For some of you this may come as a huge surprise. You may feel as a parent you are outnumbered
and in a losing battle to influence your children, or you may feel like your
voice isn't heard. The studies show, on
the other hand, among other influences you may have the loudest voice.
So what does this mean?
Obviously, this should impact the view we take on the task of parenting,
and this should also influence other things we do as a church. Parents, take heart, your kids do hear you;
you are still influencing them, and it is not a lost cause. However, this also has a sobering element in
it as well – as a parent, it humbles and sometimes scares me to think about the
incredible responsibility I have to live an honest, consistent, and
God-honoring life before my daughters.
Because the way I live my life will have a critical influence on what
they value and believe.
Over the last 11 years of youth ministry, I’ve come to
realize that teens are very smart. They
are trying to figure out who they are.
They are filled with passion and are looking for a good purpose to
commit their lives to. They learn not
only from formal education (being verbally instructed) but also from what they
see in action. They learn acceptable
behaviors, they notice what we value, and they pick up on what we give our
lives to and then make their own decision based upon what they have both been
taught and, to be cliché, what they have “caught” from their parents and other
lesser influences.
Rightfully so, as a parent of two young girls this places
the great responsibility of my girls’ spiritual wellbeing squarely upon my
shoulders. It gives me the
responsibility to both teach them what is right as well as show them what is
right and true and valuable. I know that
they are too smart for me to teach them one thing and then model to them with
my life the exact opposite. Honestly,
this is a little frightening. Amidst a
culture that is going further and further away from God, and the reality of my
own weak flesh, it is easy to lose hope.
However, I must continually remind myself that God is in control of the
lives of my young girls and that I have a real responsibility to do everything
in my power to help my daughters grow closer to Christ. I must not forget that God desires my girls’
good, and it is by God’s grace and strength that he abundantly supplies me with
the ability to teach and model a Christ-like life to them.
As a church body, let us not give up the fight for the
hearts and minds of our young people.
There is a real and dark evil in this world trying to capture the hearts
and minds of young men and women. Satan does
not want good things for our young people.
He desires nothing more than to turn them away from truth and
light. He strives to convince them to
pursue things that won’t satisfy and that will only leave them empty and on the
path to destruction. We need to be
active in this spiritual battle for their hearts with the gospel, grace, and
truth - richly taught and lovingly lived.
Men and women of God, are you up to the challenge? Take a stand! Start to show them what is valuable by your
example. Examine your own values and see
if they line up with Christ’s. If you
feel like you have messed up or have led them off course, show them the power
of God in action and that through His strength you can change.
Oh God. Please turn
our hearts to our children and our children’s hearts to us – and all our hearts
toward you. As we parent, may we be the
salt that gives flavor to our culture, and preserves what is pleasing to God for the sake
of Christ and the good of our children.
~Trev
