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Two Things You Must Teach Your Children
Isaiah 7:16
"For before the child shall know to refuse the evil, and choose the good, the land that thou abhorrest shall be forsaken of both her kings."
Parents are constantly looking for child-rearing tips that will help their children to turn out right. Often parents go to Christian authors and read their books on rearing children. I must say that this is not a bad thing to do. However, if I were to tell you that I have a tip from Someone Who has a perfect child, then you would certainly be interested in knowing His tips. Well, I do have a tip from Someone Who has a perfect child, and that is God. We often forget that God the Father gave us tips by showing how His Son, Jesus Christ was reared. Though Jesus was the Son of God, we must realize that He took on the robe of flesh and had to overcome everything that you and I have to overcome. These two tips that God gave us are a must for every child to learn.
The first thing you must teach your child is how to refuse evil. The verse above says, "For before the child shall know to refuse the evil,..." Notice that Jesus was taught to refuse evil. When teaching children to refuse evil, they will have to learn how to stand. To refuse something means they were offered something. That means a child is going to have to learn to say, "No" when they are offered something wrong. This means that they will have to learn to stand on their own and not run with the crowd. Until your child learns to stand on their own, they will never learn to refuse evil.
Moreover, your child will have to learn how to separate. One of the reasons it is important for parents to live a separated life is so that they can teach their children how to separate from the wrong crowd. If parents won't live a separated life, then the children certainly are not going to separate from evil when it is offered.
Furthermore, your child will have to learn to take ridicule. When someone is offered evil, and when they refuse that evil, you can rest assured that they will be ridiculed. Part of parenting is building the self-confidence of your child enough so that when ridicule comes they are not intimidated. Only those who lack self-confidence will be affected by ridicule. You must be sure to build your child's self-confidence if you want them to refuse evil in the midst of ridicule.
However, the second thing that your child must learn is how to choose the good. Not only did Jesus know how to refuse evil, but He also knew how to choose good. This means that parents will have to teach their children what is good. The best way to teach your child not to do bad is to teach them good and allow them to experience the good.
Moreover, you will have to teach your children decision-making principles. Your children need to learn how to choose between two good things. Sometimes children are not faced with making a decision between bad and good, but sometimes they must choose between two good things. You must learn to teach them that the good they must choose is the good that God wants the most. There is always good, better and best in every decision. Teach your child that they must look at the future of each decision to determine what is best and scripturally correct.
When children learn to choose between good and evil, then they will have a better chance of doing right their entire life. Parents must not make every decision for their children, but they must learn to teach their children how to make decisions for themselves. If they are taught to make these decisions under your supervision, then when you are gone you have a better chance that they will continue to make the same decisions.