Homeschool: Growing in Favor with God and Man

I was reading my Bible in Proverbs the other day and read the verse below:

Proverbs 3:1 ¶ My son, forget not my law; but let thine heart keep my commandments: 2 For length of days, and long life, and peace, shall they add to thee. 3 Let not mercy and truth forsake thee: bind them about thy neck; write them upon the table of thine heart: 4 So shalt thou find favour and good understanding in the sight of God and man.

Immediately, after I read this last part that I put in bold print, I thought, I've heard that part about favour in the sight of God and man before. It was in Luke 2:52 where it says, "Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man."

In the reading I've done on homeschooling, there is a lot of emphasis put on having a vision or goal for your children in your homeschooling. That goal should not be just getting through the academics, although that is a big part of homeschooling, it should be that our children increase in wisdom, grow up and increase in favour with God and man just as Jesus did.

How do we accomplish this task? First of all, we need to realize that dependence on God as parents is essential. We need to be in the Word regularly, daily preferably, seeking out God's will for us as parents and spouses and living out what God teaches us. Our example to our children will teach them volumes.

Secondly, we need to schedule regular times where the family comes to together to read the Bible and pray. Our family does this each evening around 8:15 or 8:30 depending on which day of the week it is. Once in a while we have to miss if there are holiday activities that go late or we are staying with grandparents etc., but if we are at home we make this a priority. Wisdom comes from the reading of the Bible and understanding what God wants of us.

Thirdly, plan curriculum into the children's school that point them toward God each day during their studies.

Fourthly, when I observe godly character traits in others, I point that out to my children. If I find them exhibiting godly character, then I make sure I let them know that I noticed.

Fifthly, make sure you attend a church that makes the teaching and preaching of the Bible its main priority. So many churches these days make entertainment or music the priority and the preaching and teaching of the deep truths of the Bible are relegated to the backseat almost as an afterthought. God speaks to us through His Word, the Bible and if it is not taught, then God does not speak to his people. Hosea 4:6 tells us, "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children."(KJV)

There are times when I wonder if any of this is getting through to my children, and then there are other times when I "catch" them doing something that is an obvious outgrowth of the teaching they are getting from the Bible. That is encouraging to me.

When we and our children spend time learning what God has to say in the Bible about how we should live our lives, we and our children will be changed by it.

I must put a disclaimer here, however, there are parents who have faithfully done all this and yet their children have rejected Christ and gone their own ways. The parents have taken on a tremendous load of guilt thinking they did something wrong along the way. I want to say to these parents that if they have done what God has wanted them to do, they have no need to feel guilty if their children rebel. It is the child's responsibility to respond to God and obey Him. We parents have no control over how our kids are going to live their lives once they are out of our care. Our only responsibility is to lead and guide them toward Christ and God's Word. The rest if up to them. Remember too, that God is in control. He knows what He is doing. We may not understand His working even in this life, but He does have a plan and a purpose. So take heart.