No child is born wise. Wisdom is a skill that must be acquired. If you are waiting for your child to grow up and begin to make wise choices, you will be waiting a long time. Ruth Younts says that Christian “wisdom is knowing and understanding the truth, obeying the truth, and making wise decisions based on the truth.” This is why Proverbs is adamant that we must get wisdom.
Imparting God’s wisdom is far more than information transfer. Providing God’s wisdom to your children begins with the gospel. Apart from embracing the gospel, no one will even desire to be biblically wise. Wisdom is living a life that is oriented toward God, toward honoring God in each decision that is made. So if you want your child not to lie, you must first teach them what truthfulness is. This gets to the heart of the matter. Wisdom teaches your child that telling the truth is more than just saying things that are true. No, I am not being redundant or having a mental time-out. Truthfulness is telling information accurately, without exaggerating or misleading. Your child needs wisdom to be truthful. If all that is required is to say words that are true, it is still possible to mislead others. Being wise in truth telling takes a conscious effort to supply accurate information that honors God and not self. As you know, it is possible to say things that are accurate but do not tell the whole truth. This is the distinction that you must teach to your children.
Shepherd Press exists to help parents teach this, and other distinction, to children. I am thankful to be a part of the Shepherd Press team exactly for this reason. Here are two of our most recent titles that are specifically designed to help you lead your children along the pathway of wisdom. The first is Get Wisdom! by Ruth Younts. The second is Rediscovering Family Worship by Jerry Marcellino. Both of these books will help you integrate the teaching of God’s wisdom into your everyday activities.
Between now and May 2nd, Shepherd Press will give you a free copy of Rediscovering Family Worship with every copy of Get Wisdom! These are valuable tools to help your family embrace biblical wisdom. There is a limit of one free copy per order. No coupon code is necessary for this offer.