developed over many years of inept parenting.  It won’t go away in the time it takes to pass a new gun law.

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!

Go to VIDEO (read by author)

There are about 2,500 devotional posts and 400 sermons in the Rocky Road Devotions library.  To dig deeper explore some of these:  Lapsed Atheists and Trained-Up

Title Image:  Pixabay.com  1 &  2    Images without citation are in public domain.

Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©