Parents, What Foundation Is Being Built in Your Child?

Parents, choosing an educational setting for your child involves more than comparing programs, locations, schedules, teaching methods, and credentials. It requires examining what your child is being taught to believe.

The Wise and Foolish Builders

“Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand.  The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.” - Matthew 7:24-27

Jesus gives us an important picture in Matthew 7:24–27.

He describes two builders. One builds on rock, and the other builds on sand. Both build houses, but their foundations determine what happens when the storms come.

This teaching gives parents something important to consider.

What foundation is being established in your child's heart and mind?

A child may attend a highly regarded preschool, childcare center, private school, public school, or homeschool program. A teacher may have degrees, years of experience, and an impressive collection of educational resources. Yet none of those things automatically establishes that the wisdom being taught is biblical wisdom.

Parents must examine the teachings themselves.

Are children being encouraged to measure truth by feelings, popular opinion, or personal preference? Are they being taught that obedience, humility, forgiveness, self-control, and loving others are important? Are the messages they receive consistent with the teachings of Jesus Christ?

This examination cannot stop at the schoolhouse door. It must happen in every environment where children are learning.

Watch the Companion Reel: Moxie Learns Why Saying Sorry Matters....

In the video Moxie brings clarity to what happens when Parents and Teachers do not teach the same thing.

Our responsibility is not to protect an institution's reputation at the expense of biblical truth. It is to protect the foundation being established in the hearts and minds of the children entrusted to our care.

I speak from personal experience. I have spent years teaching young children using educational knowledge and worldly wisdom. I could teach lessons, support development, and help children learn. But being able to teach does not automatically mean that I was teaching from the foundation of biblical truth.

Now, as an unworthy servant, I desire to be obedient to the Father and use the opportunities He gives me to point others toward Jesus Christ, the Master Teacher.

I cannot change the past, but I can surrender my future obedience to the Lord. I will not remain silent when teachings contradict God's Word.

I will challenge the false foundations being established in educational settings, regardless of their names, reputations, or locations. My desire is to see those foundations dismantled and replaced with the truth of God's Word.

Parents, do not simply ask whether your child is learning.

Ask what your child is learning to believe.

Reflection questions:

● What messages are being repeated to my child throughout the day?

● Do those messages align with the teachings of Jesus?

● Am I examining the fruit and teachings of the adults entrusted with my child?

● Am I putting God's Word into practice in my own home?

Jesus has already established the foundation. Our responsibility is to build upon it. Let us not build our children's understanding of life on sand when the Rock has already been established.