EVERY PARENT'S BATTLE

As parents we live in a whirlpool of busy schedules, jobs, deadlines, baseball practice, dance recitals, church activities, birthday parties, sleepovers, and the list goes on seemingly forever. All of this can seem overwhelming, especially to single parents, and even more so when you are trying to raise your children in a Christ-like lifestyle when they (and you) are surrounded by a wicked and corrupt world. 

Last night my wife and I turned on American Idol and we are confident that most of the male contestants are homosexual. We turned the channel to a “Christian” network and there was a music video that had images that were so demonic that we couldn't bare to watch. Commercials are even worse and it seems that it is nearly impossible to see a set of commercials without having to view something sexual or horrific.

Because of being surrounded by so much that is sinfully influenced we have to be on guard for our children and ourselves. Proverbs 4:23 says, “Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life.”

As Christian Parents, we should be concerned and heavily involved in “guarding our (children’s) hearts” and realizing that the “course of their life” is still being determined from our vantage point.

There is a countless number of influences in our children’s lives that are at work on their hearts and minds everyday. Friends, who don’t know Christ, are telling them their opinions and world-view from their own experiences and the experiences of their parents who also are unbelievers. TV shows are telling them that it is “cool” to lie, cheat, get what they can get, and disrespect their parents. Movies that would have been rated “R” when we were kids are now rated “PG-13” even though they are geared for younger viewers. If you are not sure that this is true think about this… what age group is going to want to see the next spider-man, batman, superman, or transformers movie that hits the theaters? I will tell you this; they are younger than 13, yet all those movies are rated “PG-13” and some of them should be rated “R”!

So, being a Christian parent is a constant battle when you are in pursuit of holiness in your home. So, how do we deal with this world around us (and around our children)? We remember that we are “in the world” but we are not “of the world”, we remember that the “world hated Jesus” and HE said that “we will be hated too”. It’s ok, we are different, being like Jesus is very different! Our focus does not need to be “how do we fit in the world without our children getting hurt?” What we need to seek is the purpose that Jesus said we have in His prayer to His Father…

John 17:15-19  “I'm not asking you to take them out of the world, but to keep them safe from the evil one. They do not belong to this world any more than I do. Make them holy by your truth; teach them your word, which is truth. Just as you sent me into the world, I am sending them into the world. And I give myself as a holy sacrifice for them so they can be made holy by your truth.”