This book was a perfectly timed read for me; it gives Scriptural encouragement for my season in life. Perhaps the biggest take-away was a strong charge to parents that it is our God-given responsibility and task to to disciple our children. This is not a single chat to be had casually one afternoon, an osmosis-effect our children will experience simply because they are around ample Christian books / music / people, nor is it a chore to be handed off to "the trained professionals " (aka church staff). Disciplining our kids is a day-in, day-out, when you wake up, when you eat, when you walk, when you lie down task (see Deuteronomy 6). There isn't a shortcut. This effort must be bathed in prayer, built on Scripture and woven into the very fabric of family life. While this sounds intimidating and beyond my abilities, Baucham shows the same God who charges me with this task also enables me for it. I can pray, I can read and study the Bible, I can discuss big truths and work out the implications for my life because God has given His Spirit to Christians. I can genuinely worship God in front of and with my family.
Pairing with this great encouragement and charge to "bring them up in training and instruction of the Lord" (Ephesians 6:4), Baucham brings a glimpse of the current reality showing the vast number, majority even, of kids raised in the church today will no longer be involved in church by the end of their freshman year of college. Why? Baucham writes about the lack of discipleship in the home, the absence of understanding that how we act / what we do is derived from what we believe, and the battle of priorities (our children's spiritual growth vs academics / athletics /etc). He says, when others remark that the limits he places on his children will drive them to 'go wild' when they leave the nest, "The question is not whether our children sin later in life. The question is, do we have a biblical obligation to train them before they leave the home? Is there any biblical validity to the idea that Christian parents should allow their children to experiment with ungodliness? ... We look at the biblical mandate and compare it to societal norms, ... we believe somehow we are depriving our children of experiences that will make them more liked, more respected, more normal. Hence we trade in the biblical standard for a cultural norm that hovers just below mediocrity." The world around me doesn't know what's ultimately best for me / my kids / my family, God does.
Though E1 is only 2 years old, this book really impressed upon me the need to have a family game plan for her (and E2's) spiritual development. We need to be a family that is worshiping together at home and at church. I need to take every opportunity, even now, to talk about God with her and to share the beautiful truths of the Gospel. We need to guard our home from the ever-growing, constantly-changing, never-enough to-do list of what the world says every child needs in order to become a godly man/woman and go to the Creator for wisdom and guidance on how to fulfill this HUGE and AWESOME task of raising a family of faith.
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