Podcast listener Brenda Rogers writes and asks this, pastor John,

I have a 22-month-old daughter and I am already teaching her about Jesus and sharing my faith

with her.

However, recently I've heard about many adult children who grew up in strong Christian

homes, some who even had parents who were leaders in the church, who eventually left the

faith as adults.

This has become my biggest fear for my own daughter.

Can you explain the verse Proverbs 22, verse 6, and give me some practical ways I can help

my daughter have a true, authentic relationship with Jesus, one that she will not abandon

later on?

Well, I wish I knew more about this than I do even after 43 years of parenting five children,

but I want to base everything I say as much as possible on the Bible and not just on

my personal limitations, so I will try to say something.

Let's talk about Proverbs 22, verse 6 first and then maybe that latter part of the question,

what can you do to maximize the likelihood that your child will fall of the Lord?

A Proverbs 22, 6 says, train up a child in the way he should go, even when he is old

he will not depart from it.

And the problem we all feel is that the promise, half of that verse, he will not depart from

it, seems so absolute that every time a grown-up child of a Christian family departs from

the way of wisdom or the way of faith, in Jesus we must conclude that this is owing to

a failure of the parents to obey the first half of the verse, namely to train him up properly.

And that's a pretty heavy burden to bear for most parents, but if that's what the text

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