I shared the following on FB yesterday and got some pretty interesting remarks:
"It is exceedingly crucial that my children understand that following God is more than just fun-filled activities. Does "take up your cross" sound fun? No, but it's what Jesus said we must do. The sooner my children understand that God is holy (He is HOLY), the better for them. Should they decide to follow Him (and I pray they do!), I don't want them doing so based on some false impression that it's a fun-filled walk."
This is my mission as a mom who seeks to follow the Lord.
One person responded with, "But it's ok to have fun!".
I am not saying that we can't have fun activities and make fun memories.
One friend understood what I was trying to say and responded with this:
"Cyndi's post is not honing in on fun, but the seriousness of following and serving God. When we are teaching children, we have to be careful of what kind of fun they are having as we try to teach them serious life concepts."
She is hit the nail on the head. Children like to play, having fun and laughing. Who doesn't? But as we seek to please the Lord, we must be careful to be appropriate and to always ask ourselves if we are pleasing Him in the "fun" things we are doing. I am trying to be careful to teach my children to have "appropriate" fun and since we live in a corrupt world, sometimes we can't help to see unpleasant and inappropriate things.
So what do we do with that?
We train our eyes to look away immediately and we train our children's eyes to do the same. I know of a family that has a code word to holler out to each other when they see something inappropriate coming their way - whether it be a person with little clothing covering themselves or a billboard or anything that would cause impure thoughts - when they're out and about. They holler, "Shoes!" And when the other family members hear it, they immediately look at their shoes for a while until it's safe to look up again. I thought that was pretty clever.
Another friend responded to my FB post by saying,
"So many kids who grow up in church grow out of church because they're taught that it's supposed to be fun. If there is no spiritual maturation process as they grow up, church will get old and cease to hold any relevant place in their lives. When we dumb it down and fun it up, we leave little seed for the Spirit to work in them and they become far more attuned to how they feel than truth."
It's true! I can name one other peer, maybe two, at the most, from my days in youth group that are currently seeking to please the Lord. How sad that is! I do not want that to happen to my children. I pray they come to understand what it truly means to follow Jesus. It's not about receiving wealth, health and material things from God. He takes care of us indeed, giving us everything that we need. If we're completely honest, all we truly need is HIM.
My purpose for sharing this is to ask for your prayers for my family in this matter. I know my friends and family already do that and I thank you. I further ask for accountability from those who know me. Sometimes the truth hurts. Sometimes truth offends. Always truth is necessary and must be kept in our focus.
Do me a favor, my friends. Always be honest with me and speak truth, not opinions, to me, even if it may hurt for a bit.
