When Comes the Pay Off

(Pro 22:6 KJV)  Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.

This is one of those verses that are often quoted but rarely lived up to.  It is also one of those areas that we cannot see the relevant facts.  I think of a pastor I knew.  He was an awesome communicator of the word.  He seemed to drip with wisdom.  His children are not people I would want my children to have anything to do with.  We see this kind of thing all around us.  My grandfather was a Pilgrim Holiness preacher and evangelist.  He was so “called” that he refused to hear the cries of his children.  I am sure that everywhere he went he was praised and looked up to.  His children were a mess.  There are things in people’s lives that we just can’t see.

I have trouble with this because I can see all kinds of things in my life but my children have turned out better than I would have any right to hope for.  Did I do a better job?  Obviously.  Is that to my credit as an awesome, perfect parent.  You don’t have to know me to shake your head vigorously.  Yet there is still that promise that if we are faithful in our training we will see results.

So?  Sometimes the results don’t come until after we are dead.  That means the promise is real even if the product does not appear on our schedule.  Be faithful.  God always is.