Start Now

I know that my post a couple days ago, Protected from God?, was a bit long.  Talking through history and explaining Numbers 13-14 can get a little boring.  (I saw people starting to fade on Sunday and Tuesday during the same section of teaching.) 

My hope in teaching all that context, however, was twofold.  First, I was hoping that we would see the ways and places where we end up separating our children from God.  That’s what we covered on Tuesday.  My second hope, though, was that we would realize that it’s not too late to start teaching them better.

He decreed statutes for Jacob and established the law in Israel, which he commanded our ancestors to teach their children, so the next generation would know them, even the children yet to be born, and they in turn would tell their children. Then they would put their trust in God and would not forget his deeds but would keep his commands. They would not be like their ancestors-- a stubborn and rebellious generation, whose hearts were not loyal to God, whose spirits were not faithful to him. (Psalm 78:5-8 NIV)

I like to remind myself that the very people who were told to teach their children well were the same people who had messed up and were sentenced to die in the desert.  In other words, our mistakes do not need to stop us from teaching our children.  In fact, our mistakes can be a part of our teaching.  We can show our children where our bad decisions resulted in bad consequences.  We can tell them, that we love them and want a better life for them than that.  Then, we can show them God’s way so their life can be better.

Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. "Honor your father and mother"--which is the first commandment with a promise-- "so that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth." Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord. (Ephesians 6:1-4 NIV)

This is the idea behind all the passages like this.  Children are not being told to blindly obey even their parents’ bad habits.  They are to obey their parents in the Lord.  When their parents are not acting in the Lord, they do not need to obey those instructions.  (So, you don’t need to help your dad knock over the bank this week.)  Parents aren’t told that they have free reign to just boss their children around.  They are told to bring their children up in the training and instruction of the Lord.  That means we need to learn the training and instruction of the Lord, so we can pass it along.

Here’s the good news.  Even if we blew it, we can teach our children to know better.  We can help them see God’s picture.  We can draw a line in the sand.  We can start now.  The Israelites did, and their children inherited the promised land.

How about you?  Do you know the training and instruction of the Lord?  Have you made mistakes?  Have you let your mistakes get in the way of teaching your children?  Are you ready to start now?