Parents today need spinal implants immediately. This applies to both men and women, although women do seem more susceptible to the spinal disease than men.
Our society is overflowing with cowardly, fragile Christian parents who are more afraid than anything else of making decisions that differ from those around them.
They are meant to be strong warriors for Christ, chosen out from society to do His good work. As both Christians and, more specifically, as parents, their calling puts them at odds with the world, requiring them to hold different values, priorities, and purposes. They are to live by a different standard. They must discipline themselves and their children according to the Lord’s decrees. They are to carefully watch over their children both spiritually and physically. They are to follow Christ over and against the world. They are to go to Christ for knowledge about this life. “Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming.” (Eph 4:14)
Yet all they desire is the well-trodden path. All they want is to fit in and do what everyone else is doing.
They have been given sonship of the great High King, with all the rights and privileges thereof, along with royal responsibilities befitting their status. They are here for a high purpose, an eternal cause, yet they act as though they are aimless paupers with no more power or sense than their lost neighbors, and they share the same worldly priorities, namely, being like everybody else.
I’ve known many moms who regularly seek advice from friends on major life decisions for their families and children, polling opinions and choosing the most widespread and appealing view. The problem is that the questions they ask are not about what is true and godly, but about what is popular and makes them feel good.
I’ve known many women who chose parenting books based on their popularity, then follow the advice in them withoutcomparing it to the Word of God. But since when has what’s popular been the best, true, or right way in God’s sight? Satan is the prince of this world. Do you think that what’s popular in the world will align with God, then, or Satan?
So many parents refuse to make decisions about education, curriculum, discipline, activities, screen time, or expectations without the support of their social media feed, family, and friends. They are determined not to walk a path alone.
Do they have a discipline problem they need to address with their child? Quick: post about it on social media, text all your friends, commiserate with others, and hear what your itching ears want to hear. “It’s normal.” “Kids will be like this.” “Oh, my child is exactly the same way.” Kids are bound to be disrespectful, disobedient, and horrid, you’re assured. Just accept it. Next, Google all the excuses out there to give you an ample supply of things to point the finger at. It’s the food, it’s the dye, it’s the drugs, it’s the way your kids are educated, it’s the teachers, it’s the vaccines, it’s the lack of exercise, it’s the sleep, it’s ANYTHING except your own personal inactivity and laziness. It couldn’t possibly be that you have not addressed the sin before you as you ought, both within yourself and within your child. It could not possibly be that you have no idea how or why God has commanded you to discipline them. It could not be that little sinners need constant correction, encouragement, and guidance, and that there is no shortcut for that.
These parents want absolutely any answer other than the one that requires their own personal hard work and consistent effort. They cannot be held responsible for their own children, and don’t worry, according to popular opinion, they aren’t. “Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.”[1] That is parenting today.
The refusal to forsake all for Christ, leaving behind the opinions and decisions of others, is a massive problem in Christendom today.
Parents must make independent decisions based solely on the Word of God. This means they must know the Word of God by reading it daily, and they must prioritize God’s opinion over others’. Their expectations should be God’s expectations. Their priorities should be God’s priorities.
Stop looking at the world to guide you. Stop looking for footprints to step in other than Jesus’ footprints. Remember what he has warned you of:
“You will be hated by everyone because of me, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved.”[2]
“If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you.”[3]
“Blessed are you when people hate you, when they exclude you and insult you and reject your name as evil, because of the Son of Man.”[4]
“We have become the scum of the earth, the garbage of the world—right up to this moment. I am writing this not to shame you but to warn you, as my dear children. Even if you had ten thousand guardians in Christ, you do not have many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel. Therefore, I urge you to imitate me.”[5]
These verses do not indicate that Christians will follow popular paths in any way whatsoever.
Paul says to imitate the apostles, who were considered scum of the earth. Scum. They were despised and hated for their decisions and choices. They lacked the support of the majority. They faced ostracism because of their beliefs. Do you think Paul asked those around him what to value, how to spend his time, or even how to discipline the churches? Do you think he valued man’s opinion more than God’s? Of course not. He looked to only one person for guidance, and that one person was the Lord Jesus Christ.
This meant that sometimes he and the other apostles walked a road completely alone with no one by their side and absolutely zero earthly support. Sometimes they walked that same road with others by their side, but their choices were not contingent on who agreed with them, how many people were encouraging them, or who was telling them they were making the right choices.
In the end, this choice is up to every single parent.
You can look around you and try to copy everyone else, or you can take your birthright, which gives you direct access to God through Jesus Christ and look to him for all the help, advice, guidance, and direction in your life, taking all earthly opinions and shining the light of God on every single one of them.
Philippians 1:9-10 “And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ”.
[1] 2 Timothy 4:3
[2] Matthew 10:22
[3] John 15:18-19
[4] Luke 6:22
[5] 1 Corinthians 4:13-16
