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

We all know this verse and are hopefully a recipient of it and a donor of it to our children. However, our culture does not reflect this is being done in our families today, and the responsibility is clearly on the parents, particularly on the father. A recent LifeWay survey shows that an astronomical number of young people are leaving the faith once they leave the nest. A similar study from the Southern Baptist Convention indicates that their churches are currently losing 70-88% of their youth after their freshman year in college. The sad part is that almost 50% never return. Another study showed the main reason for this exodus is, “They left because they never personally owned their faith.” It’s similar to Esau who didn’t value the birthright his father wanted to give him. If we want to see our children own their faith, they should see us owning our personal faith with all its struggles in daily life.

How do we do this as leaders in our homes? We must be open, transparent, and communicate with them how to live the Christian life. They need to see us spending time in God’s Word, on our knees in prayer, and actively serving in the ministries of our church. Let them see how you handle daily trials, temptations, and interpersonal relationships. Our spiritual walk is a personal relationship with God through Jesus. If we train them in the way they should go, we will train them in God’s truth. Barna's research recently found that almost 60% of Americans believe that moral truth is up to the individual. They believe there are no moral absolutes that apply to everyone all the time. Sadly, 48% of adult born-again Christians agreed with this statement. The culture is abandoning the truth because the family has broken down and not trained their children in the way they should go. Why have I shared this alarming data? Your time in the home with your children is limited and shorter than you think. There has never been a time in our history when we have needed fathers to lead the next generation more than today. God has not and never will lower His standards, and we must never compromise His truth to accommodate the culture of today.”