by Edwin Crozier<\/p>\n
Sadly, I can’t tell you what you need to do as a parent to guarantee your children will grow up and be faithful to the Lord. In the same way, every Bible study prospect has free will and chooses for themselves whether to respond to the gospel; so will your children. However, I can tell you some things we all need to do to be godly parents. One of them comes up in II Timothy 3.<\/p>\n
“But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus<\/em>” (II Timothy 3:14-15 ESV).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Your children need to be made acquainted with the sacred writings. Here’s the truth of the matter. You can have daily devotions, take your kids to Bible class regularly, and even have them memorize Scripture, and they may still reject Jesus. But faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of Christ (Romans 10:17). In other words, without becoming acquainted with Scripture, our children cannot possibly have faith in Christ.<\/p>\n
What plan do you have for your kids to be acquainted with Scripture? And by that, I mean what plan do you have that you are accomplishing? Don’t delegate this to Bible class teachers for two hours per week. What are you doing to acquaint your kids with the sacred writings?<\/p>\n
You may be thinking, “Well, I’m not all that acquainted with the Scripture.” Fine, what a great opportunity for you and your kids to become acquainted together. You don’t have to be a doctoral student in the Bible to get acquainted with it. Simply have a regular reading time. Read the stories together. Read the letters together. Discuss them. Use the P.A.T.H.S<\/strong>. of righteousness as a guide for discussion. What in the reading helps you praise<\/strong> God? What admonishes<\/strong> you? What helps you trust<\/strong> or hope<\/strong> in God? What would you want to share<\/strong> with others? Read a passage and discuss these ideas.<\/p>\nUse some questions inspired by the very passage we are reading now. If Scripture is profitable for teaching, what do we learn from what we’re reading? If it is profitable for reproof, what are we getting wrong based on what we’re reading? If it is possible for correction, what do we need to change based on what we’re reading? If it trains us for righteousness, what habits and disciplines do we need to develop based on our reading?
\nGetting our children acquainted with Scripture doesn’t help them graduate “Bible School.” It just means spending regular time with them reading the Word.\nYou’re reading along with us here, so perhaps you are already doing that. If not, you might start by simply having them read these chapters with you and discuss these posts. You might even have them listen to Text Talk with you based on these posts.<\/p>\n
Do something. No, you can’t guarantee their faithfulness, but you can give them the best possible leg up. Get them acquainted.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by Edwin Crozier Sadly, I can’t tell you what you need to do as a parent to guarantee your children will grow up and be faithful to the Lord. In the same way, every Bible study prospect has free will and chooses for themselves whether to respond to the gospel; so will your children. However,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27,1028],"tags":[665,29,107],"class_list":["post-97578","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","category-parenting","tag-child-rearing","tag-parenting","tag-raising-children"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":60478,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/a-word-to-fathers\/","url_meta":{"origin":97578,"position":0},"title":"A Word to Fathers","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 26, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jefferson David Tant Men have some very important roles to fulfill in family life. There are quite a few passages in the Bible, both Old and New Testaments that mention their responsibilities. This article is focused on the relationship with their children that God has given fathers. One of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":57391,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/at-home\/","url_meta":{"origin":97578,"position":1},"title":"At Home","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 29, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"by John Gipson \"And every day in the temple and at home they did not cease teaching and preaching Jesus as the Christ\" (Acts 5:42). Harold E. Luccock once observed, \"We have not ceased to preach at the temple. But we have, rather largely, ceased to do it at home.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":61093,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-it-is-necessary-to-teach-children-godly-values\/","url_meta":{"origin":97578,"position":2},"title":"Why It Is Necessary to Teach Children Godly Values","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 29, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Author Unknown Children, without teaching and training, do not know about true values, especially godly ones. They depend on their parents to teach them what is valuable or not, right and wrong, truth and error, good and bad. Left alone, kids have a slim chance of becoming knowledgeable about such\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":55257,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/five-smooth-stones-of-parenting\/","url_meta":{"origin":97578,"position":3},"title":"Five Smooth Stones of Parenting","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 21, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"by Sewell Hall In Goliath, David faced what seemed an indomitable foe. David's goal was not so much to kill the giant as to protect the children and honor God. He took five smooth stones from the brook to achieve his purpose. In the pervasive humanism of our society, parents\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/five-smooth-stones-300x200.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":31664,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/nourishment\/","url_meta":{"origin":97578,"position":4},"title":"Nourishment","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 5, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jefferson David Tant The pictures of little Emma before and after receiving nourishment are typical of a huge number of starving children in impoverished nations around the world. 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