We must nurture our children with God’s mindset

The Bible is full of stories about education. It shows how our ancestors of faith educated their children, but it also details the process in which God chooses people, refines them and uses them to accomplish His purpose. Important methods of education are buried in these stories like treasure. We must listen to the words of God who created us. No matter how much time scholars spend on research, no one knows and can ever know more about human psychology than God Himself. Therefore, we need to educate our children in the ways of God, not in the ways of man.

To this day, children who are able to practice self-control and behave in public places are often children of Orthodox Jews or Mormons, while children who act recklessly regardless of time or place are often, quite unexpectedly, children of families who attend church. Do you know why that is? That is because Christians have received the Word of truth, but borrow education theory and methods from the secular world. Jews, on the other hand, reject the Christian Messiah and Mormons are involved in false religion, but at least their educational methods follow the Bible relatively well and do not conform to the ways of the world.

The teachings of the Bible are the only solution to our problems. Educational issues are among them. Ephesians 6:4 in the New Testament sums up children’s educational methodology: “Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.” Many people understand the phrase “do not exasperate your children” in relation to the intensity of discipline. In other words, some interpret the phrase as “do not scold children too harshly” or “never hit children or make them cry.” But when do children actually get exasperated? Children get exasperated when their fathers make outrageous assertions that don’t make any sense. 1 Samuel 20 shows how Jonathan, who loved and defended David, left the table in “fierce anger” when he knew that Saul intended to kill David because of the intense jealousy he felt for David, whom he also believed was a threat to his power. The Septuagint, which is the ancient Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible, translates Jonathan’s anger into the same Greek word used to describe anger in Ephesians 6:4. Why did Jonathan get angry? At the end of the day, it was because he thought his father’s argument was far-fetched and far from reality. Simply put, children get angry when their parents judge and get angry based on their own self-righteous claims, rather than giving admonitions based on the Word of God. Children don’t get angry because of a spanking. The Bible teaches us to discipline our children with the training and instruction of the Lord. In order to live according to the instruction of the Lord, we must discipline our kids in the way the Lord has taught us. God’s words of discipline and training methods are detailed in the Bible, especially in the book of Proverbs. We must not give heartless admonitions like High Priest Eli, but upbring and love our children according to God’s Word, while at the same time, train our kids sternly and consistently. Then, any problem is guaranteed to be solved. The Bible is a precious gift given to us by God who created us as both physical and spiritual beings.