Raise a Child In the Way He Should Go

The Bible is very clear about how to raise a child.

It tell us in Deuteronomy 6:5-7 that we should "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your heart. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up." It does not say we are to love our children with all our heart, soul, and strength, but to love God. Yes, we are to love our children, but we are instructed to love God and to teach our children His commands, not ours.

It's the Lord's commands that should be upon our hearts because the "...things that come out of the mouth come from the heart..." Matthew 15:18

We are supposed to "Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it." Proverbs 22:6

"Do not withhold discipline from a child; if you punish him with the rod, he will not die. Punish him with the rod and save his soul from death." Proverbs 23:13-14


So, what happens when you, as a parent, don't love the Lord, your God, with all your heart and all your soul, and all your strength? What happens when you don't impress His commandments on your heart and teach them to you children every opportunity you get? What happens when you don't train a child in the way he should go, but let them decide which way they should go? What happens if you withhold discipline (with a rod) from a child?

The Bible and life tells us and shows us very clearly what will happen. It says in Matthew that you will teach what's in your heart. If you have hate, bitterness, and anger in your heart, your child will have the same things impressed upon his heart. He will have hate, bitterness, and anger to you, the parent, and to anyone that has authority. If you as the parent do not have a Heavenly authority, why does your child need an earthly authority? Why does your child need someone to give them guidance if you're not seeking it from the correct source?

He will seek love from alternative sources; friends, smoking, drinking, sex... He will seek out anyone or anything that will provide temporary "feel goods", love that is not real, sex that can and might lead to being a single young parent, or pornography.

In the book of Proverbs, it tells us that when he becomes an adult, he will return to the way he was trained as a child. Do you want your child to be bitter and angry? Do you want your child to think that extramarital affairs or O.K.? Do you want your child to be an alcoholic and to not care about anyone but themselves or do you want your child to know love? I'm not talking about the kind of love you have for your cat or dog or what you might think you have for your spouse. I'm talking about unconditional love. The kind of love that is patient and kind. The love that does not envy, or boast and is not proud. The kind of love that is not rude or self-seeking. The kind of love that is not easily angered or keeps no records of wrong. Do you want your child or would you like to honestly know and have the kind of love that does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth and ALWAYS protects, trusts, hopes, and perseveres? The kind of love that NEVER fails.

No matter how hard we try to teach our children this kind of love, the only way they are going to learn it is if we have it. The ONLY way someone can have and experience the unconditional love they are looking for in their friends, in the chatrooms that should be sensored for adult eyes only, or in the pornographic pictures they post on the internet or give to their friends is by knowing and truly trusting that Jesus, son of God, died on a cross for all of our sins. It is only through knowing Jesus and accepting Him in our lives that we can truly know and have the unconditional love that we all desire. He is the only way we can give that love to our children.

There was a time where we could pray in school. Now, kids can text nude pictures in schools. There was a time we could talk about God in school. Now, kids talk about having sex and wanting to get or being pregnant. If you're not teaching your children about the Heavenly God, the world will teach them about it's gods.