Train Up a Child...

by Dennis Nosal

One of the reasons Judy and I decided to place our membership at Mt. Juliet was because of the large number of children. It is nice to see so many children being born to our young families at Mt. Juliet. Our children are so precious to us. We want to ensure they have everything they need to grow and mature.
We hope and pray that they are healthy. To help them stay healthy as they grow up, we feed them wholesome food, vitamins and make sure they receive regular checkups. We start providing this special care even before they are born. While they are still in the womb, we make sure that mom eats the right foods and vitamins because she's eating for two.
We try to help them receive everything they need to succeed academically. We try to obtain the best teachers for our children. We make sure they have all the supplies needed to succeed. We start their academic training not too long after they are born by reading stories to them and giving them puzzles to work. Some have even begun to read to them while they are still in the womb. They do this hoping that this too might help them to develop academically.
We also hope they grow mature spiritually, accepting Christ as their savior. When do we start this process? It's important to make sure our children are trained to be still, to be attentive, to be reverent, and to be orderly in worship. Do we wait to start this process when they are teenagers and hope they learn only by example? May I suggest we start this too at a very early age. It's easier to train up a child from birth than it is to wait until they are older. When we come together to worship God, our children learn from us how to worship our Father. When we get ready for worship, do our children see us take this part of our life seriously or do they see us treat this time so casually that it doesn't seem to be a special or important part of our life? What kind of example do we teach our children during the Lord's Supper? Do they see us reverently meditating on the awesome sacrifice of our Savior or do they see us treat this very important act of worship in a casual or even flippant manner? It's important that we teach our children from the Scriptures every day. It's also very important that our children hear the love we have for God in our everyday speech. The most important and enduring lesson our children learn about our spiritual life is the one they see us living each day of our lives.

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