Good Foundations

Everybody has heard about the leaning tower of Pisa and many go to see it, but it is famous for all the wrong reasons. Admittedly a lot of work and planning went into its design and construction but it has gained notoriety because it is leaning. Likewise a young man may gain notoriety by being arrested because he has done wrong but if he (like that tower), hadn’t leaned the wrong way he wouldn’t be in the news either. The thing that the tower and the young man have in common is that their foundations were not properly laid; the tower contractors failed to dig down to solid rock and start building from there and in the case of the young, man you can be fairly sure that his parents failed to establish his life on what Jesus described as the rock of his word, because Proverbs 22:6 says: Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it”.

You see this little boy? Well as a typical baby he has a brand new brain just waiting to be programmed with information; he will accept whatever information his parents & others give him, whether it is good or bad and that will be the foundation upon which he will build his life, and a very substantial amount of that information will also come from what he observes people doing.

A man told me once that he wouldn’t push his boy to go to church but would leave it for the boy to decide for himself when he reached the age of 15 or 16. Well that father was kidding himself because by the time the child reaches that age he will have already learned what to do on the Lord’s Day from watching the parent’s example; his young computer brain will already be “programmed” by then, to look on that day either as a day when you get up late and go to the football or cricket or just lie on the lounge and watch the T.V. Or on the other hand go off to church and worship God. Once his mind is set in either of those patterns that will be the foundation for his life and it would take something very drastic to alter it.

Does it really matter which way he is programmed? Well yes, because in life to-day we are constantly confronted with choices like whether to get involved with dishonest dealings, whether to bully others,  whether to do immoral things, whether to steal, whether to binge drink with your mates, whether to get involved with drugs whether to tell lies, and so on and so on.

The young person who gets their grounding whilst watching T.V. or even the Football will have no hard and fast rules as to what is right and what is wrong; indeed they will feel that it is all relative to the situation in which they find themselves. On the other hand the young person who has a good understanding of God’s rules and principles from being taught from the bible will know exactly what is right and what is wrong and their Christian ethics will not let them down because they will know that right and wrong are not negotiable. They will also temper all their decisions with the “love your neighbour as you love yourself” commandment. From that commandment alone they will know that they cannot do anything that would hurt any other person and of course the main bonus is that if he or she believes in the Lord Jesus, then their accommodation in Heaven is assured and also guidance whilst here is readily available through claiming God’s promises by prayer.

If we have anything to do with bringing up a little child then we obviously have a great responsibility; there is an old saying “the hand that rocks the cradle is the hand that rules the world”. And that is our hand!  With that hand we should also lead them to a bible believing Christian church where they have what they call a “children’s church” or a “Sunday school” and a youth group. We should pray with them at home and read bible stories to them and we will be blessed as we see them grow into responsible lovely young people.  Don’t forget that  to-days babies will run tomorrows world.

If you need any bible story books or such like, to help you teach them, the Christian Bookshop at the top end of Talbragar St. in Dubbo has a wonderful range to choose from.

Best wishes with that.    Regards, Tom.