They simply did what God said to do, and that was enough. The ideal is that both parents lead their children in the way they should go. But if one parent doesn't, this does not cancel God's promises to the parent who does.

Called to Be a Mother

A Bible Study for Mothers

Just One Will Do

"Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it" (Proverbs 22:6).

1. What does the Bible mean by the word "train?"
2. Who does the Bible say must do the training of our children in order for them not to depart from the way they should go?
3. If a child is exposed to the wrong training consecutively with the right training, does this negate the promise?
4. What is the "right" training?
5. Does the phrase, "when he is old" indicate he might "sow his wild oats" first?
6. This sounds good, but I don't have an ideal home. Will this work in my circumstances?

"He came to Derbe and then to Lystra, where a disciple named Timothy lived, whose mother was a Jewess and a believer, but whose father was a Greek" (Acts 16:1).

"I have been reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and, I am persuaded, now lives in you also" (2 Timothy 1:5).

Circumstances intervene in our lives that sometimes prevent us from being able to train our children as we wish. There are single parent homes whose children spend time with other parents out of God's will. There are divided homes where one parent out of God's will lives in the home. There are grandparents who have the grandchildren part-time. There are sick parents, parents in prison, parents whose jobs call them away from home. There are foster parents, adoptive parents, visitation rights, legal guardianships, and child custody battles.

Circumstances, unfaithfulness of others, situations beyond our control do play a part in the development of our children. Negative influences may encourage them to take wrong paths sometimes. But if one Christian parent or guardian adheres closely to what God tells that individual parent to do, no matter what other influences in her child's life, that child will not depart from what that parent taught him. God's word says so! The New International Version indicates "train" can even mean "start". Moses' mother only got to start Moses in the way he should go. Samuel's mother the same. But look what great men of God these sons were!

If we as individual parents do all we can to train our children to follow Him, God says they will not depart from our training. The home should be a Spiritual incubator to nurture our children to Spiritual maturity. But even in our sin-sick world where homes are divided and our children sometimes take wrong paths, we have this promise. Our children can never get away from the Spiritual principles we instill in their minds!

Timothy's mother was a Jewess. The Jewish nation believed in the one true God, although they did not always follow him and sometimes even worshipped pagan gods. Occasionally someone from the other nations would believe in the one true God also, but this was rare. The rest of the world for the most part served only pagan gods when Timothy was growing up.

Acts 16 says "but whose father was a Greek." In 2 Timothy, Paul excluded Timothy's father from his reference to the faith of Timothy's mother and grandmother. These Scriptures indicate that Timothy's father did not believe in the one true God.

Timothy's father probably led him according to pagan ways. He probably taught Timothy to follow the world. But Timothy's mother and grandmother had the faith to believe that if they trained young Timothy in the way he should go he would not depart from the training they gave him. They did not sit around and pine because Timothy's father was an unbeliever. They simply did what God said to do, and that was enough. The ideal is that both parents lead their children in the way they should go. But if one parent doesn't, this does not cancel God's promises to the parent who does. God will honor his promise if one parent will do what God says to the best of her ability!

What is involved in getting this to work? This is what we will discover from Scripture during the upcoming days. God's part is to keep His promises to us, and he always does. We will talk more about this, and we will also talk about how to do our part. In the next session, we will start with the first step.

God always has something very special to give you when you open His Word. Pray now and ask him to show you what he has for you in this Bible study.

"Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know." (Jeremiah 33:3. NIV)