Once we understand this truth, we then must determine
what God expects to see as the result of parents taking
responsibility for educating/raising their children. In Psalm
127:4 the writer compares children to arrows. God expects
parents to shape their children into strong arrows. This
means that our children must be straight, balanced, and
razor sharp. Salvation is the only thing that can straighten
out a sin-crooked life. God’s Word is the only thing that can
bring balance to a child’s life. Finally, living under the Holy
Spirit’s control is the only way our children can have the
sharpness they need to cut through all the false philosophies
of this world.
This goal for how parents educate their children is also
seen in Malachi 2. In this passage, God says He ordained
husband and wife to become one flesh. The purpose for why
God designed marriage and the family this way is because,
from this union, God wanted to see godly offspring produced.
Deuteronomy 6 is often referred to when Christians talk
about God’s expectations for parents and the education of
their children. In this passage, God tells us we are to have
a two-fold focus in our lives as parents. First, we are told to
focus on the true God: “The Lord our God, the Lord is one!
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all
your soul, and with all your strength” (Deut 6:4-5).
Second, we are to focus on the next generation: “You shall
teach them [God’s Word] diligently to your children, and shall
talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the
way, when you lie down, and when you rise up” (Deut 6:7).
These verses teach us that while we are alive here on earth,
we are to love God with our entire being. He must be first
in our life. When we die, we go to spend eternity with this
wonderful God. However, there is one thing we will leave
behind: our children. God wants the same thing from our
children as He wants from us: to love Him with all their
heart, soul, and strength.
However, God knows something we too often forget. This
won’t happen just because our kids are raised in a Christian
home. It won’t happen just because they are taken to church.
Our children will not grow up to love God with all their
hearts outside of them receiving diligent teaching. There are
only four times every day that parents are expected to teach
their children the things of God:
• Whenever they get up out of bed
• Whenever they are in the house
• Whenever they are outside the house
• Whenever they lie back down in bed
10
Do we understand the scope of what God is saying it will
take to raise godly children in Deut 6:7? It amazes me that
even though God has given us our children to raise, many
Christians seem to act as if the state owns them. Instead
of taking responsibility for how they are educated, parents
turn their children over to the state’s secular educational
programs and allow them to instill a false worldview into
the minds and hearts of their children.
It is time we take control of how our children are educated
and make sure they receive a Bible-based, Christ-centered
education at home, at church, and at school. If we don’t, we
will continue to see the vast majority of our children develop
a man-centered worldview and walk away from the faith.
Oswald Chambers wrote a powerful explanation of Psalm
127:5: “Have I been able to reproduce my own kind spiritu-
ally? If so, in a time of difficulty I will be brought through
magnificently victorious; but woe be to the spiritual man who
never produced his own kind, when the difficulties come, there
is none to assist, he is isolated and lonely.”
Today’s Christian parents face the same challenge parents
have faced throughout history. The world will always want
to capture the minds of our children through its educational
efforts. The world does this because it believes children
belong to society and not to parents. God says they belong
to Him, and He gives them to parents as a stewardship
responsibility. When we lived in Hendersonville, TN, our
pastor read a note that was on a Bible a publishing company
had sent him. It read, “This generation of Christian parents
faces an age-old challenge of faith. Will our sons and daugh-
ters put their faith in Christ? Or will they be a generation that
blends invisibly into a world that considers the Bible to be
irrelevant?”
Which path our children take depends on who we believe
our children belong to, what we believe God requires of us,
and how our children are educated. How will God grade you
and me on the homework assignment He has given to us?
Dr. Glen Schultz has given his life to educating future genera-
tions according to God’s plan. After five years in public educa-
tion, he entered the field of Christian education, where he has
been a teacher, coach, principal, and superintendent. Glen
has directed the Christian school work at LifeWay Christian
Resources, served as the Association of Christian Schools Inter-
national Southeast Regional Director, Superintendent of Liberty
Christian Academy in Lynchburg, Virginia, and Headmaster of Sherwood Christian
Academy. Currently, Dr. Schultz serves as founder and director of Kingdom Education
Ministries. Glen is the author of Kingdom Education: God’s Plan for Educating Future
Generations and several parenting booklets. Glen and his wife, Sharon, have three
children and six grandchildren and live in Summerville, SC. He is a member of the
Renewanation Board of Directors.