By Manny Vazquez, M.S., LMFT, Child Advocate and Child Psychotherapist
Wednesday, July 8, 2026
Friends, on the night of July 4th 2026, as fireworks were going off all around us, with many Americans celebrating our 250th birthday as One Nation Under God, our Precious Holy Spirit drew my attention to Matthew 19:13-15:
“Then children were brought to Him so He might put His hands on them and pray. But the disciples rebuked them. Then Jesus said, ‘Leave the children alone, and don’t try to keep them from coming to Me, because the kingdom of heaven is made up of people like this.’ After putting His hands on them, He went on from there.” (from the Holman Christian Standard Bible [HCBS] version of the Holy Bible)
Some people believe that Jesus is saying here that in order to be accepted into His Kingdom, we need to be childish, as if only the simple minded deserve to be in Heaven with God. At this point, some of these people summarily dismiss any notion of God because they say to themselves, “I will never agree to be childish for anyone!”
Those people are mistaken because Christ here is not saying we must be childish, but childlike, and there’s a big difference between these two adjectives.
Being childish means you think like a child, you act like a child, and you are immature in everything you do, as if you were a child. A childish person cannot be counted on for anything. They throw tantrums when they don’t get their way. A childish person is very difficult to live with because they cause problems in everything they do. Our LORD could not have meant that we should be childish to enter His Kingdom because that means He will have to admit destructive people into His presence, which is something He will not and cannot do.
Being childlike, on the other hand, is something completely different. Most children are naturally innocent, full of life and joy. They love to play, and they have no cynicism. They are completely trusting toward the people they love. They do not hate anyone, and they are naturally kind and loving. They hate it when someone does them wrong; in fact, they will blame themselves when someone hurts them. This description of a child,which is not complete in my explanation, by the way, is what Jesus meant when He said the Kingdom is made up of childlike people.
Having said all that, how do you explain children who are cruel, mean spirited, and are the bullies on the playground? Those children are doing exactly what is being modeled at home to them by their cruel, mean-spirited and bullying Parents. I have always taught pregnant Moms and Parents with young children that they are their children’s first teachers.
Proverbs 22:6 states the following:
“Teach a youth about the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.” (HCSB version of the Holy Bible)
This proverb is not saying that if you teach a child the right things to do that he gets older, he will never fail. That would be silly because we all know that even children who are taught to do the right thing by their Parents or Caregivers will eventually do the wrong thing. It’s called the human condition of sin.
The Proverbs in the Scriptures were never meant to be hard and fast rules and regulations; no, they are sayings or nuggets of wisdom, or general principles to live by.
What Proverbs 22:6 above is saying is that if you teach a child to be kind, gentle, and loving, positive things like that, he or she will generally be like that in the future, and they will most likely practice righteousness in their lives. I have met many children who are innocent and who love their peers. These children do not understand why anyone would want to be cruel to them or to someone they care about.
I’ve also met many angry, hyperactive, impulsive, and even hateful children. Often these children will have a very foul mouth. At assessments, I ask the Parents who in the home curses around the child, and I’m often met with blank stares and shrugs, “We don’t know.” But I know better. Eventually, I discover that someone in that child’s life is cursing and usually, they’re cursing up a storm around the child.
Proverbs 22:6 primarily focuses on the positive idea that if Parents teach their kids the right way to live and be, then when they get older, there’s a strong possibility that the grown child will live in the way of righteousness. Are there exceptions to the rule or proverb? Of course, but there are also many people who were taught to live incorrectly, or unrighteously, by their Parents, and they live righteous lives as adults.
If you are taught to be unrighteous by your Parents, God loves you so much that if you incline yourself to Him, He will lead you unto paths of righteousness. As a Christian Counselor, I teach Parents to love their children unconditionally and to not to frustrate them. When they get older, these children will love their Parents and others unconditionally, and they will not intentionally frustrate anyone. That, my Friends, is God’s Truth behind Proverbs 22:6. Amen and Amen.