Beautiful Word Devotional #208

Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it.

Proverbs 22:6

When we read the Proverbs, we need to remember that they are meant to be general instructions for life; they are not to be regarded as solid guarantees.

Yes, of course parents are supposed to do everything they can to train their children to know God. This training comes through words and through actions. But, we must remember, children are human beings with free will and sinful hearts who therefore are prone to wander from God’s ways.

Parents’ responsibility is to train themselves out of their parenting job—but they are to continue to pray like crazy once their children are launched. Even if your children stray, remember that God loves them more than you do and that he will woo them back. Continue to love the wayward child lavishly and to pray continually, trusting God to complete the work he began in your children when you started them off “on the way they should go.”

Lord, I’m grateful you love my loved ones far more than I do and that you are pursuing them, amen.