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Building up believers and the New Testament church

Training Children

"Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it" (Proverbs 22:6). The matter of training children is probably the largest responsibility that we as parents will ever face. Most of us do not see the magnitude of the labor. Thus, our children grow up untrained and bring shame upon their parents, their society, and God. These few words of encouragement are directed to parents who do see something of their responsibility, and are looking to God for a clearer revelation of His ways in fulfilling that responsibility.

The word "train" is a full word. To train is to move with an objective in mind, until that objective is accomplished. Instruction, example, correction and testing are all part of training. The training is not complete until the desired objective has been realized. Thus, to train our children, we must clearly see the objective, or we will not be able to move with purpose. It may seem elementary, but it needs to be stated that to be able to train, the teacher must know more than the student. Parents cannot build anything in their children that they do not possess themselves. It is impossible to say, "Do as I say, but not as I do," and achieve anything worthwhile. This brings us to the foundation of all training.