Children Need To Be Taught

Children Easily Learn The Bad From Others.

When should children be taught about the (evil) ways of this world and the (evil) ruler of the kingdom of the air? When should we teach children about the (evil) spirit who works in those who are (or will soon be) disobedient?

I remember my Mother asking me, “

Who are you listening to? Are you listening to God, who sits on one shoulder, or the devil, who sits on the other?” I understood that I had the chance to choose the good path (the good action) or the evil path (the bad action). They were both presented to me, but I was permitted to choose.

When we began to follow the (evil) ways of this world and of the (evil) ruler of the kingdom of the air, we became dead in our transgressions and sin. All children go through this stage of life, some sooner than others. All will sin, but do they need to continue in it? There is an (evil) spirit now at work in those who are disobedient. The evil spirit is the provider of the temptations of this world and its ways. The Holy Spirit can encourage us to choose the good path, but it is up to us to decide to do so.

With temptations, there is always a “way of escape,” but children need to look for and see the temptation first and learn to choose the good path.

There is always a right way and a wrong way. Knowing this difference is necessary.

The (evil) spirit is always close by, suggesting and encouraging the wrong choice. He talks to our minds and our hearts. Does the evil spirit work on our heart first, or is it our mind that is first approached? It is our mind because the (evil) spirit wants us to think about it first. Children might then be able to compare it with what all the other children are doing and choose the evil way that many of the rest of the children are choosing.

Without proper training, children may always choose what others do without being given the choice of thinking about whether it is the right way or the wrong way. The evil spirit can lead them the wrong way by simply suggesting it is easy or fun to do or everybody else is doing it, so it can’t be that bad.

Eph. 2:1-6 As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2 in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. 3 All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. 4 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. 6 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus,

Many of us have parents, relatives, or friends who introduce us to “church.” Here, we experience God’s word being preached. It is our bad choices that get us on the wrong path, but it is also our choice to take the path towards God’s forgiveness. We have to hear the truth presented in an understandable manner and given the opportunity to make the choice.

We learn about the choice given to us because of John 3:16, which says: 16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

The four Gospels—Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John—tell of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection, giving us facts about his lifestyle. His life of choosing the good path is our example.

The Book of Acts is the story of the beginning of God’s Kingdom, the church, here on earth. Chapter two tells about 3,000 people who obeyed Jesus’ teaching and started living on the good path, the narrow way that God has designed for us to follow.

When we fail to teach our children to recognize both bad and good choices, they may only choose what seems right to them and not what is good in God’s sight.

Proverbs 22:6 says: Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it.

May God bless your choices and the training of your children.

Thank you for reading.