4/16 Strength for Today

Two Goals of Child Rearing

Isaiah 7:16
“For before the child shall know to refuse the evil, and choose the good, the land that thou abhorrest shall be forsaken of both her kings.”

In Isaiah 7, Isaiah prophesied to Israel of the birth of Jesus Christ. In verse 14 we learn that Jesus would be born of a virgin, and in verse 15 we learn of the simplicity of His lifestyle. When we come to verse 16, we read that Jesus would be a child who would “...know to refuse the evil, and choose the good...” What this verse teaches should be the goal of every parent concerning their children.

Childrearing is no easy task! Before a person has children they seem to think they have all the answers for childrearing, and after a person has children they learn they don't know enough about rearing children. The Scriptures are where we will find the greatest tips on how to rear children. Though no child is the same, the principles of raising children are always the same.

According to the verse above, your goal as a parent should be to train your child to refuse evil and choose good. How do we do this? Proverbs 22:6 gives us the answer when it says, “Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old he will not depart from it.” Notice that God commands the parent to train their child. This is where most parents fail. There is a difference between teaching a child and training a child. I have found that many parents only teach their children what is right and wrong. This is simply telling your children what to do and what not to do. But if we are going to reach the goal of our children knowing to refuse evil and choose the good, then we are going to have to train them to do this as well.

Training a child is much different than teaching a child. Training is teaching through practice. In other words, when you train a child you are showing them what to do by doing it yourself. It is literally on the job training. You can't train someone to do right and wrong simply by telling them, you must show them how to do this. You train your children by allowing them to do a job with you, and correcting them when they make mistakes. Though this will take time and patience, the result will be a child who knows how to refuse evil and choose good because they have done it with you and have seen how it works.

Christian, don't be guilty of simply teaching your child right and wrong, train them in the right and wrong by showing them how you refuse evil and choose good. The best teacher is on the job training. You can train your child how to make the right decisions by allowing them to make the decision, and correcting them when they make the wrong decision, and praise them when they make the right decision. Once they've made a decision, teach them and show them why their decision was either right or wrong.

Training a child to refuse evil and choose good will take time and patience, but you will be thankful you took the time and had the patience to train them once they start making the decisions on their own to refuse evil and choose good.