Tag Archives: Family Friday

How Early Should Parents Start Teaching Their Children?

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–– Paul Schlehlein

Listen to our discussion about training children here: Youtube – Spotify – Apple Podcasts

“Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.” – Proverbs 22:6 

Proverbs 22:6 has two main points: a command and a consequence. The command comes first because if we obey it, we’ll reap good consequences. If we disobey, the consequences are awful. 

The Command to Train Your Child

Here is Solomon’s command: “Train up a child in the way he should go.” He’s talking to educators and teachers, mostly parents. This is somewhat unique because Proverbs is not directed to parents. Primarily, it is written to youth. Proverbs 1:4 states that the purpose of the book is “to give…knowledge and discretion to youth.” Young people naturally struggle to make wise decisions, so God gave the book of Proverbs to help them. 

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Choose Your Love: Steps for Young Men in Finding a Wife

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–– Paul Schlehlein

Podcast edition here:  YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.

For centuries breeders have tried to predict the fastest racehorses. Secretariat, a thoroughbred that won the 9th American Triple Crown, is considered by many to be the greatest racehorse of all time. He set and still holds the fastest time in all three Triple Crown races. The average thoroughbred’s heart weighs almost 4 kg. Secretariat’s heart weighed nearly three times that. For some years now, yearlings have been selected on the basis of heart size, as judged by ultrasound measurements.  

We can also predict the weather. The old adage is often true. “Red sky at night, sailor’s delight. Red sky in morning, sailors take warning.” Jesus said a similar thing in Matthew 16:2-3: “When it is evening, you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red.’ And in the morning, ‘It will be stormy today, for the sky is read and threatening.’”

But forecasting the weather and fast racehorses seems somewhat trivial compared to predicting who will make a godly wife. Every Christian man wants to wed a virtuous woman, but how can he know? Is it possible for a man to predict who will be a godly wife?

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Biblical Counsel on Marital Engagement | Part 1

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Podcast edition here:  YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.

By the time Maria Dyer agreed to marry Hudson Taylor, two other ladies had already rejected his marriage proposals.

The soon-to-be-great missionary had recently arrived in China when he fell in love with the squinty-eyed Maria. She was young and her parents were dead. A group of English missionaries—one of whom was an old maid—had watch care over her.

When word got out of his letter proposing marriage to Maria, they were disgusted. “The nerve…!” Maria was a lady. Taylor was a young, poor, unconnected Nobody. She was proper. He was no gentleman, without a sufficient education and without position. She was tall. He was short, a “ranter”, a Plymouth Brethren. Worst all, he wore Chinese clothes and a long pigtail like his Asian neighbours. Marriage? Maria’s guardians wanted Taylor horse-whipped.

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Seven Ways A Husband Should Protect His Wife

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–– Paul Schlehlein

Podcast edition: Youtube – Spotify – Apple Podcasts

One of the central roles to which God calls men is to protect women.

Husbands and fathers should protect their families spiritually. God told “the man” not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil” (Gn. 3:17) but he failed to protect his wife from the serpent who induced her to sin (Gn. 3:6). This is why the Adam was ultimately responsible for Eve’s sin (Rm. 5:20).

Husbands and fathers should their families physically and emotionally. Men should be willing to die for their wives, not the other way around. Christ laid down his life for his bride (Eph. 5:25), similar to how husbands should give up themselves for their wives.

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