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Anyone who has come to know Jesus as his Saviour and Lord will realise that his life before that was meaningless, empty and without a real future. But for the grace of God that opened his eyes to see the love of God and salvation from his sins, he knows that he was on the way of destruction. Now one of the desires that have sprung up in his heart is to tell others also about this good news of salvation. He now has a strong desire to bring his close family members to experience the new birth.

If he has seen things in this way, then it automatically follows that he is going to do the maximum he can to speak to his children about it and to lead them to repentance from their sins and faith in the Lord Jesus. Knowing how, as growing children, they are going to be faced with claims from other faiths, philosophies, pleasures, and activities that can draw their hearts away from the Saviour, he will use every opportunity to teach them from the Bible, explain to them the principles and laws of life, and to develop their own habits of Bible study, prayer and fellowship. This is exactly what God told the people of Israel to do, after revealing Himself to them and giving them the Law. He told them to take care of themselves (De.4:7-9). He also told them to pass on their knowledge and understanding to their children (De.6:5-9).

Sadly, the spirit of the times has influenced many Christians in this context, making them believe that they should not force their views on their children. A pernicious idea came from a psychologist in the middle of the 20th century saying that each child has a unique personality, and that what parents should do is to give them the freedom to develop without meddling from the parents. Those who believe this unconsciously believe another theory that every person is good at his core and given the right ambience will grow up to his potential. Those who give such freedom to their children to make up their own mind concerning faith do not realise how dangerous the world is, how sinful every man is born as and how children do not have enough knowledge to be able to come to the right conclusions. God warns us saying that a child left to himself will go astray (Pr.29:15).

Many children growing up in Christian families know details of the movie, entertainment, books and the sports worlds than what the Bible says. Some of them may follow their parents in their religion, but it is unlikely that they learn to love God or to serve Him. Didn't Jesus say that if we try to serve two masters, we will end up choosing one over the other (Mt.6:24)?

If we have seen the Lord and fallen in love with Him, and also realised that this is the only God and Saviour, wouldn't we take steps to guide our children to Him? Or, have we been influenced by the idea that all religions ultimately lead to the same God? Take care. If we have seen the truth, let us do all we can to pass it on to others, especially our children.

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