In case you are wondering why I have recently missed a
week or so here and there with writing and posting my blog, it is because my
husband and I are gradually moving from our temporary dwelling to our new home
about two hours away. Both my husband and I are really busy. In fact, my husband will be
retiring at the end of the year, so he is still working while trying to help me
pack up our things for the final move. At the same time, along with packing up
our household articles, I have been working with my publisher on the editing of
my book on Christian mentoring, and I am presently working with my publisher on
the design layout for the book. I am very excited about the publication of this
book and have been working on it every minute that I am not working on packing or on
writing this blog. When the book gets closer to the publication date, I will
give you all more information about it. Needless to say, though, at present I
am very busy, and sometimes it seems that there are just not enough hours in the
day to get everything accomplished. That is why I have had to miss publishing
my weekly blog once in a while.
I hope that you all will hang in there with me,
though, and that you will continue to follow my blog, because I truly believe
that what we learn about Christian mentoring can make all the difference in how
the rest of the world perceives Christ and our Heavenly Father. I also believe
that Christian mentoring is extremely important and that active mentoring can
help others understand who their Savior is and can give those with whom we
share the Gospel a chance to receive Christ into their heart, so they too can
have an eternity of beauty and happiness with God the Father and Christ the
Son.
(Remember that this blog is separated into topics so that if you
do not have time to read the entire blog at one sitting that you will have easy
breaking or stopping places. I hope you enjoy this one.)
Active Relational Parental Mentoring
Active
Relational Christian Mentoring makes a difference in
how the next generation lives and in how they perceive God and His Son, Jesus
Christ. For, without the daily mentoring of our children, nieces, nephews,
cousins, friends, etc., this world will continually get worse from every
perspective. It will get worse when our children are not being taught the truth
in every area of life including the truth about our country being a Republic
and not it not being a Democracy. It will get worse when our children become brainwashed
with the ideas and philosophies of socialists and communists who want our
country to be destroyed. It will get worse when political correctness stifles
conversation and the freedom of expression. Even if we disagree with the
opinions and expressions of others, our constitution gives everyone the right
to express their opinions and to say what they think. It is only through
parental mentoring on the truth of the Bible and the truth about historical
basis of our country and what it stands for that the next generations will be
able to have the same freedoms that we have enjoyed. Stifling the truth through political correctness or through what is no longer taught in schools cannot continue, if we want our nation to not disappear. That is why parents must step up to actively mentor their children in truth.
Without Active
Relational Christian Mentoring our young people will be emotionally and
spiritually lost. In fact, our country has already changed from the God fearing
and loving country of my youth, to a country that ridicules and makes fun of those
who believe in Christ. Sadly, this world and even our nation will get worse, if
that is possible, because people are not being mentored in the truth of the
Gospel message or mentored in loving each other as they love themselves. How do
I know this? Well, the Bible tells us that there will come a time when this
world will be focused on selfishness. Moreover, there will be an end to this
world as we know it. In fact, here is what Jesus told the disciples would
happen in the end times. Jesus said, “Brother will betray brother to death, and a
father his child; and children will rise up against parents and cause them to
be put to death.” – (Matthew 10: 21. NASB). How sad!
Why will the world get worse? It will get worse when
all the values, integrity, and love dissipate. It will get worse when there is
no longer a godly foundation on which people can build their lives. For, without
a foundation on which to base their lives the next generation will have nothing
to hold on to, and so people will start floundering around looking for things or
reasons to make living their lives meaningful and worthwhile. Young people
today, including people in their 40’s and 50’s, have a hole in their soul that
they can’t seem to fill with drugs, philosophies, and other false religions, even
though they desperately try to fill that God-shaped hole with those things and
many other things as well. But, the main reason that things in this world will
get worse is because parents are failing to teach their children the importance
of knowing God and of remembering the great things that God has done and will
still do for His children.
Passing the Knowledge of God and His Truth on to Our Children
Even back in the book of Exodus, God told the people
that without parents teaching their children what they had seen and experienced
with God during the Exodus, that the next generation would forget what the
truth was. That is why God told Moses to urge the parents to teach their
children all the truths about God. God also wanted the Israelites to recount
the stories of God’s greatness to their children, so the children would not
forget the wonderful things that the Lord had done for all of them. People need
to be continually taught and reminded about what God has done in their lives, because
people have very short memories in the long run.
So, Moses told the people to:
“…
listen carefully to these laws and regulations that I am about to teach you.
Obey them so that you may live, so you may enter and occupy the land the Lord,
the God of your ancestors, is giving you. Do not add or subtract from these
commands I am giving you from the Lord your God. Just obey them. …
You
must obey these laws and regulations, when you arrive in the land you are about
to enter and occupy. The Lord my God gave them to me to pass them on to you. If
you obey them carefully, you will display your wisdom and intelligence to the
surrounding nations. When they hear about these laws, they will exclaim,
‘What other nation is as wise and prudent as this!’ For what great nation has a
god as near to them as the Lord our God is near to us whenever we call on Him?
And what great nation has laws and regulations as fair as the body of laws that
I am giving you today? …
But
be very careful not to forget what you have seen the Lord do for you. Do not
let these things escape your mind as long as you live! And be sure to pass them
on to your children and grandchildren.” -- (Deuteronomy 4: 1, 2,
5 – 8, 9. NLT).
God gave those of us in the United States of America a
great nation, and because our nation was founded upon the truth of God we have
had other nations wondering how our nation has been so wise and prudent. But,
if we are not careful, we will forget what we have seen the Lord do for our
nation. Unfortunately, we are allowing God’s blessings to escape our minds, because we have failed to pass them on to our children and grandchildren. Parents
in the world today have forgotten to pass on the truth and the laws of God as
well.
Unfortunately, when there is no foundation of truth
and when people do not know God, they will fall for anything and become
subservient to false ideas and false philosophies that create hopelessness and
fear. Consequently, because of their ability to fall for anything, the next
generation is now setting themselves up to receive the Antichrist with arms
outstretched. For, the Antichrist is the greatest liar and deceiver of all.
In fact, when the Antichrist comes, “this evil man will come to do the work of
Satan with counterfeit power and signs and miracles. He will use every kind of
wicked deception to fool those who are on their way to destruction because they
refuse to believe the truth that would save them.” -- (II Thessalonians 2: 8-10.
NLT).
Because of their hopelessness, people will quickly latch on to the Antichrist’s
lies in the hopes that he has the answer to their dilemmas and that he can
answer those life questions that are plaguing them and making them so lonely
inside.
If we ever had any doubt about the floundering direction
of the next generation or of their ability to be gullible and to fall for false
ideas and beliefs, all we have to do is look at the protests and riots that
occurred for many days and for even a couple of weeks in some areas after
Donald Trump beat Hillary Clinton out to be the next president of the United
States. We heard statements from the protesters like, “I am so scared!”. The young
people, ages 14 to 40, were crying and demanding to have safe zones at their
colleges so they could cry, receive hugs, and cuddle with puppies to make
themselves feel better. But, when asked directly why they were so scared, they
could not tell us, because they could not articulate their fears, ideas, or
feelings.
However, those in the gay community could articulate that they were
in fear that Mr. Trump would take away their long sought after laws of
protection, because the false media had put ideas in their heads that had never
been articulated by president-elect Trump when he was running for office. But
because they had put so much hope in president Obama and his clone, Hilary
Clinton they could not imagine a nation that was still going to be free for gays. How
sad, that they had put all their hope in a single human. They had fallen for
many lies, because they had no foundation or godly foundation on which to
stand, nor did they know the difference between falsehood and truth, or between
truth and the propaganda that had been perpetrated by the news media on the unsuspecting
and unknowledgeable people of these last two generations.
Signs and Symptoms of Selfishness and the “Me Generation”
Because parents, including Christian parents, have not
mentored their children in the truth of the Bible, in morality, in etiquette,
in common kindness and caring for others, in integrity, in respecting other
people’s right to have an opinion even if it differed from their own, and in
humility, our young people of the current college age generation and the
upcoming high school generation have fallen for the liberal socialistic views
of what has become known as the “me generation”, for their focus is on
themselves and no one else. Consequently, this “me generation”, egged on by
their liberal teachers and professors, feels that it is their right to protest
and even to riot to get their disappointment or point across, while Christian
based older generations have accepted the outcome of the election, even if they
were disappointed. That is because the older generations know the history of
this nation and know that our nation is a Republic
and that is not a democracy of the majority or of mob rule. Sadly, most people
think that our nation was built as a democracy, because they have not been
taught correctly in school. Besides not having a godly foundation, many do not
have an historical foundation either.
The older generations, those in their 50’s and above,
are more likely to have a foundation of life based upon God and their church.
But, the younger generations do not have a godly foundation, nor have they ever
been deprived of anything that they wanted. Sadly, the last two younger generations
believe that they can have whatever they want whenever they want it, and that
if they don’t get what they want they can just throw a fit and stomp on someone
else’s rights in order to get what they want. But, where did they get this idea
that they deserved to get what they want no matter whose toes they step on?
Well, they got it from their parents, who have given them whatever they wanted,
and from their teachers, and professors who teach them that they are entitled
to whatever they desire.
Instead of parents teaching their children that life
is not always easy and that they must work hard to get what they want, children
have grown up believing that they should automatically get a free education,
for don’t most parents pay for their child’s education even when they can’t
afford it? But, when parents simply cannot afford to send their child to
college, shouldn’t those that still want to go to college have been taught that
they simply must get a job and work while going to college? In other words,
they should have been taught to not only have a work ethic, but to put
themselves through college. Unfortunately, many of those that should have
worked along the way to pay for their own education, simply put aside the idea
of working for an education and instead they have embraced the government loans
which have to be paid back shortly after graduation. Obviously, there has been
a great surprise for many of those who accepted or took out the government
loans. They found that they desperately need a job after graduation in order to
repay those loans, and that not every graduate can get a job. Why can’t they
find a job?
Many students simply cannot find their ideal job.
Moreover, many other students have been surprised to learn that all educational
pursuits do not automatically lend themselves to a great job upon graduation. For
example, if you major in basket weaving, you might not be able to find a great
job. Furthermore, some jobs are harder to obtain because too many people have
majored in that particular educational area. In addition, students have
discovered that their expectations to start at a salary equivalent to what
their parents are now making is often unrealistic. They forgot or did not
realize that their parents have spent many years working hard to reach the
plateau they are on with their present salary. Thus, when some students
graduate and cannot get a $75,000 to $100,000 job, but are still expected to
start paying back their gargantuan student loans, their little perfect world
comes crashing down. But still, it couldn’t possibly be their fault for not
knowing what would ultimately come, could it?
Even though they may have chosen the wrong major, only
went to classes sometimes, or partied hardy, their “me generation” views on
life could not possibly be wrong. So, instead of accepting a job at a lower
salary, many of these students have refused to give an inch, because they feel
they deserve that larger salary. To that end, they have again simply called
upon mom and dad to help them out and have gone back home to live with their
parents. Some have even politicalized their selfishness and their failed work
ethic to protest having to pay back their loans, saying: “It isn’t fair!” Yet
they are the ones that got to spend four or five years living off the
government’s or taxpayers’ money.
Why do these students have such selfish liberal views?
Well, it starts at home with being given basically everything they ever wanted
without having to work or appreciate what their parents were sacrificing to
give them what they asked for. Then add to that the liberal education they received
and they come out of college with selfish liberal worldviews. How do they get
these worldviews? Well, it is because they do not question their liberal professors’
opinions and ideas. It is so much easier to just embrace their liberal
professor’s socialistic or atheistic views on life and society when they do go
to classes than to think for themselves. That is because studying and inquiring
on their own in order to come up with the truth requires effort, and it is so
much easier to just accept and gradually come to believe what the professor is
telling them than to work at discovering the truth. But, if their parents had
taught them the truth and had prepared their children for life by giving them a
godly foundation while instilling in them a work ethic, these students would
not have automatically accepted what some authority figure in charge of their
grades was telling them.
God Told Parents to Teach Their Children
God knew that without parents adhering to His laws and
commandments He had given them and without their reverence and love for Him
that life on this earth would be extremely hard and that their children would
fall away and accept false gods and beliefs. In fact, God said, “Oh
that they had such a [mind and] and heart in them always [reverently] to fear Me
and keep all My commandments, that it might go well with them and with their
children forever!” --
(Deuteronomy 5: 29. Amplified). But, many parents have not passed
on God’s truth to their children. Consequently, things have not gone well for
those students who have not loved the Lord and who do not keep
God’s commandments. Yet, they wonder why they have a hard time in this life.
But, it is simple, they do not have the godly foundation of truth on which to
build their lives, so they simply believe anything that comes their way, or they believe anything that seems to be beneficial to themselves.
Many students come out of college unprepared to face
the cruel world, because they were indoctrinated with the belief that the
government should take care of them just like mommy and daddy had attempted to
take care of them by handing out money without any expectations for their
child’s personal growth. Enter Bernie Sanders for president. Bernie appealed to
these liberal socialistic minded youth, because he was going to give everyone a
free education or wipe out their debt by taxing the billionaires and others who
he believed had made too much money. Bernie wanted a higher tax on those who
made over $250,000 dollars. That is not rich in today’s economy, but it is
certainly richer than those in poverty. So, Bernie wanted to take from the rich
to give to the poor. That sounds good to the “me generation.”
Because many of our youth have not been taught to care
about others the way they care for themselves, and because they were not taught
to respect a strong work ethic; nor were they taught to have gratitude or
kindness in their hearts for anyone, let alone those that started companies
when they had nothing and then through hard work finally succeeded, they think
only of themselves. Their idea of hard work is to get the government to just
give them some of what someone else has worked so hard for. So, thinking only
of themselves and without love for others, they flocked to Bernie Sanders
rallies, determined to vote for him so they could get what they wanted. But
Christ said “that you (i.e., we) should love one another. (Christ
said,) Just as I have loved you, so you too should love one another.”
–
(John 13: 34. Amplified). Sadly, these students and graduates believe
that they deserve to have their schooling paid for by the taxpayers. So, without
love for others and by only thinking of themselves, they are determined all the
more to get what they want.
Mentoring Responsibilities of Parents Versus the Power of
Teachers
Why do our children fall for these liberal views and
the socialistic words of their professors instead of thinking for themselves and
determining to work out their own problems? Well, besides students' failing
to question and research the truth, many parents forgot a couple of very
important parental responsibilities that have also contributed to the
generation of young people today who protest and riot when they don’t get their
way. What are those parental responsibilities that have been neglected? First
parents have not established a godly household with Christ at the center. They
have not taught God’s laws or the love of God. Why? Well, it’s so much
easier for many parents to sleep in on Sunday morning than to take the children
to Sunday school and church. Haven’t they already put in a long week of work
and don’t they deserve time to themselves?
Time spent talking with and instructing our children
on every aspect of life, including their spiritual life, is the second thing
that parents have forgotten do. It is so much easier for parents to spend time
for themselves than to spend quality communication time with their children,
which is what every child wants from the person who claims to love them. But
without that communication and quality parental time, our children are not
being taught right from wrong, truth from fiction, work from laziness, values
from the things that are valueless, ethics including a work ethic, integrity,
responsibility, kindness and care for others and how to think of others before
one’s self. Consequently, we have many children and at least two generations of
some college graduates who are be extremely selfish and thoughtless.
James, the brother of Jesus, said, “Who
among you is wise and understanding? Let him show by his good behavior his deeds
in the gentleness of wisdom. But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish
ambition in your heart, do not be arrogant and so lie against the truth. … For where
jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder and every evil thing.
But the wisdom from above is first pure then peaceable, gentle, reasonable,
full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy. And the seed
whose fruit is righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.”
–
(James 3: 13, 14, 16-18. NASB).
We have seen recently after the
elections what disorder and evil can do to towns where young people got out and
protested, because they didn’t get what they wanted. Why have our children left
their jobs and classes to protest? Well, parents have not mentored or taught them
about truth, love, and wisdom. Furthermore, we have even seen some adults, who
should know better, write filthy graffiti on someone else’s building that disrespects
our president elect. What kind of example is this supposedly upstanding citizen
setting for our children and college students? Someone certainly abdicated their
parental responsibilities when bringing him up. Now, he is the one setting a bad
example for others, and so it goes on and on.
By abdicating our parental responsibility of sharing
God with our children, of not teaching our children the important things in
life like truthfulness and integrity, and by not spending time talking with our
children, we have simply given our children over into the hands of the public-school
teachers and college professors; many of whom have hidden agendas and are actually
anxious and excited to brainwash the minds of their classroom children and our youth
with ideas, beliefs, and philosophies that will change the way they perceive
the world forever. These teachers and professors are teaching a totally different
worldview than the one that this nation was built upon. This nation was built
upon a worldview that gives God the glory and loves others as they love themselves.
But, now our children are taught nothing about the true beginnings of this
nation. Instead, brainwashing our children is now an accepted form of teaching,
as is the inclusiveness of political correctness, which has allowed those with
a worldview based upon hate to be accepted into the classroom. This means that
those who hate our God, hate our country, and hate Christians and Jews are now
being allowed to teach and brainwash our children under the guise of political correctness and freedom to express hate.
Who is Teaching Our Children?
Because, our society has allowed almost anyone to get
a teaching degree without first checking on their beliefs and philosophies or
their truthfulness and integrity, we have many teachers that are teaching
radical ideas as well as their own personal philosophies to our children. In
fact, in any given school district, we may only have a few good teachers mixed
in with the many bad teachers who will use propaganda and personal views to
permanently damage the minds of future generations. How do I know this? Well, I
was a school teacher for 17 years and I saw what bad teachers did to the
children’s minds. I also saw the number of bad teachers increasing throughout
the years as people went into teaching simply to have a job, rather than for loving
to instruct the students in truth, knowledge, and inquiry. Then as values were
no longer allowed to be taught in schools, we started to see a new generation young
teachers without any personal values actually teaching our children. However,
in some cases the new teachers that are being allowed into the school districts
simply do not have values that mesh with the values of a Christian nation.
Some of these questionable teachers are being given
more and more power every day over the minds of our youth. This is because
parents are not standing up for their basic rights to determine who teaches
their children and to determine what the teacher is allowed to put into the
minds of their children. For example, more recently the national news has
reported that the school districts of San Francisco have gladly embraced a
class curriculum designed by a Muslim teacher who wants to teach hate against
President-elect Donald Trump under the guise of pointing out Trump’s supposed
hate of Muslims and blacks (Remember, though, that it was the media that came
up with this idea of Trump being a hater in the first place; the idea
perpetrated by liberals in order to keep Trump from being elected president.
But, Donald Trump has never said that he hated Muslims or blacks. He just said
that he wanted to ban Middle eastern people, some of whom may happen to be
Muslim, from coming into the United States until they can be extremely vetted
and prove that they are not affiliated with ISIS and that they are not
terrorists. Yes, Muslims come from the Middle East, so he used the word Muslim. But, Trump never said or even implied that he hated them. But the false media told the public that Trump was raciest.). However, this Muslim teacher has accepted the liberal media’s
version rather than the truth, and she believes that Trump is a hater of blacks and
Muslims. More importantly, she believes that it is her responsibility to teach
the high school students that their new president elect is a hater. So, she is
in essence teaching her students to hate their new president. Isn’t this the
type of hate rhetoric that goes on in the Middle East against the different
tribes? Isn’t this the same type of rhetoric that some terrorist groups use to persuade
people to join their organizations? Why is it okay for her to teach hatred
toward our president? More importantly, why are parents allowing their child to take her class?
Although this teacher’s class, that is based on a curriculum that teaches that Trump
hates certain people, is an optional class for high school students, many
students are excited to take her class. Furthermore, interviews of students who
have been in her previous classes have shown us students who have failed to develop a tolerance
for the views of others and now have specifically a lack tolerance for the
views of Donald Trump and conservatives. Sadly, these students have not been taught to
inquire and investigate the truth, but have instead drunk the cool-aid of her
hatred and will thus go off to college spouting hatred of their president while
being willing to adopt even more of the false philosophies of their liberal
professors who also espouse some type of hate. Just as importantly, is the question of why parents are not standing up against this type of indoctrination? If this type of curriculum continues
and then moves into other school districts throughout the nation, just think of
what that will mean for future generations. For, an entire generation will not
only accept socialism, but will also embrace the propaganda of their teachers,
the media and others. We will then have a generation that will easily succumb
to the lies of the Antichrist when he arrives on the scene, because they will
not be able to distinguish between truth and the lie. What can and what should
parents do in situations like this besides pray for our nation?
The Mentoring Responsibilities of Parents
Well, first and foremost, parents should actively mentor
their children in understanding and inquiring into others points of view, while
teaching their children about God and the truth. Then parents need to mentor
their children in the willingness to accept others points of view without having
to accept another person’s point of view as their own or without hating the
other person for not believing the way that they do. Above all, parents need to
mentor love and respect of others to their children. But, they also need to
teach their children how to look up information and how to determine the truth
of each issue. For, without a godly foundation of truth based upon the truth of
the Word of God, there is little chance that their children will not be
influenced by their teacher’s views. Obviously, there is a difference between
respecting a teacher’s viewpoint and just accepting that viewpoint because the
teacher is the authority figure holding grades over the heads of the students.
Our children need to be taught how to search out the truth of any statement or
opinion.
Only by laying a good spiritual and biblical
foundation of truth, righteousness, integrity, honesty, love, and humility can
parents expect their children to be able to engage in a conversation with
others without being trampled upon or made fun of. Peer pressure and teacher or
professor pressure causes many students to reject their parental upbringing, if
the parents have not laid that foundation of respect, love and truth in their
child’s life.
How do parents lay a foundation of respect, love and
truth? How do parents ensure that their child will not fall for anything or
will not hate those who do not believe the way that they do? Well, first parents
must take their parental responsibility seriously. Parents must talk to their
children everyday about what has been talked about in school or about what they
have learned, especially when looking at ideas that may not be what the parents believe. Parents then have to be willing to step up and correct
misconceptions by their students or through research correct information that
may have erroneously been taught or left out.
Parents, must also be willing to discuss the
foundation of our nation with their children, rather than just assuming that it
is being taught in school. In other words, parents must be willing to actively mentor
their children in all subjects that are important to the development of an
honest, unselfish, truthful, citizen of the United States. More importantly,
parents must mentor their children in the knowledge of Jesus Christ as their
Savior so that the child has every opportunity to knowledgeably and then longingly
accept Christ as their personal Savior. Obviously, every person has to make
that decision for themselves, but if they have not heard the Gospel message and
if they have not been taught from the Bible, there is a good chance that they
will personally reject the greatest gift that anyone can receive – Salvation. Instead,
teach them that “God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, what
whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.” -- (John 3: 16. NASB).
Talk to your child about eternal life and the sinfulness of humans that must be covered
by the blood of Christ in order to go to heaven.
It is only when our child truly accepts Christ as
their Savior, that parents can feel secure in sending their child off to college.
For, it is then that we can feel that our child has Christ as his/her protector. But,
parents need to do more. Early on, parents need to make sure that their
children go to a church that teaches the Bible and to a church that will give
their children a foundation of godly truth on which to stand when they are away
from home. At home, the parents also need to live God’s truth so that their
children can see how that truth is applied to their lives every day and not
just on Sunday. Only then will parents know that they have done everything to
give their child a firm foundation on which to stand when the winds of evil
come their way, or when different ideologies and false teachings are thrown at
them in college and throughout life. Christian parents know that only true
salvation along with scriptural facts based upon God’s Holy Word will give their
young person the truth and the ability to stand up for what they believe no
matter how persuasive that atheist or liberal professor may be.
As parental mentors, parents must also be willing to
be engage in the process of helping their child find a college that doesn’t just
have only liberal or socialistic professors. There are many good colleges out
there, but there are also many bad colleges that have a reputation for trying
to change the way a student thinks and that will attempt to change what the student
believes. Those colleges want their graduates to regurgitate their professors
and the political correctness police’s ideologies, biases, and radical
thinking. They do not believe in inquiry or in student's learning the truth, but only in
graduating them with the ideas and beliefs that the liberal college espouses. Parents should
not support these types of colleges by giving money or by sending their child
there. In fact, parents need to check into the philosophy of the college’s
leaders or administration, because in many cases a parent could be sending
their child off into the lion’s den. Your child could be eaten alive with
liberal socialist views that go against the truth of God’s Word. So, it is
important to know what these scholastic lions believe and if they will try to
influence your child to believe what they do. Parents must be careful to give their educational money to only those colleges that actually teach and inquire about the the truth.
Although, your students will be out on their own when
they go to college, it doesn’t mean that your parenting is over. In fact, if
you care about your child, you will always be a parent mentor, but you will just
parent in a more subtle and adult way. I am retired, but my mother still
parents occasionally when she thinks that I need some information that I may
have missed along the way. I know that she loves me and only wants what is best
for me, so I listen even if I don’t always agree. But that is what being a
parent is all about. It is showing our children that we care, that we are there
for them, that they can use us as an excuse to get out questionable situations,
that they can ask our opinion even though they may not take our opinion. But
most of all, we are to teach them that they must respect the opinions of others
even when they know or believe that the other person is wrong. For, they are to
love others as they love themselves. Moreover, we are to teach them that they
do not have to be scared, because God will always be there to guide and protect
them if they lean on Him and their Savior, Jesus Christ.
If you are a new parent or even if you have high
school age children, it is not too late to communicate with your children and
teach them to think for themselves. It is never too late to teach them about
God and the truth of His Word. It is never too late to share the Gospel message
if they have not yet accepted Christ’s gift of Salvation. Remember, too, that
if you have laid a firm foundation of values, ethics, truth, love, integrity
and humility that your child will return to those ways even if they deviate in
their early adult life. For the Bible tells us that we are to “Teach
y[our] children to choose the right path, and when they are older, they will
remain upon it.” --
(Proverbs 22: 6. NLT). But, we cannot abdicate the
responsibility of teaching our children the right path. For, if we do, we will
have children who will fall for anything.
My dad once told me that it is important to have a good foundation of
truth and to know what and why we stand for something. For, if we don’t have
that foundation and if we don’t stand on that foundation, we will fall for
anything. So, become an active relational Christian parental mentor and
teach your children about God, His Son, Jesus Christ, and the truth. Then you
can rest assured that your child will know the truth and will not be swayed by
false beliefs and ideologies that will hurt them in the long run. We can
make a difference in our nation one person or child at a time. You can do
it! You can be that Active Relational
Christian Mentor who helps
another person become all that they can be for the Lord, for themselves, and
for their family.
