I haven't written in a while so just to keep things going I will add yet another controversial thought to my blog. Since there are really very few readers I probably won't get any responses anyways:
The thought I want my reader(s) to consider is what does it mean to be a Christian in the culture in which we find ourselves in? Is being a Christian merely doing what others find acceptable? Or is it something more? A relative once said to my wife when she learned that she considered raising our children her "ministry", that everyone raises their children - in effect suggesting that my wife got it wrong. The answer was that very few disciple their children, they merely provide the necessities of life so that they will do what comes natural - grow! Discipling ones own children is of the highest order. It transcends the highest pinnacle simply because this is how God designed it to be for a family. I call this "intentional parenting" and we don't get it right all the time. We are not perfect. To be frank, my wife and I are pros at perfectly messing things up! My wife has got it perfectly right. Unfortunately most families got it perfectly wrong - they can't see clearly that the things they do serve only to confuse and alienate their children and are mystified when little Suzy-Q wanders off on her own away from the living God. The culture has so completely stupefied and desensitized the "Christian" parent to look and act just like the world that they cannot see that the so-called "god" they serve is really themselves. All is sacrificed for convenience; all is sacrificed for what's financially best for the family; all is sacrificed for pure selfishness. The refusal to have children because of some foreseen but unknowable fear; The refusal to have children because some educational goal will be wasted. It is all me - it is all the self. Where does trusting God for all things come in to play? Am I a fool because I have 9 children and consider each one a blessing from above? Am I a fool because I choose to set aside the world's cultural all too familiar "clichés" about why having so many children is not wise? We sacrifice because having children and discipling them to love Jesus is greater than anything the world can offer. It is greater than riches; it is greater than giving to charity; it is greater than having "things" and other conveniences of life. It is greater than promotions or other advancements. It is the greatest thing because we have the best opportunity to disciple our children to make positive change for Christ in the areas where God shall send them. This is God's desire. They are our present mission field. That mission field will change when they grow and get married and have children of their own. Our mission field will still take the form of a discipling nature but we will be here to see our grandchildren share in the faith of their parents. Our parenting will never end.
It is good for missionaries to be sent into the world. It is bad that they find their children an inconvenience in that process. So they send them off to boarding schools. Or they postpone having children because "that would be inconvenient". This is about the most selfish thing I have ever heard. I have absolutely no respect for these "missionaries" who put away their children for the sake of "winning" others for Christ - (but loosing their own families in the process). Is it fun to have children only to have someone else raise them? As Jesus said, "You should have practiced the former without neglecting the later". No the greatest institution is God's creation of the family - and it has been neglected for far too long. It is time for every true Christian to start thinking in terms of multi generational vision. It is not about ME or MYSELF, but what is best for my family and my children.
-Joe
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