Larry Osborn, author of the book, Ten Dumb Things Smart Christians Believe, writes that many of our urban legends or Christian cliches that were taught or raised to believe are just not true. One of the cliches that I will be speaking on this weekend is: "A Godly Home Guarantees Godly Kids." Larry does a fabulous job demonstrating the difference between a promise and a proverb - as it relates to Proverbs 22:6 which reads, "Train a child up in the way of the Lord and when he is older he will not depart from it." A proverb is all about probabilities. A promise is a done deal. A proverbs says that there is a high likelihood that it will happen. A promise says it will happen. After 14 years of student ministries, and nine year serving as a lead pastor in my church, I couldn't agree "more" with Larry's conclusion. The two side-effects of believing this proverb to be a promise is that if you are failing as a parent you may face UNWARRANTED GUILT. In other words, you feel totally responsible for your child's poor outcome even though your son or daughter may have attention deficiencies or biological behavioral disorders. On the flip-side, if your son or daughter is doing great, you begin to experience FOOLISH PRIDE. In other words, you want to take "credit" for their situation, and may tend to offer advice to other parents. How exciting! Not really.So, I'm excited to bring this study into our church this week and see where it goes. I know that as a parent, I can easily find myself on both sides of the track. Some days are diamonds and some days are coal. But what is most important is to keep training our kids in Godliness. Bottom line: Leave the results to the Lord.
