Daily Devotional
Train, Don't Just Teach
“Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.”
Proverbs 22:6
August 5, 2026
Ponder This
Are you training your children? The entry for the word train in the dictionary says this: to prepare for a contest, to instruct by exercise, to drill, to form to a proper shape, to discipline for use. You don’t learn how to play basketball by reading a book. You are trained. You are coached. Likewise, you have to train and coach your children. You have to pray. You have to teach. You have to plead. You have to show by example. Do you have your children in a Bible-believing church? Do you have them in Sunday School under a Christian teacher? Are you training in the home by precept and by example? We’re to train. If you teach a child and that’s all you do, you’ll teach him or her one thing, but somebody else can come along and teach them something else. But when you train, they get something through the pores of their skin into their very psyche. There’s a difference between teaching and training.
- What are some ways you were trained by your parents or that you seek to train your children now?
- What are some ways we must continue to train ourselves as adults?
Practice This
Write out a list of disciplines you want to develop in your life and the lives of your children, then make a plan for how you will begin developing those disciplines.
For Your Gift to the Ministry
Hope in Suffering Book
Pain changes us, whether it strikes suddenly like a storm or settles slowly like a long winter night. A part of the Timeless Truth Collection, Hope in Suffering walks readers through Scripture, devotional encouragement, and the wisdom of Pastor Adrian Rogers to show that God has not abandoned them in the fire; He is present, faithful, and near.
