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.

— Deuteronomy 6:6-7

The Bible says, “Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it” (Proverbs 22:6).  I think it needs to be made very clear what God is talking about here.

Someone said, “I can’t understand it. What did I do wrong? My son is involved in dope, sin, adultery, and rebellion. I can’t understand it. I trained him up in the way he should go. I sent him to Sunday school every week.”

It’s great to send your children to Sunday school, but if that’s all you did, it wouldn’t be enough. The Old Testament makes it abundantly plain that parents have a duty to train their children in the home daily.

However, if you did all you could to teach and guide, pray for and pray with your child, and that child is a prodigal, take heart. God Himself is portrayed by Jesus in Luke 15 as the Father of the Prodigal Son. Do what He did, watch, wait, pray, and remember that the end of the story is yet to be told.

If you still have a chance, use every opportunity, when you walk and talk, day and night, to teach and, above all, to live out God’s Word before your children.

Question to ponder:
What can you do in your family situation to strengthen your family’s relation to the Lord?