I counseled with a young couple the other day. They may have had as many issues together and individually as I have encountered in over 40 years of ministry, including pastoring and counseling. As we talked, I heard a very sad pattern emerging from both of them. They were going through life together with no idea what that should look like; they were making it up as they went along. Some of the words they used were correct, but the meanings were off course. As we explored together about their families of origin, it became very clear that their parents had no idea what they were doing, either. When Solomon writes “My son,” we know that, with all his flaws (which were many) he at least modeled a love for God and the realization of Who God is and what His Truth looks like. I spent a few years doing youth ministry and pastoring before leading The Edge. In that time, it was on rare occasions that I saw teenagers raised in homes without a proper understanding of God and value for His Word navigate their life very well. Those who were raised to know and love God were not perfect, at times far from it, but they displayed a genuine reverence for the Truth they had been exposed to, and when called to make truly life altering decisions on instinct they generally did the right, God honoring, thing. Today, remember the God you knew as a child and live for Him, and if you didn’t know Him as a child, be clear eyed about who He is today. #BeTheEdge
“Train up a child in the way he should go, even when he is old he will not depart from it.” Proverbs 22:6 NASB