Proverbs 22 : 6 Children all

Pro 22:6  It is a proverb: A young man according to his way, even when he is old, he will not depart from it.

This is a concept that we have looked at before, but as I studied and thought on it, something else took shape in my mind. This can also be a picture of our Christian life.  When we are new Christians, we are what Paul called "babes in Christ" and need to be trained just a child needs to be trained in the home.  It's interesting that in other places that this particular word for "train" is used, it is translated "to dedicate."

Most people would say that to "dedicate" a child you need to do four things:

     1. Teaching
     2. Training
     3. Setting a proper example
     4. Disciplining for incorrect behavior

We can transpose this to our Christian lives in that we need these four things:

             1. Teaching from the Holy Spirit as we dig into the Word and memorize Scriptures, too.  (Yep, that is an important part of our learning, because the Lord can use those when we need guidance!)
             2. Training from a Spirit-led pastor or leader of a local church, who can assist us when we may have questions we can't answer.
            3.  Choosing a godly person to emulate, making them our example. You can also choose a person from the Scriptures, and study their life, to be your example.
            4. Accepting the discipline that the Lord sends to us with grace and wisdom. Check out what Hebrews 12:7 has to say on that:

                      Heb 12:7  Persevere under discipline. God dealeth with you as with his sons. For what son is there whom the father doth not correct?

Good impressions made on us, and discipline accepted (and acted upon) will abide with us all our days, from when we are "babes" in Christ, to when we are older, more mature Christians. We may stray for a while, but the training and discipline will assist the Spirit in pushing us back to the right path!