The Warrior Parent and The Future of the Unknown
We all see the disintegration of the American society before our eyes. We see changes happening every day: changes to our freedoms, to our laws, and in our day to day lives. We see Christian values being assaulted at every turn with the media trumpeting the most perverse behaviors and actions of individuals. Good people are punished, evil is let to roam free.
When we see the state of the world it is so easy to recognize the uncertainty of our future and of our children’s futures.
What is the most important thing we should do to prepare for the future, as Christian parents?
If we distilled all this down to one thing…what would that one, most important thing be?
Should we prioritize “prepping”: buying gobs of toilet paper and items with a long shelf life? Should we focus on changing our government as our number one priority, because changing that would make everything better? Should we try to just numb ourselves by constantly looking at our phones and keeping our TVs on? Maybe our careers are the answer. Or is there something right in front of us that deserves top billing…. Is there something- or actually someone- right in front of us that many parents are accidently spiritually ignoring for a bunch of things and concerns that are in reality, far less important? …Yes, there is. And it’s our children.
Our #1 goal should be to care more about our children’s spiritual life.
This world will pass away. This life isn’t going to last forever. We are pilgrims here for only a little while. But when our child dies, and they will all die, they will get an eternal home: either in heaven or in hell. That eternal home is infinitely more important than anything that’s happening in our lives right now.
We can’t allow all this insane noise of the world (the “cares of this life”[1]) to drown out what should be our constant top priority: arming our kids with the knowledge of God’s Word and teaching them His truth.
I’ve thought about it this way before: if my child was drowning in the ocean, where would my focus be? I wouldn’t think twice about it—all my effort, every ounce of my focus—would be towards pushing my child towards the surface of the water. I would be entirely invested in ensuring they got to safety first… I would only consider myself insofar as my abilities would impact their future. I think this analogy is apt because many children ARE drowning. They’re drowning in this world. They’re assailed by the values, the ideologies, and the rhetoric of this age. They fight, whether they recognize it or not, the same spiritual battles we all fight as Christians. They are desperate for help.
They need saving. Saving offered to them by Christ. And it is not adequate or acceptable for us to watch them choke and flail their arms while we prioritize ourselves or other things. Their rescue—their very life—is hinging on this one thing: faith in Christ. And we as parents are in the most privileged and unique position because we are able and required to teach them this very thing. The one thing in their life that really matters.
I urge you as brothers and sisters in Christ, to take sin seriously because it affects your child. It is increasingly common today to find Christian parents (and even Christian pastors) who view sin as basically a joke. As if sin is unimportant because Christ died for us and has conquered sin.
That is a misunderstanding of the Bible and the Gospel…. Yes, God has conquered sin in Christ Jesus, and thanks be to God for it! But He does not then say to us, go and sin boldly! No. Sin entraps us and it seeks to draw us away from Christ. Sin harms us. The reason sin is bad is not becomes it somehow harms God or hurts His ego. It is because it leads us away from God.
Christ has done the saving work on the cross and we add nothing, but our lives are not meaningless. The Bible does not say to embrace the world and all the sin it has to offer, but rather to be set apart in attitude of our hearts and minds.
The training grounds starts NOW. NOW, while they are under our roofs. It is the job God has ordained for us to do by giving us another human being to raise.
We are in a critical time. Yes, there is much unknown about the future. But we can impact the future that matters, by focusing in on our children SPIRITUALLY. Today is the only day we know we’ve been given to change lives—specifically the lives of our children. We don’t know what tomorrow will bring or when we will be called home or what the government will do next. But we do know that today is the day we can make a difference. We can focus communicating the words of the Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ to our kids, and in bringing them up in the fear and love of the Lord each minute by each precious minute.
As G.K. Chesterton wrote, “The true soldier fights not because he hates what is in front of him, but because he loves what is behind him.” We love our children so much we will teach them how to fight the good fight of Faith. We will teach them how to be good soldiers in the Lord’s army.
We are warrior parents.
[1] Mark 4:19