“Fathers, don’t stir up anger in your children, but bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.” – Ephesians 6:4

My oldest daughter will be leaving for college next fall…hopefully. Right now, she is looking at several different colleges and trying to figure out costs, scholarships, and grants. She is not working nearly as hard or putting in the amount of time I would like to see. She is incredibly talented and intelligent. I believe that, with enough work, she would be able to get through college with very little debt. So, my wife and I have been hovering over her a lot lately “encouraging” her to get moving on emailing financial aid offices, getting ready for auditions, and applying for grants. She is getting a sense how important this is, but she is still not moving along as fast as my wife and I would like to see. And I’m sure, at times, she gets frustrated with us pressuring her to give it more time and energy.

One of the questions we have been asking is whether or not she can afford to go to a Christian college. We would love for her to get a Bible-centered education, but these colleges are much more expensive. However, as we’ve asked that question, I’ve been somewhat convicted. I have spent all this time talking with her about finances and how she is going to afford to go to school, I may have failed to train her and instruct her in the Lord. She has been at church since she was first born (the church voted me in as pastor on her first birthday), so I know she has been surrounded by Scripture and deeply loved by the church for as long as she can remember. But as she gets ready to leave our home and our local church, am I focusing more on finances than I am on her relationship with the Lord? If you have children, please make sure their relationship with their Heavenly Father is always your number one concern. And if you do not have children, know that the parents at your church need you to be deeply invested in their children if they are going to one day face the difficult, and often dark world we live in.

Heavenly Father, equip me with great wisdom, strength, and fellowship I need to bring my children up in the training and instruction that is most important; training and instruction in You.

In Christ’s Service,

Pastor Shane Cannon