There is so much confusion and heartache in the world. There have also been many changes in the world, as I’m sure in your own families as in mine. The one consistency that there has been is the Lord. The world may change, but this isn’t new for God. You can flip to almost any page in the Bible at this point and a similar situation is happening right now in the world we live in. There is nothing that surprises Him. So what about us? Where is the consistency in us?
I think the biggest thing is that we tend to put God in the back, since He’s always there, and we make other things more of a priority. I’ve noticed this in myself. The happiest time in my life was when I woke up an hour earlier every morning to spend time with God. I say this all the time, and yet nothing seems to change for me. (I say this because this message is as much for me as it is for you.) This is an area in my life where I need to work on making God a priority. Maybe it’s something else for you. There are many other idols, and honestly, not all of them are bad things; they become bad when they become more important than God. An idol could be work, family, kids, your spouse, money, tv, social media, politics, etc. It could literally be anything that you put before God. What is sin? Sin is anything that goes against God. What is an idol? Anything you put before God. Same thing.
An issue that seems to be redundant, yet in different ways, is how to raise children. Now, Seth and I are not parents, yet, and this definitely is not a pregnancy announcement. However, I do think that practices on how you will run your household should be set in place before children come into the picture. Seth and I fell in love while serving alongside each other through children’s ministry, as well as in whatever ministry we were taking part in, such as a college ministry when we first started dating. Therefore, we established in our personal lives as single, young adults that we were going to serve Christ in everything we did. Then we incorporated the same lifestyle into our dating relationships, and now within our marriage. We want everyone to be able to see Christ in our marriage.
In the Old Testament, Joshua 24 is speaking to the “all the tribes of Israel to Shechem and summoned the elders, the heads, the judges, and the officers”(v.1) and he says in verses 14-15
“Now therefore fear the Lord and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness. Put away the gods that your fathers served beyond the River in Egypt, and serve the Lord.
And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”
Why aren’t more parents this bold? There are so many families now that want to coward down to culture and “let their child choose” whatever they want to do. They are children. Would you let your child decide if they want to go to school? To the doctor? To the nurse? No! Of course not! You take them there because you know that it is what is best for them!
There’s another verse in the Old Testament in Proverbs 22:6, “Train up a child in the way he should go…” I’m going to stop there. If you are a parent who is a Christian, that is not a suggestion, it is a command, a statement. The verse continues, “...even when he is old he will not depart from it.” This is the promise from God. If you do your job, as a Christian parent by raising your child in church, God offers this promise to you. I think this shows how great our God is! God knows that you are learning as a parent, and you are not going to get it right all the time. However, if you are a Faithful Servant to His Kingdom, following His commandments, God is not going to hold you accountable for what your child decides to do once they’re an adult. At that point, that is between the child and God how they live their life. All you can do is your best by being faithful, trusting in the Lord, and praying for your family.