Daily Devotionals

Chip Shots from the Ruff of Life

Devotional: February 27th

One day, while in WalMart, I watched as a little boy not more than four accidently knocked a box of Pop Tarts from an aisle display. Before I could even wonder what would happen, the little fellow stooped over, grabbed the box of Pop Tarts and replaced it in the display being careful to make sure that it was sitting just right. I was amazed.

I have seen similar scenes in stores before. They always seem to play out the same way. The child knocks something over, the parent says for them to pick it up and the child doesn't while the parent just walks away. Later, the parent knocks something off a shelf and just walks away and leaves it. Sound like something you've seen? Or done?

Respect in children is more usually caught than taught. It is a behavior that is learned as they watch their parents model it; or with whom they spend the most amount of time. Most children will develop whatever attributes we allow them to develop. We have the final say with our children. We are the ones from whom the greatest depth of training must come. Our children, even our grandchildren, must benefit from the solid training we have received.

As our children grow to adulthood we can only hope that what we have taught them remains active within them. The apostle John wrote, "I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth." 3 John 4 He was writing to those he considered his children in the faith, but it is a sentiment shared with him by many who have children that have grown to begin having families of their own.

God's Word provides a special assurance to parents who dedicate their children to the proper path of life. "Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it." Proverbs 22:6 Test the promises of God from His Word. If you haven't yet begun to teach your child to go to heaven, do so now. Children only do what they are taught and they only go where they are led.