Guard Your Children

by Jeff Curtis

Pope John Paul II, said, “As the family goes, so goes the nation and so goes the whole world in which we live.” This is a practical point for all of us, as parents, to consider. We are the guardians of the next generation.

Moses wrote in Deuteronomy 6:4-9; “⁴ “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one! ⁵ You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. ⁶ “And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. ⁷ You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. ⁸ You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. ⁹ You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.” God has intended for parents to always be busy teaching and protecting their children from this world.

We don’t need to be like Jacob, who seemed indifferent when Dinah was taken by Shechem (Genesis 34). We are to take an active role in training and teaching our children. Proverbs 22:6, “Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.”

Today, our children listen to music that may questionable at times, even the music we listen as their parents could be questionable at times. However, we shouldn’t think that just because our kids are listening to “contemporary Christian” music that they will not influenced in a negative way.

Many young people want to consider themselves to “in the know,” and up to date on what’s going on in the world. They like the progressive ideas in politics today, and still want to consider themselves to religious, and faithful (in their own way) to God.

There is a Grammy winning Christian singer, Kevin Max, who has stated recently that he is no longer evangelical. He voiced his support for groups that are anti-government, anti-police, etc. He says he is now called an “Exvangelical” and a follower of the ‘Universal Christ.”

What?

He recently said on a podcast, “We embrace the LGBTQ community fully, are thoroughly feminist, denounce the role of white supremacy in society in general, and white evangelicalism in particular.” I’m not sure I completely understand all that he said. I’ve never heard of “white evangelicalism.” But, to claim his support for homosexuality is in direct conflict with God’s Word. Homosexuality has always been condemned and rebuked in the Word of God. God has destroyed cities because of this belief. Sodom and Gomorrah, in Genesis 19. “as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities around them in a similar manner to these, having given themselves over to sexual immorality and gone after strange flesh, are set forth as an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.” (Jude v.3).

As parents, we are obligated to protect our children. Sometimes, they are not going to like our objections to things such as the music they listen to, they may even resent our questioning of their choice of music. The alternative, is that you could help to persuade them to change some of their choices and help prevent them from being so heavily influenced by the world.

Who knows, they may live long enough to thank you for your love and concern for their soul.

The Pressure to Conform

by Jeff Curtis

A science teacher gave a simple illustration in class. They took an empty, flat-sided, one gallon metal can. Then took the lid off the can, put a little water in it, and placed it over an open fire. Soon the water was boiling. Using gloves, the teacher put the lid back on, screwed it down tight, and removed the can from the fire. For a few minutes nothing happened. Then suddenly – as though crushed by a giant, invisible hand – the sides of the can collapsed inward. Impressive.

The teacher explained that heating the can expand the air and forced some of it from the can. As a result, when the sealed can cooled, the air pressure inside the can was less than the pressure outside the can. That’s why the outside pressure caused the sides of the can to collapse. Most of are not aware of the air pressure, but it’s there. At sea level, the pressure is almost fifteen pounds per square inch. (University of Illinois, “Atmospheric Pressure”, September 19, 2013). Our bodies don’t collapse because the pressure inside is the same as the pressure outside.

As we study passages like Romans 12:2, we think of this lesson about pressure. Many people are not aware of the pressure in the world to conform to its lifestyle. They yield to that pressure because they have nothing within to enable them to withstand it. Paul, in effect, said that the way to keep pressure from the world from “squeezing us into it mold” is to offset that pressure with a renewed mind.

What can we do (with God’s help) to renew our minds? Probably, the most important action we can take is to fill our minds with that which lifts us up instead of that which drags us down. If our minds are constantly exposed to immoral, irreverent, and self-centered influences of the world, it will be almost impossible to renew our minds. Paul also wrote, “…whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things” (Philippians 4:8).

We need to fill our minds with the Word of God; this we do through Bible reading and study. Our thoughts should be focused on God; we can achieve this focus through meditation and prayer, and considering the wonderful world God has made (Romans 1:20). We need to associate with people who have a spiritual emphasis in their lives; this we do through Christian fellowship. Above all, we must keep our eyes on Jesus and work to be like Him. “But we all, …beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit” (2Cor. 3:18). In this way, the inner man will be “renewed day by day” (2Cor. 4:16). We will be transformed both inside and outside (the body) and inside (the mind).

Are you living the transformed life? Transformation has to do with change, and change is not easy. It is difficult to get out of the deep, deep ruts of lifelong behavior – but we can change with the help of God. Relying on Him, we can meet Paul’s challenge.

The transformation begins as you are baptized as a penitent believer and rise to “walk in newness of life” (Romans 6:4). The change continues as you turn your mind from “the things of the flesh” and focus on “the things of the Spirit” (Romans 8:5).