Paul gave good advice about giving advice in Ephesians 6:4. His words were aimed toward fathers, but his advice applies to all Christians. We may or may not be parents, but all Christians have spiritual children as well. Spiritual children are those God has brought into our lives to encourage, teach, or mentor in their faith. Paul’s words of wisdom are good advice for all of us as we give advice to others.

Parents have the God-given responsibility to raise children who can function in this world on their own. As Christian parents, we also have the responsibility to raise our children to know and love the Lord so they can live a life God is able to bless.

The single best advice we can give our kids is to teach them to walk with God and listen to his wisdom. The challenge for parents is to quickly and effectively teach our children to seek God and his guidance for themselves. 

We are to bring our children up “in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.” Most of the time, when we provoke our children “to anger” it is because we offered our own words of advice and direction instead of teaching them to listen to God’s. That is often true for our spiritual children as well. 

When we give advice, we assume we know something the other person needs to hear. Paul would teach us to give advice that causes the person to understand their need to seek God and his unique direction for their life.

God has an individual plan for each of his children. We aren’t called to give God’s advice as much as we are called to encourage people to seek their own personal walk with their heavenly Father. We can help people know God’s voice through his word and through his Holy Spirit.

Good advice and careful instruction provide wisdom. The most important advice we can give our children, and our spiritual children, is to help them seek God’s guidance for themselves. Good parents teach their children to walk, and then we teach them to walk with God. Our words of advice should lead them to God.