Narrow Minded Parenting

I don't change my own oil.

I understand how to, and I've even done it before, but I hate all the time and effort it takes. So I look for coupons, and take my car to the professionals.

And that's how too many parents think of the church.

"Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it." Proverbs 22:6

Literally the word "train" means "to narrow". We need to teach our children to avoid the broad, easy, and comfortable path of the world, and to stick to the narrow, challenging, and faith-building path of the gospel. 

How do we narrow our kids?

1. Live the example. 

Why do so many teens who regularly attended church, fall away from the faith after high school? Because they thought God only lived on Sundays. On Sundays, their parents emphasized God, the gospel, and even discipleship, but too often they failed to allow their home to be an extension of the church.

Are your kids seeing Jesus in your marriage, your words, and your actions?

2. Emphasize truth.

We live in a culture where everything is relative. This is the nature of the broad path where truth for one person doesn't have to be truth for another.

It's an undeniable fact that 1+1=2. (Yes, I did that without a calculator)
Another undeniable fact is our sin nature. To teach our children the gospel is to teach them truth. Don't ever apologize for raising your children in a Christian home, and shunning false religion and false gods.

3. Narrow their world.

Dr. Danny Akin says that if a child is in disobedience, you have to shrink their world. Parents have often complained to me about the places their kids were hanging out in a car paid for by their parents. Take away the car! Take away the cell phone! Suspend them from their activities! Shrink their world down to their bedroom if you must, but you must parent when your child is in disobedience.

It's not fun, but discipline is an important aspect of making your child the adult you dream for them to be. 

If you're a parent, you're a professional because no one knows your kid better than you. Like changing your own oil, it's going to take time and effort...but it's totally worth it.

So don't simply talk to your child about God. Train them up by displaying that Jesus doesn't just live at church, but He lives in us!