Below is an excerpt form the booklet "The Voice Within" which is soon to be published.
Proverbs 22:6
(KJV)
Train up a
child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.
This
training is for instructing and forming his conscience by implanting the word
of God and producing a spiritual understanding. His spiritual enlightenment is
to be so developed and trained that by the time he reaches maturity, his
conscience will be a reliable source of direction. This places a child’s
spiritual development on the parents. When Mom and Dad neglect the house of God
for ball games and other things, they have set priorities within the heart and
have shaped the conscience to accommodate actions where God is not first. This
son or daughter will grow up seeing God as an option and will only include him
when it is convenient or a crisis arises. Church will be attended when there is
nothing else to do; prayer will be activated when a need arises; and reading
the Bible will happen when others have no answers. We have to be careful of
confusing the word “raising” with the word used in this verse, which is “train.”
People raise vegetables and livestock, but we train children. Feeding a child nutritious meals, providing warm clothing, giving him
his own bedroom, and kissing him good night is not training. Most every species
of animals provides the basic necessities for their young. Training a child is
calculated instruction and discipline to form long-term character and wisdom in
the fear of the Lord and knowledge of scripture.[i]
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