Books I LOVE: For Instruction in Righteousness

For Instruction in Righteousness: A Topical Reference Guide for Biblical Child-Training by Pam Forster

This book is a true help for parents who want to instruct their children in true righteousness. It’s one thing to train your children to “be good.” It’s another thing entirely to train them to honor God’s word in their words, their actions, and their life, and to see the consequences of sin and the blessings of righteousness. This books helps with the latter.

It is divided into sections covering the different issues that parents face with their children on a daily basis. What I like is that it does not just focus on the behavior; it goes deeper to deal with the heart issue.

Here’s how it works: I will use the first section, Pride, in my example. It gives a list of scriptures that deal with pride and the description of each passage. The second part of Pride is “What happens, or should happen, to the proud person:” and then lays out biblical examples of what happened (or should happen) to people who let pride fill their hearts. There is sometimes a suggestion of how you can implement this in the child’s life. For example:

1 Samuel 2:3-5 God will humble. Pray for God’s obvious discipline in the child’s life, and discuss it when it comes.

Sometimes it’s a story, and sometimes it’s instruction.

The third part says “The sin of pride is likened to:” in which many proverbs will be used. In this case:

Proverbs 18:11 A high wall. How easy is it to get to the other side of a high wall? A high wall isolates, protects from intrusion.

The fourth part is “Stories that illustrate the consequences of pride:” One story for pride is:

Haman, in the book of Esther. Seeking his own glory led to death, contention; exalted himself and then was brought low and shamed, plans went awry, house was destroyed. Haman offers us a good example of a proud person doing for the victim of his prideful contention what he would like to have had done for himself. This can be a good discipline action for a proud person.

The final sections include:

• Blessings of Humility
• Stories that illustrate the blessings of humility
• Stories that illustrate humility before honor
• Verses to memorize

That is just the section on pride! There are 51 sections altogether. You can use this as a character study resource and spend one week or one month on one character issue, or turn to it for wisdom when a particular situation arises in your home. I’ve done both.

It is nothing more than a list of topically arranged scriptures on many behaviors, and is a wonderful resource for any parent.

Published by Doorposts.