Sunday Class @ 9am; Worship @ 10am & 5pm
Articles
Will My Children Be Wise?
As you may know, my son is a senior in high school. This means a lot of important choices await him in the coming weeks and months that will affect the rest of his life – and beyond. I have been praying for him (and us as his parents) to have wisdom in the decisions to be made. While doing some reading today a familiar passage struck me more than usual in its application.
In 2 Timothy 3:15 Paul wrote Timothy telling him “that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.” Timothy had wisdom that would ultimately lead to salvation, but how? Through the sacred writings he had known from childhood. How had he known the sacred writings from then? He had to learn them (:14). How had he learned them? His mother and grandmother had taught him (1:5).
There it was, God’s answer to my prayers. If I want my son – and my daughters also – to have wisdom and make wise decisions, then I must ensure that they know the sacred writings of God. This has always been the responsibility of parents and grandparents: “Teach them to your children and your grandchildren. ... And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.” (Deut 4:9; 6:6-9). It is especially true of fathers: “Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.” (Eph 6:4). Instruction from God’s sacred word will give my children the wisdom they so desperately need to guide them through this life and into the life to come, and I am the one responsible for that instruction. In other words, I am responsible for their wisdom.
Will my children be wise? That depends on how well I instruct them in the sacred writings. If I ensure that my children know God’s word, then they will be “thoroughly equipped” (2 Tim 3:17) for whatever they may face in life and make wise decisions accordingly. This is what I want and pray, so it had better be what I am diligently working to ensure.
