Raising Children And Changing The World

“Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.”
Ephesians 6:4

If you want to change the world, start at home. The God of the Bible believes this to be true. In the Old Testament, God gives the instruction to parents to talk to their children about his commands wherever they go (Deut. 6). In the New Testament, the Apostle Paul says to raise them up in the discipline of the Lord.

The Greek word for discipline is Paideia, which is a word that’s a bit difficult to translate because it means much more than discipline or instruction or education (how it's often translated). Paideia is an all encompassing educational and discipling process that was intended to form the very soul of the learner.

The Greeks understood that to change a culture, you needed to change the hearts and minds of the young people. Our society in the U.S. instinctively knows the same thing, which is why college is pushed with the utmost importance and whoever controls the colleges, controls the culture. Christians during the past few decades retreated from places of influence within the colleges and today our country’s culture has greatly suffered from it.

This wasn’t always the case. Years ago, Christians were the ones who started colleges. Most of the Ivy League schools were originally Christian institutions. But over the years, Christians and society bought into the false secular/religious divide and Christians began to believe that they were only allowed to practice their religion at home.

In order to see our society flourish into a God-honoring, loving society we must take seriously this command from the Apostle Paul. We must take seriously how we raise our children. God intends for Christians to raise up their children in the Paideia of the Lord. Paideia is not just education for the sake of knowledge, but it has a goal of turning the person into an emotionally healthy individual who pursues the Lord with passion. It’s not just about knowing specific doctrines, but how they apply to work, school, home, marriage, politics and so on. Those raised in the Paideia of the Lord will know how to love their spouse well and how to vote. They will know where to stand on hot-button topics found in society based on what God has said versus what pundits on television may be saying.

And to whom does this responsibility fall? It falls on the fathers. This is not to say that mothers don’t have a role, they certainly do, but Paul puts the responsibility squarely on the shoulders of the dads. I think he does this because he knows that men are most often the warriors in a society. Unfortunately in America, men have decidedly taken a backseat and now the battle is being fought by mother’s in school board meetings and on sidewalks in front of abortion clinics. I applaud the mothers across this land who are willing to take a stand, but Christian men everywhere need to join them in this fight. We can’t moan about culture if we aren’t willing to fight to change it and the true fight starts at home.

Our society is plagued by fatherlessness. It may be the biggest issue we are facing and almost no one really talks about it. Christianity is built on the foundation of families. We are not only family by blood, we are also one family in Christ. Our family stretches across the globe and comes from every tribe and language, people and nation. Christians should understand the importance of family better than anyone else.

Not only should we understand its importance, we should also be working to improve our own family and particularly our marriages. Without a proper Christ-centered marriage, families are destined for failure. Marriage has to be one of the main focuses of the church moving forward if we are going to see our society turn to Jesus.

Think about this, the marriage rates are continuing to drop in the US. In the 1970s, the marriage rate was 85.9 marriages per 1000 people in the unmarried population. This rate has dropped to 34.4 in 2022. That’s a huge decline! Marriage is important, so it’s no surprise that the enemy is attacking it without mercy.

“There is no estate to which Satan is more opposed as to marriage.”
Martin Luther

Until the church is ready to fight for marriage, the family will remain shattered. Fathers will have no opportunity to raise up their children in godly homes if they do not first fight for their marriages. If we want to see society changed, marriage is the linchpin.

Prayer - Lord, help us to realize that you ordained marriage and the family as your instruments to create Godly societies. Help us to love our spouses well and to raise up our children in Christ honoring homes. Give us wisdom to do what you are asking each one of us to do.