Who is right and what is wrong? How can we best help our children to sort out life and follow the right way? How do we train up a generation who does not waste their time using lots of words while saying nothing; or investing their time, energy and money in the things that have nominal returns? How can we regain through the training up of our children the moral integrity of a nation gone awry? How can an honest day’s work for an honest day’s pay be an experience that our children learn to appreciate and persevere through?
The answers are in our instruction manual given us by a Holy and Righteous God. We must turn off the world, create silence, and go to the Bible. Psalm 119:105 (NLT): Your word is a lamp to guide my feet and a light for my path. Our children will never go wrong if they go to the Bible for their problem solving and response to life. Consider this instruction from Philippians 2:3-4 (NLT):
[3] Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. [4] Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too.
Philippians 2:3-4 (NLT)
As parents, we must know something about God’s Word and know how to find the answers we need. Proverbs, as an example, instructs us in practical responses to life, such as in Proverbs 12:22 (NLT): The LORD detests lying lips, but he delights in those who tell the truth. One of the things that will always lead our children down the right path is being “truthful and honest.” How does that play out in their lives and in every teachable moment? How about this one? Proverbs 26:17: Interfering in someone else’s argument is as foolish as yanking a dog’s ears. Teaching our children not to borrow trouble will be another attribute that takes them far in the right direction and not the wrong direction.
We can intentionally become familiar with the teachings in God’s Word. Proverbs is a good start. “Chasing rabbits” is an old saying that refers to “being distracted from what you intend to do.” We can waste a life chasing the things that we were never intended to be involved in that produce little; however, to train up a generation that goes to God’s Word for instruction will have great purpose and great reward. Reading and gaining truth from God’s Word will always produce the “right” results. Isaiah 55:11 (NLT): It is the same with my word. I send it out, and it always produces fruit. It will accomplish all I want it to, and it will prosper everywhere I send it.
This is what J. Vernon McGee has to say about the book of Proverbs:
“You may not consider the Book of Proverbs a very thrilling story, but it is. I hope we can get in step with the spirit of God in this book, because it has a real message for each one of us. It is particularly slanted to young men — and applies to young women also. It has a special message for youth. This is a day, as every day has been, when young people are looking for answers to the questions of life.”
J. Vernon McGee
Every parent will want to instruct with this verse — Proverbs 1:8 (NLT): My child, listen when your father corrects you. Don’t neglect your mother’s instruction.
