the most misunderstood verse in the bible…

the bible says in proverbs 22.6 (niv), train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old, he will not depart from it.

that is the most misunderstood verse in the bible. many people think that’s a promise. it is not a promise. many people think that means if you train your child in good GODly ways as a child, then when they grow up, they may go through a period of rebellion but they will come back to the LORD. that is not what that verse says. GOD doesn’t even promise that in the bible because your kids have a free will.

what that verse says… it’s not a promise, it’s a proverb that says, train up a child in the way he should go… and in the way in hebrew literally means his natural bent, in his giftedness, in his abilities, in his talent, in the way that he is good at.

in other words, if your child is good at athletes, steer them toward athletes. if they’re good musically, steer them toward music whether you are or care about it or not. if they’re good with numbers then steer them toward numbers. if they’re good at making money steer them toward our chuch, the bridge! we are moving into a new building. don’t try to make them you. let them be them.

you need to understand the difference between having desires for kids and having goals. many times we take our desires and turn them into goals. kids intuitively rebel against that.

for instance, maybe your desire for your kids is that all of them would be as neat as you are because you tend to be a very neat person. once you turn that into a goal, though, they’re going to sabotage it a hundred different ways because they don’t have your personality. when i expect them to be like me without my personality they’re not going to be that way.

the starting point at bringing out their best is to realize we’re all different and we must accept each other’s differences.

we are now at a new stage in our life. we now have a son in law and a daughter in law and it could be easy for me to expect andrew to be like me and for margaret to expect marissa, brett’s wife to be like her. stefanie did not marry me, she married andrew. brett did not marry margaret, GOD gave him marissa. and we accept them in their strengths.

just a thought from the front porch…