Train Up A Child In The Way He Should Go Series

“Train up a child in the way he should go and even when he is old he will not depart from it.” (Proverbs 22:6)

Definition of this word...train...in the original Hebrew and Chaldee dictionary: “to narrow, to initiate, to discipline, to dedicate.

Let’s look at each of these words so that we can understand what Solomon meant when he said “train up a child.”

1. To Narrow.

Something that is smaller in width or not wide is considered to be narrow.

This word carries the meaning that there is a limited amount; there are margins and/or constraints.

So one of the meanings that Solomon had in mind when he used this word for what should be done with a child was to set some boundaries

- some limitations as to what they could do.

Our society has done this in some aspect.

For example, a child must be a certain age before they can “legally” consume alcohol.

They must be a certain age in order to get a driver’s license. Etc.

But our “narrowing” should go much further than this.

As parents, we should know what our children are doing.

We should know the friends they hang out with.

When they can have boyfriends and girlfriends

We should know what they listen to or what they watch on TV.

We should have limitations on what they can access on the internet.

We should know if they are doing things that are not lawful.

These are all part of “narrowing” their way.

- By taking away or limiting some freedoms until they can handle them we hopefully enable them to make better choices in life because they will be making these choices with better information.

When you think about this “narrowing”, consider what Jesus said: “Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. For the gate is small and the way narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.” Matthew 7:13-14.

What Jesus was talking about is eternal life.

He was stressing that the road leading to heaven is a narrow one – meaning that we cannot live any way we wish and expect to get there.

He also said in verse thirteen that the way leading to destruction (to hell) was wide, meaning that there are a whole lot of avenues that will lead to destruction. If this is true for eternal life, then it must also be true for our earthly life.

When prisoners are interviewed about their upbringing, Most say that they did not have boundaries growing up ...which led to them getting into trouble.

As parents, our primary job is to protect our children and to do this we must narrow what they can and cannot do until they are ready for the responsibility.

2. The next word in the Hebrew definition for train is initiate.

To initiate means to “to bring into practice; to teach the fundamentals of.”

Most parents understand that our job is to prepare our children to one day leave our homes. In order to accomplish this, we must initiate them to life.

The term to bring into practice means to bring something into being in such a way that it is more or less a lifestyle.

It becomes the only (or primary) way to do something.

For parents it means that we must shape the responses of our children as they are learning. For example, when our children are younger and they start playing out in the yard, what do we tell them?

We tell them not to go into the street.

We also instruct them that when they do go out into the street that they must look both ways before crossing the street.

This initiation into how to cross the street brings into practice what that child will do for the rest of their lives.

They will teach their children to do the same thing. This is what the word “initiate” means in this definition.

It also means to teach the fundamentals of. This is a daily activity of parents.

We teach our children the fundamentals of cleaning; cooking; driving a car; good study habits for school; hygiene; and the list goes on and on. To initiate means that we must bring our children into the ways of living in this world. The teaching starts young with simple instructions and intensifies as they get older.

Even when they get to this point, we must continue to teach them the fundamentals.

3. The third word in the Hebrew definition of “train” is discipline.

Discipline is not only corrective but preventative. When we discipline a child, it is not just to be corrective, but it should also be a means of helping the child to not choose that behaviour again.