As the world denies morality, Christian parents must become even stronger.

Yesterday's immorality has been transformed into today's "political correctness."  Rather than disciplining itself and conforming its behavior to God's standards of morality, society has eased this "burden" from itself by simply denying there exists any moral standard at all.  What a challenging time to find ourselves raising children! 

I recently had a Christian friend mention how unsettling it was, thinking of bringing up children in today's world.  I am a young mother, but even looking back to when I was in high school and comparing the temptations that I had to withstand to the temptations today's youth have to withstand, it's amazing how quickly things can go from bad to worse.  So, I totally understand where this friend is coming from.  Now, I don't enjoy focusing on the negative so thankfully, once again, the word of God can lift us up and give us hope.

Proverbs 23:13-14 "(13)Withhold not correction from the child: for if thou beatest him with the rod, he shall not die.  (14)Thou shalt beat him with the rod, and shalt deliver his soul from hell."

Before you stop reading, don't worry...I don't take the words from verses 13-14 completely literally.  However, I do find it interesting to compare God's instruction to "withhold not correction from the child" with society's motto of, "whatever feels right is right."  I know many good parents, so I emphasize that this is a very GENERAL statement, but parents today have less and less backbone than ever before.  Does it take guts to tell your 16 year old daughter that having sex outside of marriage is wrong, even if you "love" each other?  Yes, it does.  Does it take guts to tell your kids "no," when it seems that all of their friends’ parents are saying "whatever you want" or even "sure go ahead?"  Yes, it does.  The verse that is so encouraging to me, however, is Proverbs 22:6.

Proverbs 22:6 “Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.”

This is not a guarantee that simply raising your children with high, Christ-like standards will ensure that they never wander off the straight and narrow.  God has given us all the gift of agency, and he won’t take that away from us.  However, I know that we receive these sweet children at such innocent, impressionable stages of life, that if we really do all we can to teach them the ways of truth…to teach them about the reality of their living Savior, Jesus Christ…they will have the knowledge and tools they need to combat the evils of the day.  Can we make their choices for them?  Or better yet…should we make their choices for them?  No.  We must follow God’s example and honor their agency that has been divinely given them.  However, we can then live with the peace of knowing that—no matter what our children’s choices are—they know that through repentance and reliance on their Redeemer, there is always a way back to the fold of God.  There will always be hope for them that believe. 

So, fellow Christian parents…should our attitude be one of fear?  No.  That is exactly what Satan wants.  We should raise our children with courage, believing in the truths we teach them, and praying for our children’s safety and success as followers of Christ. 

With God, anything is possible.