Teach You Children - Proverbs 22:6

Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.
- Proverbs 22:6

Children. We love them, but one of the harsh truths about children is that they are a direct reflection of the mores and values that we have instilled in them by our thoughts, words, and behavior. Everything we do sets an example to our children, so Proverbs 22:6 is perhaps one of the most important of all the proverbs given in the Bible. But the impetus is upon us a parents, Christian parents -  “And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.” - Deuteronomy 6:6-8.
Have we forgotten what God had to do in our lives to get our attention? Is that what we want for our children? I know what God had to do to make me reach up for Him out of the sinful morass I put myself in. Would I have directed my children’s paths away from the Lord with my thoughts, words, and behavior had I been saved in my youth? “And you, fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord.” - Ephesians 6:4.
For those of you raising children now, in your and their youth, remember the words of one of God’s most faithful servants - “And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”  - Joshua 24:15.
    Lord, that I had held You in my heart when I was a young man, raising my children. I pray now that I may still help You effect a change in their hearts and the hearts of my beloved grandchildren. May Your words always be in our hearts.