“Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.” (Ephesians 6:4)
Children need to learn a lot. It is generally agreed upon that education is important to increase your chances of success in life, and therefore many children go to school. But they also learn at home, from their parents and other adults. The Bible stresses that parents have a huge responsibility here, particularly when it comes to “the instruction of the Lord”.
Faith in God is personal. It can’t be transmitted from one generation to the next. Whether or not children believe in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, is beyond the control of their parents. But it’s an enormous blessing for children to grow up in a Christian home, where they hear about God and see how their parents live with Him.
This gives them the opportunity to “taste and see that the Lord is good” (Psalm 34:8). They learn who God is and what His will for humans is. They learn how they can receive eternal life by faith in Jesus, and how they can find lasting joy and peace in the Lord.
Have you been brought up in a Christian home? If you have children, do you “bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord”?