Start 'Em Young
A guest post by Chase Green.
A dad watches his “little slugger” hit ball after ball in a batting cage five days a week, rain or shine, and invests hundreds of dollars a month in travel ball, equipment, and baseball lessons and clinics.
His little slugger is only seven years old, but he’s already eyeing the MLB, baseball cards with his son’s face on them, and world series victories … and the fame and fortune to go with it. Why does he do it? “Gotta start ‘em young, I say, if you want your kids to be successful.”
Even if this young boy grows up to be a successful major league baseball player (statistically very unlikely), what will this accomplish towards his spiritual success? While it may not be totally impossible to be both a faithful Christian and a professional baseball player, would anyone state that the two (in all likelihood) typically go hand in hand?
In reality, it seems it would be much more likely for one’s Christianity to be negatively impacted by being a professional baseball player than positively, due to the demands on time, energy, Sunday schedule – Do you play baseball when you should be worshipping God? Certainly not –, etc.
Think about all the temptations that would come with the fame, the fortune, the constantly traveling from city to city away from one’s family, and ask again: Would being a professional baseball player be more likely to be conducive toward spiritual success or failure?
And yet, the statement is made: “Gotta start ‘em young if you want your kids to be successful.” Question: What kind of success are we talking? Christian parents must look at spiritual success as the only measure that will truly matter at the end of their children’s life. To that point, you’ve got to start ‘em young.
Someone says, “What’s the big deal? They aren’t at the age of accountability yet. Let them decide for themselves when they are older.”
To which point Scripture offers a clear rebuttal:
“Only take heed to yourself, and diligently keep yourself, lest you forget the things your eyes have seen, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life. And teach them to your children and your grandchildren, especially concerning the day you stood before the Lord your God in Horeb, when the Lord said to me, ‘Gather the people to Me, and I will let them hear My words, that they may learn to fear Me all the days they live on the earth, and that they may teach their children” (Deut. 4:9-10).
“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. ‘And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children …” (Deut. 6:4-7a).
“Train up a child in the way he should go, And when he is old he will not depart from it” (Prov. 22:6).
“And that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus” (2 Tim. 3:15).
“When I call to remembrance the genuine faith that is in you, which dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and I am persuaded is in you also” (2 Timothy 1:5).
May we always emphasize faithfulness to our children, and may we do so from an early, critical age.
Chase Green is a good friend who I spent some time with in preaching school - he graduated in the class before me. Chase preaches for the Marietta Church of Christ in Marietta, Oklahoma.
Chase hosts the Everyday Christian podcast with the Scattered Abroad Network. Chase also writes on Substack about his family’s travels to national parks. Read more at Park Stars.
Thank you for this, it's an important topic.