IN GENERAL, all parents consider that it’s their duty to provide for food, shelter and education to their children, but few parents think the same about provision of spiritual resources. Aren’t we responsible to provide our Children with a religious education that allows them to know who Christ is and develop a personal relationship with His?
When children are taught to put their tender trust in Jesus through short, simple prayers uplifted in all innocence and with genuine faith, they’re being granted a spiritual inheritance that will be with them the rest of their lives. It’s as vital as formal education.
Children who don’t know Jesus and don’t know there are angels constantly with us, learn to fend for themselves from aggressions in their environments and become violent, because they don’t bear in mind that God fights their battles for them. In the lives of children who grow without Jesus’ fear may become a pathological anxiety.
During the first stages of infancy, a child learns to know God through his parents. They are God’s representatives to him; they should show him the difference between a punishing, punitive God, and a God whose authority is based on love. In adolescence, the concept of God becomes broader and if the teenagers have had good guidance in childhood, they will see God as their best friend and will want to include Him in all their activities.
Secular education emphasizes preparation for this life; undoubtedly this is valuable and important. On the other hand, religious education is for this life and the life to come. Lees not leave our children adrift, or they will be like a ship without a rudder in the midst of a turbulent world that, like it or not, will also affect them.
Let’s make sure our children have spiritual resources: books, quarterlies,
prayer, songs, friends, teachers and leaders who will lead them to God. Rites and liturgy also have a place in children’s spiritual training, but the most important thing is to be examples of God’s character for them.