This scripture does not allow any looseness in the bringing up of children. Faith means believing God. If I believe God is going to save my children, I act according to that belief and bring them up for Him. If I do not, I am disobedient to the express command of Eph. 6:44And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. (Ephesians 6:4): "Ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord." Also, I practically deny the faith and am worse than an unbeliever because I do not act up to the light I have and am a hypocrite, pretending to believe when my conduct proves that I do not.
The real difficulty with children is, I believe, that most parents who earnestly desire their children's blessing, seek to produce it by the power of their own will, which the children naturally resist. That is flesh acting against flesh which it inevitably "provokes," and we are told to avoid such a way of acting. If a real effect is to be produced according to God, it must not be done by force of will, but by love acting on the conscience. I might put myself into my child's circumstances, seeking to bear his burden with him and carefully showing him that I, as a father, have to obey God, and that we all, as a family, are learning obedience together. I, as older and more experienced, am able to give him useful advice and, in a measure, lighten his task making it pleasant for him. Then the blessing of the Lord will rest on such endeavors and training and we shall find the truth of Prov. 22:66Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it. (Proverbs 22:6): "Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it." The children will be happy to learn obedience in this way and we will be mercifully shielded from the seductions of the world.
The modern system of education is more intellectual than conscientious, and that is a difficulty in the way of parents. It should surely call forth prayer, and keep it in exercise by constant reference to the Holy Scriptures, and especially to the book of Proverbs. There is great need for wisdom, tact and patience, but there are special promises of blessing to those who persistently seek these things from the Lord. The "world" is in our hearts and it is there the real struggle goes on. The worst kind of worldliness is that which passes outwardly as religious. The Lord will, however, abundantly reward those who seek Him and walk in faith. W. Lowe