It Wasn’t A Waste of Time After All!
How many times have you done something over and over again thinking, “I just did this same thing the other day. Why is it like this again?” Maybe you dusted your furniture and within a day it is completely dusty again. Maybe you just finished mopping your floor and not 10 minutes later some dog or kid comes running through leaving tracks. Maybe you finished that pile of paperwork that was on your desk at work and within a few days a whole new pile of paperwork to do is back on your desk. It really makes you think, “Now wasn’t that a waste of time!” Sometimes even when we are raising our children we teach them the same things over and over again. “Don’t touch that hot stove!” “Do your homework, so you will learn what you need to know to have a job when you grow up!” “Clean your room!” Especially as our kids become teenagers we really begin to wonder if they are even listening. By the time they are ready to move out you wonder if it wasn’t all a big waste of time giving them instruction after instruction, piece of advice after piece of advice. Even when the kids were at church they would sometimes seem to drift or not be listening to the Sunday School teacher or the Preacher. At home you would read them the Bible Stories or teach them little moral lessons out of the Bible and yet they would still seem to test the waters or challenge what you believed.
Thankfully, the majority of the time, when we raise our kids with good sound Biblical doctrine, Christian morals and Biblical concepts they will come back to the spiritual foundations we have laid. Read Proverbs 22:6:
Teach a youth about the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.
We did what we were supposed to. We made the efforts. We taught the scriptures. We took them to church. We encouraged them in their faith. However, as they turn in to adults we can control them. We have to accept that they will make their own decisions. It is an encouragement to know from this Bible verse that once we have done our part it won’t be a waste of time after all. Most youth will return to what we have taught them. We just need to pray and be patient. We need to be there for them when they need some spiritual wisdom. Never stop being their loving and supportive parent.
