Most of my readers realize that my Blog is not meant to be offensive, it's to be something that places a stone in your shoe. Something that you will think about and the longer the stone is there the more you think about it until you decide to take action.
Well this edition of the SossBlog is no different.
This is unsolicited but is a combination of a few things that are wearing on my heart.
The one most important thing I can do for my children is Not teach them how to make money, not Algebraic Expressions, not Chemistry, History, Psalm 119, or how to tie their shoes. The absolute most important thing I can teach my children about is a relationship with Jesus Christ. If I fail at everything else in my life, I want my children to know and love Jesus and have a personal relationship with Him as their Lord and Savior. I don't care if they have perfect attendance at Sunday School, Bible School, church Service or what ever, as long as I introduce them, and help them develop a relationship with the ONE who matters.
With that said, I have a couple of things on my mind....
One: PARENTS it is your job to make sure your kids are respectful and relatively well behaved. If your child needs a pop on the bottom to make them attentive, then do it. It is disrespectful to other people for your child to put their fingers in a birthday cake that belongs to someone else.
It is disrespectful if your child ignores you, handle that business now while they are still a child and their minds can be changed rather easily. It is your job as a parent to make sure your child isn't watching things on TV, internet, magazines etc. that they don't need to know. According to Josh McDowell (look it up), Children 6-8 years old are already being introduced to Pornography. This should not happen! Teens are becoming "active" younger and younger, and if they have a smart phone there probably has been some type of Porn on it too! As Parents, it is our Job to monitor what our kids are looking at, talking about, and listening to.
You're probably asking how all of what I just said goes back to helping my children build their relationship with Christ.....I'm getting there!
Watch this..... If I'm attending church every week, but I live a life that teaches my child that making a sex object out of a woman is okay ,or it's okay to lust after this guy, or it's okay to read this "fantasy" or whatever it is and it goes against what God teaches us about in the Bible...... why are they going to even grace the steps of that building when they get old enough to make those choices for themselves?
In a conference a while back (2009ish?) the speaker threw some numbers out. 87% or so of kids that grew up in the church, left the church as they entered college. Of that 87% only 20-30% returned when they came into their mid to late 20's. My thoughts are the parents did not help these young people develop their relationship.... The importance of going every Sunday was more important than the development of that relationship with Christ. I've heard someone make the statement of "I don't drink, don't smoke, and don't cuss, so I must be a Christian". Not doing those things is good, but it won't get you into Heaven. You don't do these because it drives a wedge between you and God, not because you're labeled a "Christian".
The churches are to a point that it's almost a panic, trying to figure out where all the young folks have gone. I can't blame the church for looking for these young people. I can believe that the parents failed on that front. I can believe that the parents are to blame partly if not entirely on the absence of these young people. We have turned our churches into social clubs where the Biblical principles are merely a good suggestion, but if it feels good do it.... and we don't have to be respectful, we don't need to pray ( because we're strong like that), we don't need to read our Bibles (because it's mostly just old ways of thinking and isn't really pertinent to today), and you know I'm just not sure for myself about all this Jesus stuff so I'm going to let my child make up their own minds as to what they believe.
Look, there are folks out there that will reason until the day they die that God is not real, that a relationship with Jesus is just a was of time..... They are WRONG! We've just come out of the Easter celebrations in the Christian Church and we learned that He is not dead! He is Risen!!! Parents, this is a call to you.... You have to make the decision that Jesus is Real in your life. You have to decide that you are going to let your children see the light of Jesus Christ reflected in your life. You have to decide that YOU are going to teach them about Jesus and that He is the Lord and Savior of your life....They will follow you. Do not do them a disservice by not teaching them the things that will make them great citizens and more importantly Christ Followers.
Think about it... if we give them something real to carry with them, they will bring something real back with them. We, as the Adults have to decide that WE DO Believe and that it is important.
Well this edition of the SossBlog is no different.
This is unsolicited but is a combination of a few things that are wearing on my heart.
The one most important thing I can do for my children is Not teach them how to make money, not Algebraic Expressions, not Chemistry, History, Psalm 119, or how to tie their shoes. The absolute most important thing I can teach my children about is a relationship with Jesus Christ. If I fail at everything else in my life, I want my children to know and love Jesus and have a personal relationship with Him as their Lord and Savior. I don't care if they have perfect attendance at Sunday School, Bible School, church Service or what ever, as long as I introduce them, and help them develop a relationship with the ONE who matters.
With that said, I have a couple of things on my mind....
One: PARENTS it is your job to make sure your kids are respectful and relatively well behaved. If your child needs a pop on the bottom to make them attentive, then do it. It is disrespectful to other people for your child to put their fingers in a birthday cake that belongs to someone else.
It is disrespectful if your child ignores you, handle that business now while they are still a child and their minds can be changed rather easily. It is your job as a parent to make sure your child isn't watching things on TV, internet, magazines etc. that they don't need to know. According to Josh McDowell (look it up), Children 6-8 years old are already being introduced to Pornography. This should not happen! Teens are becoming "active" younger and younger, and if they have a smart phone there probably has been some type of Porn on it too! As Parents, it is our Job to monitor what our kids are looking at, talking about, and listening to.
You're probably asking how all of what I just said goes back to helping my children build their relationship with Christ.....I'm getting there!
Watch this..... If I'm attending church every week, but I live a life that teaches my child that making a sex object out of a woman is okay ,or it's okay to lust after this guy, or it's okay to read this "fantasy" or whatever it is and it goes against what God teaches us about in the Bible...... why are they going to even grace the steps of that building when they get old enough to make those choices for themselves?
In a conference a while back (2009ish?) the speaker threw some numbers out. 87% or so of kids that grew up in the church, left the church as they entered college. Of that 87% only 20-30% returned when they came into their mid to late 20's. My thoughts are the parents did not help these young people develop their relationship.... The importance of going every Sunday was more important than the development of that relationship with Christ. I've heard someone make the statement of "I don't drink, don't smoke, and don't cuss, so I must be a Christian". Not doing those things is good, but it won't get you into Heaven. You don't do these because it drives a wedge between you and God, not because you're labeled a "Christian".
The churches are to a point that it's almost a panic, trying to figure out where all the young folks have gone. I can't blame the church for looking for these young people. I can believe that the parents failed on that front. I can believe that the parents are to blame partly if not entirely on the absence of these young people. We have turned our churches into social clubs where the Biblical principles are merely a good suggestion, but if it feels good do it.... and we don't have to be respectful, we don't need to pray ( because we're strong like that), we don't need to read our Bibles (because it's mostly just old ways of thinking and isn't really pertinent to today), and you know I'm just not sure for myself about all this Jesus stuff so I'm going to let my child make up their own minds as to what they believe.
Look, there are folks out there that will reason until the day they die that God is not real, that a relationship with Jesus is just a was of time..... They are WRONG! We've just come out of the Easter celebrations in the Christian Church and we learned that He is not dead! He is Risen!!! Parents, this is a call to you.... You have to make the decision that Jesus is Real in your life. You have to decide that you are going to let your children see the light of Jesus Christ reflected in your life. You have to decide that YOU are going to teach them about Jesus and that He is the Lord and Savior of your life....They will follow you. Do not do them a disservice by not teaching them the things that will make them great citizens and more importantly Christ Followers.
Think about it... if we give them something real to carry with them, they will bring something real back with them. We, as the Adults have to decide that WE DO Believe and that it is important.
