12 Jun Kidnapped (Eph. 6:1-4) [Part 4]
Over the almost 50 years of my life, I have seen a lot of crazy things in this culture! Of course just when I thought I had seen it all, I was flabbergasted as I watched a story of a mother who was giving her eight-year-old girl botox injections so she could compete successfully in a beauty pageant! As they interviewed the mother she was completely convinced this was not only acceptable but the best thing for her daughter! We live in crazy culture!
Over the last number of weeks I’ve shared with you our key scriptures from Ephesians 6:1-4:
“Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right. Honor thy father and mother; which is the first commandment with promise: That it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth. And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.”
We also began “6 Righteous Reasons to Rescue your Child”
- Teach your child to know the Father God and not just their mother church (Is. 54:13).
- Parents must assume the role of leader (Prov. 22:6).
- Understand the two sides of discipline (Prov. 29:15).
This week let’s continue…
- Love is revealed through involvement (Heb. 12:1-12).
Discipline is not effective without love and love is revealed by being involved. As our kids grow, they will invariably hear and repeat some cuss word that they picked up outside the home (for the love of God, let it be from outside the home!). I remember about a year after we had started Joy Church, a very nice family took us out to eat dinner at a lovely restaurant. We had just sat down and we only engaged in conversation for about five minutes when the son of this nice family let loose a juicy cuss word! His parents were mortified! It looked as if all the blood had drained from their faces.
Imagine their dilemma, here they were trying to take the new pastor and his wife out to dinner and make a good impression, and five minutes into dinner their son lets out a whopper of a cuss word! Anne and I were very low key and compassionate about the whole thing, but the parents spent the rest of the night trying to explain that the boy had picked this word up at his public school.
When your child comes to you with his first cuss word or some inappropriate sexual comment that he doesn’t understand, it’s important for us as parents not to freak out or we train our kids to go elsewhere when it comes to delicate matters. It is vital that we handle such matters with love, wisdom, truth and tact. You see, as long as you are involved…you will always have a voice!
Now, please don’t mistake me, by involvement I don’t mean taxi cab driver, where you are simply the chauffer taking your child to his next event. Children spell love, T-I-M-E! Then, and only then, will our children know how much we care.
The world is crazy and the world is not fair, and if we don’t create some borders for our children they will move into areas of destruction. Ephesians 6:2 tells us, “Honor thy father and mother; which is the first commandment with promise;”. The Greek word translated “honor” is the word timao, where we get our English word “time” from. The word “timao” could be easily paraphrased as “listen and obey the first time”. Through being involved in our children’s life, it gives us a powerful voice in their life. This in turn enhances their ability to “listen and obey the fist time.” In extreme cases, this could be a matter of life or death.
Let me share with you a true story. In the 1800’s, there was a father leading his three sons across theOregon Trail. TheOregon Trailwas a prairie known for its dry, waist-high grass. During the driest season, this area was well known for brush fires that would literally sweep across large areas in the blink of an eye. One day, this dad and his sons were traversing the trail when the dad suddenly stopped and listened. Immediately he yelled to his boys, “Get down!” The kids hit the ground immediately as one of those dangerous brush fires swept over their heads. Their instant obedience saved their lives. Had they questioned their dad, like most teens do, they would’ve died!
- Trust and verify (Prov. 22:15, 14:15).
Here the Bible tells us in these two powerful verses:
“Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child; but the rod of correction shall drive it far from him” (Prov. 22:15). “The simple believeth every word: but the prudent man looketh well to his going” (Prov. 14:15).
When you combine these verses you understand three things:
1) Kids can do some dumb things!
2) Kids can lie!
3) Trust and verify!
I did not get saved until I was 20 and I don’t know about you, but I could really do some dumb things and then lie about it to endeavor to get out of trouble. When I was in high school, I had a French teacher by the name of “Mrs. Pringle”. When I would walk by her in the hall, just to be obnoxious, I would call her “Mrs. Dingle”. Day after day I would say “Hello, Mrs. Dingle! How are you Mrs. Dingle? What’s happening, Mrs. Dingle?”
Finally, after weeks of this disrespect, Mrs. Pringle had enough of yours truly. She exploded at me in her thick French accent, “It is Mrs. Pringle! Pringle! It is not Mrs. Dingle! It is Mrs. Pringle!” Being a tremendous smart alec, I responded in a sarcastically hurt tone, “Why Mrs. Pringle, I am surprised at you. Here I am being kind enough to say hello to you in the hall for all these weeks. Day after day, being one of the few students to be friendly with you and this is what I get in return? I am surprised and hurt.” I watched her soften as my sarcastic lie permeated her compassionate heart. Once again in her thick French accent she said, “Ahh Jim, I am so sorry for being unkind to you.” To which I cavalierly replied as I walked off, “Don’t worry about it, Mrs. Dingle!”
While it is important that we believe in, support and protect our children, let’s also make sure we are not naïve. As a former children’s and youth pastor, I have seen too many parents take it personally when their little halo-wearing angel was accused of the smallest wrong doing. I can’t say it enough, believe in, support and protect your child but if there are many trusted authority figures saying the same thing about your child…don’t’ ignore their warnings. Trust and verify!
Next week we’ll continue this series.