day no. 15,553: it is easier to build from scratch than to rebuild from ruins

As I was reading The Art of Manliness: Classic Skills and Manners for the Modern Man by Brett McKay, I came across the following quote...

"It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men." -- Fredrerick Douglas

This is a sentiment I have often thought of with regard to the high calling of Christian parenting. Much of the pastoral work being done today could have been avoided if parents had merely done their work. When parents ignore their duties, they merely make them someone else's duties later. When parents forego instructing their children, they end up needing instruction later. If parents withhold counsel, the children end up needing counseling later. One of the best things a Christian can do for the advancement of the Kingdom of God is to raise their own children in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. This will train them in righteousness and grace through faith in Christ alone and help their future pastors to focus their energies on people who have no one and had no one to help them. By God's grace broken men can be repaired, but His plan A is that they would be built up rightly in the first place by their own parents rather than be put back together by someone else's.

Galatians 6:10
So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.

With, of course, the household you were born into taking precedent.

1 Timothy 5:8
If anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.