For Saturday May 6, 2023
Proverbs 22:6
Train up a child in the way he should go, And when he is old he will not depart from it.
In the film Cheaper by the Dozen, Steve Martin’s character, Tom Baker, decides to walk away from his dream of coaching college football because of the strain it has been on his family. When his boss asks if he’ll have any regrets for such a decision, Baker says, “If I screw up raising my kids, nothing I achieve will matter much.”
Jesus says it a different way: “But whoever causes one of these little ones . . . to stumble, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were thrown into the sea.” (Mark 9:42). In other words, raising children is a serious responsibility and privilege; we should treat it that way and give our best to this high calling.
The world says we ought to pursue degrees, titles, salaries, and accomplishments. But if you look intently into the eyes of your child, the things that are truly important will become clear. The title you hold will fade, and your accomplishments will someday be forgotten; it is the investment you make in the spiritual lives of your children that will outlive you and carry on into eternity.
The first and most natural condition of things is for Christian parents to train up
their own children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.
C.H. SPURGEON
FOR THE LOVE OF GOD 