Food for Thought: What Young People Teach Us

Some of us older folks feel a little intimidated by the latest technology.  Since we didn’t grow up with computers, smart phones and tablets, we’ve had a steep learning curve, just when we are least able to learn new things quickly and tend to forget things even more quickly.  Most of us can do the basics like word processing, emailing and looking things up on Google.  Beyond that it gets harder for us to navigate the tech world.  Kids who have grown up with those things, are much more tech savvy.

A teacher sent the following true story in to Readers Digest: The computer in my high school classroom recently started acting up. After watching me struggle with it, one of my students took over. "Your hard drive crashed," he said. 

I called the computer services office and explained, "My computer is down. The hard drive crashed." 

"We can't just send people down on your say-so.  How do you know that's the problem?"

"A student told me," I answered. 

"We'll send someone over right away." 

This story brings home the importance of how we bring up our children.    If they are exposed to things and ideas early, they are much more apt to understand and act on them more fully.  Just as in the case of young people’s fluency with technical gadgets, shouldn’t we make sure they are equally competent in Christian knowledge and behavior? 

Taking children to church and Sunday school from the time they are very young can instill values and standards of behavior that will come naturally to them for the rest of their lives.  Reinforcing those values at home will help children and young people deal with the wider world in appropriate ways.  As is says in Proverbs 22:6: Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old, he will not depart from it.

This does not mean that young people will never make bad decisions or fall into temptations.  We know that some will, but if they are taught Christian values, they are far more likely to realize their mistakes.