The Bible has much to say about creating legacies of faithfulness for our families. To parents falls the solemn responsibility of raising our children “in the discipline and instruction of the Lord” (Ephesians 6:4). God calls us not only to teach them the facts of the Christian faith but also to model before them the distinct character of a Christian.
As we do so, our hope is reflected in a popular proverb: “Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it” (Proverbs 22:6). Part of what we must model to our children is the centrality of the local church in the life and faith of the Christian. We must model what it is to do good to others, to persevere in local church fellowship, to respect church leadership, to participate in the means of grace. For just as the blessings of our obedience will flow out to them, so may the consequences of our disobedience.
Kevin De Young offers a sober warning and one every Christian parent would do well to consider: “The man who attempts Christianity without the church shoots himself in the foot, shoots his children in the leg, and shoots his grandchildren in the heart.”
