Tuesday, July 17, 2007

Is It Worth It?

I Thessalonians 5:22 "Abstain from all appearance of evil."

It is so disturbing to see parents flirt with sin and evil and then they wonder why their children get caught up in the things of this world. Mom and Dad...you may think you're able to "handle" being around and even dabbling with some sin but I'm here to tell you that no one is so strong as to not be taken in by that sin. What's worse is the kids see the parents around it or doing it and they get the mindset that if Momma and Daddy can handle it so can they. I'm here to tell you that they will go down a path of destruction that originally started with Momma and Daddy. The ungodly influence of Hollywood and the wickedness of the worldly music will have a negative effect on our children. We need to be aware of that.

We as parents are to set the standard for our children. How can we teach our children what is anti-God and them follow that if we as parents don't abstain from it. The fault lies with us!!

We're inconsistent in what we say. We tell them that what was wrong to do before is now okay. And our kids will call us on it too. We're inconsistent with one child and the siblings will say "I thought we couldn't do that". Then the parent is left to come up with some explanation of justifying why they changed their mind about that thing. Don't you think this confuses our kids? We know who the author of confusion is too. I Corinthians 14:33 says "God is not the author of confusion..." If God is not the author of confusion then it is safe to assume that it has to be the devil. The devil is out to destroy. So if it confuses...you know something is wrong. It's not worth it for the parents to not stay committed to the things that we know to being wrong and abstain from them. If we want and expect our kids to abstain from them...we as parents should set the example and abstain.

Our kids need to see us reading our Bible and praying. They need to know by our example the things they need to be doing and also those things we should abstain from.

May God help us know and realize that we can be the influence that will either help make or help destroy our children for the cause of Christ. Our children are watching us and listening to how we talk and how we respond to different situations.

"Abstain from ALL APPEARANCE of evil." A rule I have taught my kids is when in doubt....don't. It would do us parents good to adopt this same philosophy. And also to remember those things that are anti-God and know that when temptation comes our way to indulge in things that are wrong that our children are watching us and we are setting ourselves and our children up for disaster. Is it worth it to you?

19 comments:

Lyndy said...

Sis Julie, Great post and great philosophy. I have seen too many parents with the "do as I say, not as I do" attitude.

Love you my friend.

Lyndy

Anonymous said...

Mrs Julie I believe it is worth it to abstain from evil for the sake of kids. It seems like this may be something that kind of bothers you about other people. I believe most Christian kids see so much hypocrisy from the parents no wonder when they turn 18 they hit the door. The devil will take that hypocrisy and run with it. It be amazing what God could do with his church if it would just abstain from on appearance of evil. I am talking to myself on that one. Well just thought I give my two cents on the post. Again good post

Bro Tim

Paula said...

Consistency is one of the most important keys to successful parenting. Sometimes our children questions our standards, and we are glad to take the Bible and show them why certain values are so important to God. I'm so very thankful for the grace God gives me in my parenting journey. ;)
Blessings,
Mrs. C

Katy-Anne Binstead said...

Hey Mrs Julie, I made a new blogger account. Hopefully I can remember this one. Very good post by the way.

Katy-Anne

Katy-Anne Binstead said...

I just read your posts on the home, they are very good. Thanks for coming to my site. I have been thinking about you too, but lol I forgot my old blog details so I can't get back into it. They seem to have made it a little easier to manage now. We are very excited about the home birth because we almost had to have a hospital birth and that broke my heart.

Katy-Anne

Theresa's Notes said...

Very good post Julie :-)

Lyndy said...

Sis Julie,

I've given you an award. Stop by my blog when you get a chance and pick it up :-)

CindyMae said...

Sis Julie, this is an excellent post! I do not understand how parents can think that they can do things evil and of this world and their children not follow suite! Awesome post! Thank you!

Sis. Julie said...

sis. lyndy....you are right about that "do as I say not as I do" philosophy. That USED to be the way I did things before I got saved!! Thank God I don't anymore!!

Sis. Julie said...

bro. tim...I was thinking as I was finishing up my post that even though people like you that don't have any kids...you are still in a position in the church as SS teacher and youth leader that the young people are still watching you and your wife. So the same things really applies to y'all as well.

Sis. Julie said...

mrs. c....you are so right about the taking of the Bible to explain why we do things and why we live a certain way and why we don't do other things. Our kids need to know how God feels about those things and then we need to be obedient in being consistent in those things in our own lives so as not to confuse them.

Sis. Julie said...

katy-anne....its good to have you back online blogging again. Thanks for stopping by!!

Sis. Julie said...

sis. theresa....thank you Sis!!

Sis. Julie said...

sis. cindy...I can't say that I don't understand cause I used to do it. But thank the Lord He has shown me through other people's lives and their examples of what can happen when the parents don't live like they should but expect the kids to.

Kristi said...

Hey Sis Julie, I have you something at Thimble Thoughts!

~Kristi

TO BECOME said...

Sis. Julie, Once again, a great post. I have found that if the parents are abstaining from all appearance of evil, the children usually follow. Thank you, connie from Texas

Jodi said...

Sis Julie ~ My husband and I have discussed this very issue many times. How often I have heard parents say, "That t.v. show/movie is not appropriate for children." So they wait until the children are in bed, and then watch it! If a show is too sinful for a child; it's too sinful for an adult child of God! Sin is sin!

But we also feel that means that we should never cease to measure our own hearts against God's Word. It is easy for me to point a finger at something I don't particularly enjoy anyway ~ :o). It is much harder to take a deep look into my own heart for attitudes, reactions and words that are not honoring to our Lord and then set about rooting them out. As parents, we must be diligent in maintaining our close walk with the Lord.

Wonderful post, Julie. I also want to take a moment to let you know I always read you. :o) I know I'm not the best at commenting over here (*blush*). I've had the same trouble overcoming this with Cheryl (Copper's Wife), but I'm working on it. You both write such thought provoking posts that I tend to go back and read and re-read them and mull them over. By the time I think of commenting there's more to read and mull over, so I never get around to commenting. Please know that I find your posts God honoring and an encouragement in my life! I love and appreciate you, ((my sister in Christ))!

Sis. Julie said...

sis. jodi...thank you so much for your sweet words. Its okay that you don't always comment. I know there are many that visit my site each day (many times the same ones) that do not comment. That is not a problem. I'm thankful however to know that God is blessing through the posts I put up and helping them as well. Thank you for coming by so faithfully and thank also for taking time to comment and let me know that you do. I love you also Sister!!

Sis. Julie said...

sis. connie..thank you again for commenting. This thing I've posted about is a real burden on my heart. I see it so often and it makes me angry as well as sad. These parents just don't realize what they are doing to their children...until its too later. And even then they still wonder where they went wrong.

VERY IMPORTANT!

Are you a good person? Take this test and find out.

Swidget 1.0 6

Audioministries.org