Training Through Showing

Proverbs 22:6 - “Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.”

I had the privilege of grabbing lunch with a prospective new member earlier this week. This individual was born into a Lutheran family and attended Sunday school for most of their childhood. As this new friend grew older, they drifted away from the foundation of faith they were taught as a child and became close friends with the world, and partook of its ways. Then, in young adulthood, a catastrophe brought them back to their knees in prayer to the God they knew in their youth. I share this story, though admittedly vague, because it isn’t, in its whole, my story to tell as a testimony to the truth of Proverbs 22:6.

To contrast, I was born into a Christian home and spent very little of my adolescence in pursuit of the world. Of course, there was more than enough sin to condemn me around every corner, but I have no real checkered past to speak of, or season of rebellion against the faith I was raised in. What I do have in common with the aforementioned individual is that Christ was preached to us as children, and all the necessary foundations for us to build upon as adults were laid from a young age, and now that we are older, we find ourselves not running from Christ but towards Him all the more. This isn’t to say God doesn’t work miracles in the lives of adults who never heard the Gospel as a child; He certainly does. But what we must realize is that the need for God to work such miracles in the lives of adults only exists for two reasons: the vastness of the world yet to be evangelized is first, and we’re working on it–but the second is because of the failures of parents of the past to teach their children the wonderful works of God in their youth.

We may be inclined to point our fingers at the first as the source of the problem of Godlessness, but the truth is that the majority of Christians will not be missionaries to unreached peoples. However, most of them are or will be parents one day. Having children and training them up in Godliness is the best way you can wage war on the epidemic of sin that ravages both cultures and countries. That may not look the same for everyone. For some, perhaps it is through scripture memorization games, for others perhaps catechisms and associated scripture references. Not everyone’s family worship will look the same, some will sing four songs from the hymnal and some will sing karaoke-style on a Bluetooth speaker. But I pray one thing is consistent across the board from Redemption City Church: we show our children Christ.

We show them in the way husbands love their wives, as Christ loves His church. We show them in the way we work hard, as God put man to work and called it good. We show them Christ in our generosity, as Christ championed the widow who gave all she had to the Kingdom work. And of course, we show them Christ in our love towards them. Woe to us who preach a good, loving, and patient Father, while fathering with anger or resentment, placing a heavy yoke upon our children. Training requires demonstrating, or showing. Train your children well, with simple, powerful demonstrations of these truths we confess.

- Brian, and the Elders