This YouTube video is about a Christian parent's most important job. For most who see this, it will be tough and will probably hurt! It's not that he is wrong, but it is so hard! I mean after all, we take them to church so there's that, right? Many kids have religion class, so they get the word there as well. As a parent, i will be honest, between fear and the fact that so much in this world begs for our time, we often let this responsibility fall to the wayside. Many of the things wanting our time have too much perceived value, such as fun, happiness, and friendship. So we choose the common busy lifestyle more times than not, over the things of God. Parents second guess themselves all the time. What if we ask the kids to sit and listen to the word and they groan or roll their eyes? Is reading devotions enough? Christian movies? Should i make them memorize verses? Parents, let's be real. On our own, we feel inadequate in the realm of spiritual things. Maybe that's a temptation we fall into? Most parents need some help with this. I don't know, like Christian parent training? Sounds silly maybe, but I bet the networking alone would help. The problem of teens and college age young people falling away, is a tough but very real subject. For me, lots of questions emerge. If the parents took them to church enough, would it have made a difference? Did they see their parents as hypocritical and found that kind of Christianity not for them? Were the parents too radical in their religious ways and scared them off? Are the young people buying into the lies of teachings like evolution? Or that all religions are essentialy the same? Did they not know and understand the consequences and seriousness of sin and find themselves leaving God behind because they like their sin more? Is the answer somewhere in the Screwtape letters? (aka, demons used some kind of crazy-effective temptations on them...and it worked) Were they ever Christians in the first place? Yikes...
Parents need to talk. Take action. Find other Christian parents. Talk to your Church leaders. Ultimately this whole dose is about making your children's spiritual condition, no matter the age, a top priority in your life. Thank you David Platt for this discussion starter!
Verses for Consideration:
1 Peter 2:2 ESV
Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation—
Jeremiah 15:16 ESV
Your words were found, and I ate them, and your words became to me a joy and the delight of my heart, for I am called by your name, O Lord, God of hosts.
Proverbs 22:6 ESV
Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.
Matthew 23:1-39 ESV
Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples, “The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses' seat, so practice and observe whatever they tell you—but not what they do. For they preach, but do not practice. They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on people's shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to move them with their finger. They do all their deeds to be seen by others. For they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long, ...