God ordained the home as the institution to train children in the way they should go. God didn’t expect the church, the preacher, the school, or any other agency to do this. Parents dare not blame such agencies when their children go wrong.
The Deuteronomy passage quoted above says that parents shall teach diligently. Spiritual development begins in the home. No matter how carefully the church works with children, unless there is cooperation and encouragement in the home, the whole effort is undermined.
Richard Baxter, a famous English preacher, accepted a wealthy and sophisticated parish. For three years he preached passionately without any visible results. “Finally one day,” he wrote, “I threw myself across the floor of my study and cried out, ‘God, you must do something with these people or I’ll die.” And, he continued, “It was as if God spoke to me audibly and said, ‘Baxter, you’re working in the wrong place. You expect revival to come through the church. Try the home.”
Baxter went from home to home leading parents to give themselves to God and setting up family worship. The fire began to burn until the entire congregation was alive and the flames of spiritual renewal spread across the land.
God places tremendous responsibility on parents to teach. Very often we care more about their worldly education than of their spiritual well-being. Let us encourage to give our kids the best education – a spiritual education. This is the best thing we can teach them in our homes from an early age on.