Train ‘Em
Submitted by Frank Williams
April 14, 2025
Pr 22:6 Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.
We have just been around an adopted granddaughter, almost two years old. Watching her parents train her is a reminder of how the Lord trains us.
Training is not only TELLING. It is living and doing WITH the child. The Lord did not say, “Lecture.” A trainer in sports is someone who knows what to do, and then shows others how to do it. A trainer corrects something wrong, and then shows how to do it properly—and usually with a lot of trial and error along the way. There is nothing of “Do as I say, not as I do” in this verse.
I’ve included some aged articles of wisdom for your thoughts.
Training Children – F. Quarles, 1871
Be very vigilant over thy child in the April of his understanding, lest the frost of May nip his blossoms. While he is a tender twig, straighten him, while he is a new vessel, season him.
Let his first lesson be obedience, and his second shall be what thou wilt. Give him an education from good, clean books. Season his youth with the love of his Creator, and make the fear of his God the beginning of his knowledge.
If he has an active spirit, rectify it and curb it, but reckon idleness among his chiefest faults.
Show him both the spade and the plow, and prepare him as well for the danger of a skirmish and the honor of receiving a prize.
Cost of a Child - Cameron, 1871
“How much does that little girl cost!” said a mother, as she and I passed a little child leaning against an iron railing.
“Cost?” I said. “You mean with her shoes and socks, her plaid dress, and ribbons in her hair?”
“That is her least cost,” replied the mother, “nor was I thinking of them, but what pain and suffering she costs; what fatigue and watching; how much of a mother’s anxiety; how much of a father’s toil; how many prayers; how many fears; how many yearnings; how much patience; how much responsibility; how much instruction; how much correction; how much love; how much sorrow; how many teachers; how many sermons; how many Sunday school classes. Those things will cost her parents the most.”
J. Whitecross — When a lady once told Pastor Sharpe that she would not give her children religious instruction until they had attained the years of discretion, the preacher replied, “If you do not teach them now, the devil will!”
Consider—A Biblical day begins with sunset, but it always includes a sunrise.
