Teaching Proverbs 2:12-15 to Your Family | Teach Them to Spot a Crooked Path

It's hard to teach what you don't live. The solution? Live it. In this episode of The Resolute Man Podcast, we walk through Proverbs 2:12-15 and show you, dad, how to teach your family to tell the straight path from the crooked one, and to stay on the right one.

Here's how to teach this passage to your family:

1. Start with the two paths

Before you read, tell your kids there are two paths in life: the straight and the crooked. The crooked path will try to take you out. Then tell them, "Not you, though. That's why we listen to wisdom."

2. Teach them how wisdom delivers them (v. 12)

Read verse 12 out loud together. Discretion and understanding of God's truth deliver us from the way of evil. Explain that disaster usually comes from small, unseen wrong steps that pile up, and that walking with God protects us from taking those steps. Ask your kids: "What's a small wrong step that could lead somewhere bad?"

3. Teach them what the crooked path looks like (v. 13)

People on the crooked path leave the upright way and choose the darkness. They're drawn to pleasure, self, and greed, and it all looks normal in the world. Ask your kids: "What have you noticed about worldliness?"

4. Teach them to see the joy in evil (v. 14)

Normal people rejoice in doing evil, which is happiness in the wrong direction. Then go deeper: they delight in the perverseness of evil, the worst form of it. It's not just the sin, it's the joy people find in it. That's idolatry, whether the idol is money, self, or destruction. Ask: "Why is it worse to enjoy doing wrong than to slip up and feel bad about it?"

5. Prepare them for the mockers (v. 15)

When you walk the righteous path, the crooked will mock it. Sometimes it will feel like a disadvantage while others cheat and seem to get ahead. Tell your kids: "You may lose the moment, but you are winning the battle." Ask: "When has doing the right thing cost you something?"

Bonus: Dad tips from Vince DelMonte (Fitness Pro Quits Testosterone Therapy, Reflections on Marriage Neglect, Ep. 15):

• Success can become a substitute identity. Vince's fitness business became about status, and he went on testosterone out of insecurity rather than medical necessity. He never paused to pray or think it through. He just said, "I'm in."
• Rock bottom can be the start of a real encounter with God. After separating from his wife of 14 years, he cried out to God on his hands and knees and felt a physical, supernatural presence holding him. His earlier prayers had all been "God, help me with my agenda," not real surrender to God's agenda.
• Aim for "better," not "bigger." His business took a massive hit during the separation, and he now measures success by presence and priorities instead of scale.

This week's challenge: Ask yourself, "Am I living what I'm about to teach?" Pick one area where you're on the crooked path and fix it. Then pick one dinner or car ride to read Proverbs 2:12-15 with your kids. It won't be perfect, and that's okay.

🙏 Fathers, let's lead our families to stay on the righteous path.

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