The way they should go

The way they should go
Proverbs states,

“Train a child in the way he should go, 

and when he is old he will not turn from it.” 

                                                 Proverbs 22:6.

If you claim to be a Christian do you bring your children up in the way they should go? My parents did.
My parents were not what some evangelicals would call Christians. Mom was Roman Catholic. Dad was Church of England. Both rejected for lack of a better term “organized religion”. Yet throughout their lives they espoused Christian values and passed them on to their Children.
From as young as I can remember we had discussions on politics, religion and social situations around our dinner table.
As we entered our teen years, we were expected to add to the discussion. Further more our opinions were respected even if our parents disagreed.
It was because of what they taught me that led me to embrace Christianity.
I seen in Christianity moral and ethical values made sense. Jesus when asked,
“Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” 
Jesus replied: “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your disdain and with all your soul and with all your mind.’  
This is the first and greatest commandment. 
And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’  
All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” Matthew 22:36-40.
Jesus also said,
“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world.  
For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in,  
I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’ Matthew 25:34-40.
Loving all unconditionally. Feeding the hungry. Giving those who thirst a drink. Helping a stranger. Clothing those in need. Helping the sick. Visiting the prisoner. These values while expressed by Jesus are universal values that transcend the Christian faith.
My father always use to say put yourself in the other persons shoes and ask yourself how would you want to be treated. With disdain? With hate? OR With Love?
Jesus put it this way,
“So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets” Matthew 7:12
These are values my wife and I taught to our Children. Values that now that they are adults I see them putting into practice not just in word but in deed. 
These are values all who claim to be Christians should be instilling in their Children.
Please think about it.

The Christian Life

The Christian Life
The Psalmist writes,
“Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. 
But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night. 
He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers. 
Not so the wicked! They are like chaff that the wind blows away. 
Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous. 
For the LORD watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.” Psalm 1:1-6.
 As Christians we must delight in the law of the Lord. We must trust in Him. We must live by God’s ethical and moral standards.
The apostle Peter tells us,
“But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.  
Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. 
Dear friends,
 I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul.  
Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.” 1 Peter 2:9-12.
If you claim to be Christian are you doing this?
Please think about it.