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it just doesn't work. There may be a small minority of children who will grow up without Christian influence and then seek God for themselves. But that's a gamble where the odds are stacked heavily against the child. They need their parents to show the way. Even sending your children to Sunday School or other children's church activities is inadequate. They need to see that this is something you believe in and take seriously yourself - that it's something which is meaningful not only in childhood but throughout one's life. Otherwise they're likely to just put believing in God in the same category as believing in Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy.

Again we find wisdom in the book of Proverbs, where we are told to "train a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not turn from it" (Proverbs 22:6 NIV) .

Obviously there is not any insurance policy for parenting. We cannot guarantee that our children will not go astray even if we faithfully lead them in the right paths. However, their chances are certainly improved dramatically if we consistently show them the way to God and encourage them to make Him Lord of their lives. He will give their lives direction, meaning and fulfillment. Without Him, life can be a great big impossible maze that is just too bewildering and they can wander aimlessly, becoming all too easy prey for those with evil intent - those who are themselves already in the grip of God's arch-enemy.

Without God too, all the things that the world has to offer can seem empty and meaningless. Even kids who seem to have so much potential and everything going for them can feel that there is a huge gaping void in their souls. There is a well-known quote, which I believe has been attributed to Pascal, which says that there is in the soul of mankind a God-shaped vacuum that only God can fill.

When God is left out of the equation in a young person's life formula they may try to fill their lives with all kinds of things - good and bad - in an effort to find satisfaction for their needs. But ultimately, unless God is central to everything, nothing else will mean much.

Can this be why so many young people in our times are so desperately unhappy - even morbidly depressed? Might it not have something to do with their self-destructive behaviour? Could it be why suicide is so tragically prevalent amongst our youth and young adults?

If we fail to give them the ultimate meaning they need above all in their lives then we let them down badly, no matter how much else we may offer them in the way of worldly pleasures, knowledge, opportunities and fortune. It is our solemn responsibility to enable them to know God. He is the solid Rock on which all lives should be built in order to survive the storms of life and to stand as an inspiring light to others who take this voyage in the future.

Learn more about this author, Ruth Woodhouse.
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