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You absolutely
must not do some things your children want, regardless of how
desperately they want it. The way of the world is to have the things others have, as a minimum standard. In the western world today, children of means have their own televisions, stereos, and make most of their own decisions. Television brought to our young people the desperate need to have phones that would allow them privacy and in many cases, children have their own phone lines. Christian parents ought to consider these things most carefully. All of these things bring a separation from old-fashioned unity in the home and they propel the child into a dimension where he has a degree of independence not known before this current age. Teenagers have no business having long conversations on the phone with the opposite sex, much less anyone else. Seclusion will allow aspects of the conversation that should not happen and would not happen, but for the too-early privacy. Christian parents can't be concerned about keeping up with the times, and we must protect our children from the sticky cocoon into which they are so easily seduced by the enemy. I have taught teenagers for thirty-six years, and I know the patterns well. My relationships with them are almost always one-on-one, and the results of these seemingly innocent indulgences are one hundred percent predictable. I admire and applaud parents who do not let their children "date", but train them to think and approach those matters in a more serious fashion. To take a stand on these issues in our culture is not popular, but what a tremendous heritage! Our children must see us living and walking before the Lord. They must hear the hymns of the faith and they should never have a choice as to whether or not they will go to church with parents. But they are growing up. And they need many things they don't want now, but will appreciate eternally. Often, things children want now make a consecrated life almost impossible. I had the most old fashioned father in the world, and I thought he was outrageously behind the times. Hallelujah - he was, and now that I am getting old, I relish the memory of each tight rein I used to try to escape. Our Lord has not changed, and the way is still narrow. Not miserable, just narrow. Parents, we always want the best for our children. And the best is the One who gave His Life as a Ransom for Many. We must be teaching our children, not to get things and expand the realm of worldly enjoyment, but to" put down all that would encumber" and know real joy! |
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past Devotional. |