Take Time to Teach

“So you shall observe to do just as the LORD your God has commanded you; you shall not turn aside to the right or to the left. You shall walk in all the way which the LORD your God has commanded you, that you may live and that it may be well with you, and that you may prolong your days in the land which you will possess.” Deuteronomy 5:32-33

“Now this is the commandment, the statutes and the judgments which the LORD your God has commanded me to teach you, that you might do them in the land where you are going over to possess it, so that you and your son and your grandson might fear the LORD your God, to keep all His statutes and His commandments which I command you, all the days of your life, and that your days may be prolonged. O Israel, you should listen and be careful to do it, that it may be well with you and that you may multiply greatly, just as the LORD, the God of your fathers, has promised you, in a land flowing with milk and honey. Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD is one! You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontals on your forehead. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.” Deuteronomy 6:1-9

Is your “home team” a solid, together group? Are you playing well together? Do you all have the same goal and objective in mind? Chances are your kids will stay on your team if you take the time to teach them correctly. Any skill has to be learned; any profession has to be studied and understood before one can hope to be successful at it. So, too, a child needs to be taught by his or her parent(s) how to play on the team and how to be a person.

The sobering question for parents to consider is: “Am I really teaching my kids the principles and guidelines which I claim to live by? Am I making a conscious effort to instruct, guide, and teach my kids in the way they should go? Do my kids have the kind of foundation built in their lives so that they’ll know how to respond to questionable circumstances and worldly suggestions?”

Parents, evaluate what kind of faith you have. Is it the kind of faith that will really help your kid walk tall as a Christian, with a heart that burns with a deep desire for God’s will to be done? Realize that by word and deed you are teaching your kids the values and principles they may well hold to for the rest of their lives. Teach them well.

The greatest motivation for learning is praise.