Magnifing the Lord Through Parenting! Post 1

Note: Over the next few days as we approach Father’s Day, I would like to post 7 articles that were written a number of years ago for a homeschooling news letter that my wife and I circulated amongst our church family and friends.

Introduction: Article 1: PARENTING – By Mark Worden

What do you think when a little person calls you Daddy or Mommy for the first time? You might think fearfully, “How am I ever going to do this?” or reflectively, “I have got to raise and train this child for God.” Or a prayerful, “Lord, I need your wisdom to be a good parent.” Unfortunately, you might think a pass-the-buck thought like, “I am sure glad the Lord gave me a good wife to raise this child.” I really don’t remember what all my first thoughts were after our daughter was born but my actions sure showed that I expected my wife to do most of the child training. That began to change when I started to study to find out what God says in His Word about being a parent and raising a child for His glory. This year in the Archer, I will be writing a series of articles called “Parenting” based upon that first study on parenting that changed my life as a father.

One of the first things I discovered was that Proverbs 22:6 was not just a promise from God, but a goal that should be kept before our minds at all times: “Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.”

Let’s break the first part of this verse down to understand its full meaning:

1) The Hebrew word “Train up” is translated as “dedicate” in the 3 other passages where it is used (Deut. 20:5, 1 Kings 8:63, 2 Chron. 7:5). It carries the idea of starting, initiating, or beginning.

2) The Hebrew word “In the way” refers to a path, direction, or habit. Figuratively it refers to the course and moral character of one’s life.

3) The Hebrew word “Should go” is surprisingly translated as “mouth” 309 times throughout the Old Testament. It is this word mouth that gives us the key to understanding how we are to dedicate, start, and initiate our children on the right path.

The Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament says, “The mouth is the external manifestation of one’s character and disposition.” In other words what comes out of our child’s mouth tells us what is in his heart so that we can correct and guide what is in our child’s heart. The Lord Jesus said it this way:

“For every tree is known by his own fruit. For of thorns men do not gather figs, nor of a bramble bush gather they grapes. A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh” (Luke 6:44-45 emphasis added).

The Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament also points out that “The mouth is the organ through which one’s relationship to God is ascertained.” The following verses shed light on how important the use of our mouth is to the Lord: Jos. 1:8, 1 Sa. 2:3, Ps 17:3, Ps 40:3, Ps 49:3, Ro 10:8-10. By paying attention and really listening to what comes out of the mouth of our children we will know when he is not conforming to the path and know when correction and instruction must be given.

As we reconstruct the thought of this verse based on these definitions, we see that our goal is to dedicate or start our children on a godly course of life where their mouth is used to glorify God from the heart. We trust, as the scripture says, that as they grow older they will not depart from it. To accomplish this we must love God and use our mouth to express our relationship with Him continually. This is what God tells us to do in Deuteronomy 6:5-9:

“Thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes. And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates.”

Our goal in parenting is to start our children on the pathway of developing godly character throughout their lives. Proverbs 22:6.

Copyrighted in 2002