On a ship, the captain has to make his men toe the line; he must have a crew he can depend on in all situations. We, as parents, are captains of our households. We need to keep our children on a steady path that leads to a strong relationship with God.
Raising a child in the world today is a huge responsibility. When a captain or an officer aboard a ship wanted to get his crew into position to adjust a sail or yard, he would shout, “Toe the line!” and the men would line up, placing their toes next to the rope lying on the deck.
In the same way, as a parent, you must also teach your children to toe the line. You must help them to conform to a rule or a standard set forth by God. What you say and what you do will be scrutinized and copied. You have a great deal of influence on how your children will grow up. The Bible is very specific in that view:
Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it (Proverbs 22:6 NIV).
Now, this verse may seem to suggest that a child raised the right way will never stray. I’m sure we can all agree that all of us stray at one point or another, no matter how we were raised. This verse is telling us that “if and when” that child strays, he/she will always find his/her way back to God. I’ve heard of people who were raised in Christian homes, yet rebelled later in life. As they grew older, they came to realize that the lives they were leading headed toward a dead end. They remembered their upbringing, the love and guidance of good Christian parents. And they turned back to God and began to live the way they were taught as children.
For I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man, so that Christ will dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God (Ephesians 3:14–19 NAS).
We need to instill in our children the importance of having God in their lives. Sometimes it may seem like you may have a mutiny on your hands, but don’t give up the ship! They are listening to you; they are storing up what you tell them. Be patient, because in the end (the only time that really matters), all of your work will show.
And remember: you, too, must toe the line in order to teach them to do likewise.
Debbie Mitchell