What Are We REALLY Doing?

Luke 12:15 "Then he said to them, "Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions."

2 Corinthians 10: 3-5 "For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ."


Today I read an article by Bob Burney entitled "Christmas Shopping: Are We Funding the Corruption of Our Kids?" It is such a great article that applies to every aspect of our lives that I thought I would use it for today's devotional.



"The results are in: Christian parents are scared to death of their own children. Does that sound alarmist? You decide. A recent study from the Barna Research Group provides for us an incredible window into the homes of American, "born-again" Christians. The view is frightening and should have the attention of all thoughtful Christians. The latest research looks at the attitudes of parents with respect to the gifts they're buying their children. The scope of the report was limited to "media" gifts. It's somewhat shocking to see that those who consider themselves "born-again" Christians will spend more than $1 bil on things like CD's, DVD's, video games, and maagazines for children under the age of 18.

But this alone is not what should arrest our attention. It's the fact that parents--Christan parents--are buying their children gifts that they personally do not believe are good for their children. Would any parent intentionally buy their child something they know is harmful? Eveidently yes. The most widely purchased media gifts by Christian parents were DVD's. According to the study, 25% of Christian parents admitted that they were not comfortable with what they were givng to their own child.

The next most popular gift was music CD's. A full 1/3 of Christian parents said they had concerns about the content on those CD's. Next in line were video games. A shocking 46 percent of the Christian parents handing a video game to their child expressed charing over the content of the game. The list of gift continues with equally shocking results concluding with downloads on mobile phones. Overall 70% of Christian parents who purchased dowloads for their children's phones were not pleased with the content of the particular dowloads.

It would seem that the inmates are running the asylum. Well, maybe that's a poor analogy. then again, maybe not. This does seem to border on the insane. Why would parents knowingly give their children things they believe are not good for them? Is it possible that parents are terrified that their children may not like them? Is it possible that parents are far more concerned about appearing cool to their children than they are about providing direction, guidance, and limits? Sadly, this seems to be the case.

The causes for this unforunate reality are probably legion. One explanation may be that some parents are so insecure in themselves that they feel they just have to be "cool" to their kids. Another reason might be that far too many churches have fed a narcissistic hunger in America by giving their congregations far more of what they want rather than what they need. The "experts" that give instruction on how to be "relevant" may in fact be confusing parents--parents who are just as vulnerable to peer pressure as their children.

In the study, George Barna offered his own thoughtful analysis:

"The process of selecting appropriate Christmas presents for children is a microcosm of the spiritual tension millions of Christian adults wrestle with. Many Christian parents are striving to serve two conflicting masters: society and God. They refuse to believe that they cannot satisfy both. Sadly, this Christmas season will produce enormous stress for numerous Christian parents who don't want to disappoint either God or their children, but whose ultimate choices will disappoint both God and themselves, while providing gifts that are not in the best interests of their children. For Christians, the Christmas season should be a time of celebration and appreciation of the life of Jesus Christ. Instead, that joy is being minimized by the pressure and confusion introduced by our focus on material consumption and fulfillment."

Indeed. So what should we do? If Christians have any chance of impacting our culture we must begin by doing what's right rather than what's merely expedient. Parents must start parenting with eyes fixed on only one master: the Lord Jesus Christ."

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Steve and I found this article interesting as newer parents. We just finished a class at church called "Effective Parenting" by Chip Ingram (author of Walk through the Bible). Through this class, we learned several things in raising Benjamin and soon, Michael, that we hope we will be able to use throughout the next 20 years of direct parenting:

1. Kids need discipline--loving discipline. They crave being taught their boundaries. The best way we can do that is to know when to say the word NO to our kids. They may hate it, but they will learn better how to live in this world because of how we work with them to teach them right from wrong.

2. We need to be the example for Benjamin and Michael to learn how to love Jesus with all their "heart(s), soul(s), mind(s), and (collective) strength. Are we being the parents we want our children to become? If not, then we need to make a direct shift in how we model what we believe and most importantly, Who we believe in.

3. If we act like we are afraid of our kids, they will know it and take full advantage of it. We can't be our childrens' friends. We can have fun with them, play with them, and love them...but right now Benjamin's thinking is very concrete--very black and white. As he nears teenage years, his thinking will become more abstract--and he will begin to test the grey he finds in the middle. This is when we have to unite and remember to keep everything in perspective. We are still in control of the daily lives of our kids until they move out of our homes.

We hope that in light of the glitter and glamour the world shines this time of year, that this article and the verses I inserted prior to it will help all of us to keep perspective. The glitter and glamour the world offers will go away. But the love and time and effort we put into the investment of our children will never go away.

And the type of love, time, and effort we put into our children will ultimately determine the outcome of the types of lives they live either for or against God.