Fallen Leaves: Part One
You hear the stories all the time. You catch the whispers between the church pews. Pretty soon someone will come up to and ask, “Did you hear that The Smith’s son was arrested for doing drugs?” The congregation is consumed with how a dedicated deacon’s daughter was caught with a boy in her bedroom. There are stories like these in every church running around wildly leaving the red faced parents to catch it with a net and cage it.
Such stories are like reality TV for some and concern for prayer for others. The treatment of these stories provides the distance between us and them. The “us” being those who could never have such a trial darken their door. The “them” are the ones who failed spiritually and paying the high price of watching their children walk in disobedience. What is the difference between “us” and “them” or is there one?
If you ever grieved with a parent whose child takes the road of disobedience you know the anguish this causes. Parents blame themselves, a bad crowd, a boyfriend or girlfriend, the internet or the TV. Why do some children fall away?
Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:
Whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world. – Peter 5:8-9
Our enemy is not the TV, outside influences, boyfriends or girlfriends. That is simply the form our real enemy takes. How quickly we forget that our enemy is lying in wait to pounce at just the right time to destroy our lives. Our children are under the same watchful eye of the enemy. We need to equip our children with the tools to keep the lion at bay. We cannot do that in fear but in the confidence of the Lord.
As parents we are given charge over our children. We are their first and last defense before they make the decision to follow Christ. Before they are mature enough to accept the Lord, our job is to pray consistently for their spiritual well being. Once they accept the Lord, we continue to pray for their spiritual well being yet we need to equip and guide them to follow the Holy Spirit within them. They need to learn that we live by our confidence is in the Lord not by fear of the enemy. Ruling your house by fear will put a choke hold around your child and prevent him from developing his own relationship with the Lord. Our children need to see that the enemy is powerful and comes in many forms to lure them away from the path of God.
They should fear straying from the Lord not being impotent to satan’s power. Raise a discerning child who understands that satan comes in many forms waiting to devour them. We often do not want to introduce our children to the dark parts of our faith. That introduction must be made by the light or the dark has an advantage that may be enough to extinguish the light in your child.
Copyright © Richele McFarlin, Moms of Faith, All Rights Reserved