The Law Of First Mention

The Law Of First Mention

The Law of First Mention is not only a powerful principle in Bible interpretation, it is also a powerful principle for parenting.

Yesterday, my wife was talking to J about reckless cars on the road, and her concern for him.

He replied something that shocked me, "Mummy, I have not finished God's assignment on earth. God will only let me go after I have completed His assignment. So I won't die."

This is something that I shared with him long time ago ----- ONCE. He actually remembered it.

It reminded me that the Law of First Mention plays a vital part in the life of a child. If his teacher (apart from Mummy as the main homeschooling teacher) were to be the first to give him a piece of incorrect information, we have a challenging time to help him unlearn it. Even as his own parents.

This places a HUGE responsibility on us as parents. But God sees us "UP AND ON" (though I wasn't a St. Andrew's boy) to entrust us with such responsibility.

Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it. - Prov 22:6

The phrase "the way" in Hebrew refers to "the journey or manner". It doesn't mean that we instruct a child what to do for his life. It has to do more with discipline ("train up") than instructing.

It points to the Way of Righteousness, and since Jesus is the Way (John 14:6) and we are to seek His Righteousness (Matt 6:33), to train up a child in the way he should go is to 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐢𝐩𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐉𝐞𝐬𝐮𝐬, 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐑𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐞𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐆𝐨𝐝 𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐝.

The Law of First Mention has everything to do with knowing Jesus. Each time we release a piece of information on who Jesus is to our child, I believe that the Holy Spirit empowers our child to remember, so that he/she can apply when the situation arises.

It is only through this, that when a child grows old (even if the child goes astray at some point in life), he/she will NOT depart from Christ.