Proverbs 1:8-10 Hear, my son, your father’s instruction, and forsake not your mother’s teaching, for they are a graceful garland for your head and pendants for your neck.
My son, if sinners entice you, do not consent.
Proverbs has much to say about the family. Much of what is written is a fathers instruction to his child. These three verses present us with one of the challenges of parenting. Teaching our children is one aspect of parenting, getting them to listen is the other. Teaching is of little value if a child has not been taught to listen.
"Can you hear me now?" is not only a good slogan for a cell phone company, it is a reminder to parents that we need to be asking that of our children as they go though the different stages of life. Can they hear me now? Who has their heart?
One of the responsibilities parents have in bringing up their children is to bring them early on in their lives to the place where they will listen to instruction. Foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child. Part of that foolishness manifests itself in an unwillingness to listen. 1:7
It is not just hearing us as parents, that's not enough. If their ears work properly they can hear you. But are they listening to you? That is a different story altogether.
Bringing a child to the place where they will listen takes place in the first five years of their lives. These are the most important years in child rearing. I am sure many teachers in our schools would agree that far to many children come to school that first year who can hear but will not listen. How do I know if they are listening to me? One word - Obedience. Do they obey you. Do you have their heart?
Why is this important - obviously there are several good reasons but let me give you two found in vs 8-10.
1. Listening ears dress your child up so they look good to others. graceful garland for your head and pendants for your neck. These are things that make a child look good to others. There is something to be admired when you see a well behaved child. It makes you smile. On the other hand, there is little smiling done when you are around a disobedient child.
2. You are not the only voice in your child's life. if sinners entice you
Parents we need to bring our children to the place where they listen to us because the voices in this world are powerful, enticing, destructive and appeal very much to the sinful heart resident in every child. The world wants our children. We need to be prepared to fight for our children. Part of that battle is a battle for their hEARts. Bring them to the place where they will listen to you, and teach them the life changing Word of God. Teach them...
God loves them.
Their heart is sinful.
Jesus died for their sin and rose again.
If they come to Jesus by grace alone through faith alone they can be saved
Saved people have a new heart.
Saved people know and listen to God's Word.
May these truths and many others be taught early to our children so that when sinners entice them they will say NO, my heart belongs to Jesus. "My son, Can you hear me now?" "Listen to the instruction of your father and do not forsake the law of your mother."
2 Timothy 3:14-15 "But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus."
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