For the Sake of My Children

Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it. -- Proverbs 22:6

One of my greatest worries is that my children will grow up following the wrong path of life. I would rather be poor with children that God will be proud of, than gain more, but loss my children to the wrong ways of life.

I have this scene in mind. After I pass by this life, God meets me and asks, “How are your children?” With a ‘big’ smile in my heart I replied, “I raised them in accordance to your ways.” Then He said, “Well done my son.” Wow!!! What joy it will bring to me because even just thinking of it already brought tears of joy to my heart. How much more if this is already for real?

Back to reality. The first hard question that I need to ask is, “How can I raise my children in accordance to God’s way?” 

I have a mini library at home and a number of my books are about parenting. A few helps, but somehow something is missing. Then it hit me – I need to teach them about the truth of life. After all, spiritual battle is not just about choosing between right and wrong, but first and foremost, it’s about knowing the truth from the lies. 

So now I’m down to the next question, “What truths about life that my children need to know first?” 

What I want to capture are the most essentials, and hopefully use these to form the basic foundation of their character. Hopefully, time is still on my side. So I started reading and scribbling, and I want to share to you what I got:

(1) An almighty God exists, He is holy and doesn’t like sin

(2) Sin displeases my God, it separates me from Him and it lead to destruction; sin is detestable

(3) Satan exists, he is evil and he wants to destroy men, women and children

(4) Satan cannot harm me if I am with my God (because He is more powerful than him) so he will try to deceive me to forget my God, and to commit sin (to be separated from Him)

(5) God gives me the freedom to choose – I can choose to love Him and do good things or to ignore Him and live a sinful life

(6) I am a sinner, but God still loves me so much because He is my Father and I am His child, so He gives me a way back to Him (even if I don’t deserve it)

(7) The way back to my God is through His divine Son, Jesus Christ; whoever believes that He is Lord and Savior, and repent of their sins shall be restored to the Father and be healed

(8) A good follower of Christ looks for the truth, speaks of the truth, and follow His teachings and examples; he detest Satan and sins

(9) The world is full of distractions and lies spread by Satan to lead men, women and children to sin; to avoid being deceived, I must make Jesus my closest friend; I should talk to Him every day to ask for help and guidance

(10) God's ways and the truths about life are written in the Bible, so I must study and read it every day so I may grow in spirit and become more like Jesus in character

I cannot choose how my children will become when they grow up. It's their choice. However, I can help them prepare for what lies ahead. This way I give them a fighting chance. The hardest part is that I should not only teach these to them, I also need to show it to them. I am an imperfect father, and I can see very rough waters ahead of me. But this is a journey that I have to make, not only for my own sake, but more importantly, for their sake. So God help me!