“Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” (Proverbs 22:6)
Not in the way that you think he should go, or she if you are so blessed, but in the way that God has determined for us to live, glorifying Him in all we do, say, or think. A child raised up in this manner today may be one of the rarest things on the planet, but that is what sets them apart, parents are to sanctify their children for the Lord and from the world.
If you are not reading and discussing the Word of God with your children at least once a day, then you are not fulfilling this verse, if you are hoping they will grow into God-fearing men and women of God without this most basic of deed, then there is a very good possibility that that child will not serve the Most High. Is it inconvenient, is it difficult to find the time? Then remove something in your life, if you will not, then you will not only need to attempt to convince yourself that that time spent is more important than your child, but you will have to give an account to God for not doing so.
Your children’s salvation is not dependent on you, it is God that chooses, but you cannot profess to be born-again and not spend time in the Scriptures with your family. The order of God’s family has always been the Most High, the father, the mother and the children, everyone and everything comes after that. Satan is quite aware of this, and it is why you are witnessing the breakdown of the family, and historically speaking, every nation that has come to ruin began that descent with the destruction of the family unit. It is quite easy to see that not only the nation that you live in, no matter which one it is, indeed the entire planet, is set for the wrath of God upon it, and the destruction of the family is how it starts.
When I was very young, I went to Sunday school and church with my grandmother, a God-fearing woman who loved the Lord, and whose greatest joy was singing His praises. I could not have been more than six or seven years old when my parents, neither of whom knew the Lord, informed me that I did not have to go to Sunday school, you see, I was under the assumption that school consisted of six days a week, and on Sunday morning I simply went to a different place for my education. Through my ignorance of innocence, I believe I broke my grandmother’s heart, but I was young, and even if only for that short time, I was raised up in the way I was to go.
I cannot overstate this enough, you are not responsible for your child’s salvation, but you are responsible to teach them the oracles of God, and if you willingly determine not to adhere to this, there may be dire consequences for you.
Make the time, do not try to find the time, make the time.
Everything in that child’s life must be held against the truths of the Word of God, from their friends, to what they are being taught in school, to the items on their phone if you have given them one. Everything, not one item must be left out.
I strayed for more than two decades, I have been the lost sheep and the prodigal son, but now I am old, and I no longer stray. I fall, rest assured of that, but the verse that fits me now, so to speak, is Psalm 71:9, “Cast me not off in the time of old age; forsake me not when my strength faileth.”
It must be done, against their will if that is what it takes. What would you rather hear, their whining, grumbling and complaining now, or the reproving of the Lord Himself later?
Make the time.
