Training in Godliness

Loving parents teach their children that there are consequences for disobedience.

As Christian parents, we desire to help our children mature into godly men and women. We want them to trust Jesus as their Lord and Savior and to realize God has a plan for them and they are accountable to Him.

I remember teaching my children from a young age about these truths because I wanted biblical principles to shape their thinking and choices. If kids think their only accountability is to parents, then when they’re apart from Mom and Dad, they’re likely to think they don’t have to answer to anyone.

Protecting children through discipline is another aspect of godly parenting. When this is done with love, it helps them understand the wisdom of God’s boundaries and the importance of self-control. They need to know that there are painful consequences for disobedience, whether to parents or to the Lord.

Training in godliness should begin early in a child’s life, even before he or she understands God’s plan of salvation. Then as our children grow, we should continue teaching them the truths of Scripture and interceding for them. Let’s never stop modeling righteousness or encouraging our sons and daughters in their relationship with God.

Deuteronomy 6:4-9
“Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD is one!

“You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.

“These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart.

“You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up.

“You shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontals on your forehead.

“You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.