1 Timothy 4:8: “For bodily exercise profiteth little: but godliness is profitable unto all things.”

Godliness isn’t something mystical, strange, or weird. Godliness is normal human life—life like God meant it to be.

Life without the God who made you is strange, weird, and abnormal. Godly people don’t act or look weird. Ungodly people do. Godly people look normal and have normal relationships. It isn’t normal to be disobedient, disrespectful, rebellious, wild, and strange!

Why do we have so much foolish teen rebellion in our day? Because these children were not godly by age 12. The time to disarm and defuse the teenage time bomb is before your child becomes a teenager. Too many parents expect their children to be wild, immature, and irresponsible like so many in the world, instead of expecting them to be godly. The children just live up to those expectations.

Why don’t children, by age 12, read the Bible and pray and witness for the Lord? Because parents do not make those things a key goal for their lives.

The last verse in the story of Jesus at age 12 is Luke 2:40: “And the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom: and the grace of God was upon him.” So what formula can we use to help our children become what they should be by age 12?

First, work on making them strong in spirit. Work on their spirit. First Thessalonians 5:23 says,“I pray God your whole spirit . . .” (notice your spirit is first) “. . . and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” The most important time in life to put emphasis on developing a strong spirit is when children are small. You want them to become sensitive to the right things. That is the reason you do not want their spirits to be deadened by rock music or wrong friendships or wrong teachings of any sort. These things will deaden their spirits. They will make them insensitive to God. It is more important to be strong in spirit than it is to be smart in intellect. You develop your children’s spirits by developing their character, by praising their character, and by pointing them to God, the things of God, and godly people.

Secondly, you want to teach them to accept the grace that God offers in every difficult situation of life. If you need to forgive someone so that you do not become bitter, God will give you His grace. If you need the strength to get through a trial, God will give you His grace. If you will ask Him, God will give you His grace. What is grace? It is the desire and power to do the will of God.

The world tries to tell us that disobedience, rebellion, and immaturity are inevitable for our young people. The Bible and history tell a different story. By following the example of Jesus, let’s raise our children to be strong leaders in the kingdom of God! 

Dr. S. M. Davis has been the pastor of Park Meadows Baptist Church for 33 years. He and his wife, Rae Jean, have been married for 39 years and have four children and 11 grandchildren. He also speaks widely in churches and at homeschool conventions on family-related issues. For more information about his ministry, visit www.SolveFamilyProblems.com or call 800-500-8853.

Editor’s Note: This article was originally preached as a sermon by Dr. S. M. Davis and was specially edited and adapted for publication in Home School Enrichment Magazine. Get more great homeschooling help by downloading our FREE report entitled “The Secret to Homeschooling Freedom” by visiting http://HomeSchoolEnrichment.com/resources/report.htm