70% deceived

As a Christian parent does your faith make a difference in your life? Think about it in relation to your children. When God sent those little blessings into your life, what was the purpose? Why did He give them to you? When they leave your home one day to raise up their own families, what do you hope to have accomplished in their lives?

I read a Barna research report today that surveyed parents thoughts on this very subject. I was shocked at the results. Barna found that 70% of born again Christian parents did not include their child's salvation as a critical parental emphasis. Can you believe that?

We need to understand that the very first place the Great Commission should be worked out is in the lives of our children! Jesus told His disciples in Matthew 28 to reach people for salvation and then to train them up to obey His commands. Do you suppose this applies first and foremost to strangers and people in far away lands? No, it starts first at home with the children He gives you. This is your FIRST AND MOST IMPORTANT duty as a parent. God wants you to be devoted to introducing your children to Christ and then discipling them.

85% of Christian parents delegate the training up of their children to the school system. How may of those children will be introduced to Christ and discipled to obey His commands? Remember what I wrote previously about the Supreme Court's ruling about even displaying the Commandments in schools? No, we wouldn't want to do that, they just might meditate on those Commandments and obey them! Those children aren't going to be discipled for Christ there, but they will be discipled for humanism, for the idea that truth is relative, that they can decide to live however they want, that God isn't the creator of the universe and that they came from a puddle of slime by chance billions of years ago.

Well if 70% of Christian parents don't understand why God sent those children to them much less their duty relative to the Great Commission, what should we expect of our children? Should they be any different than the world? Is it any wonder that Christian children grow up to be just as involved in adultery, divorce, living together unmarried, and so forth as non-Christians?

Let's take some time to study God's word and see what the life purpose is for these children God blessed us with. Let's see what it says about how and what it is we are to teach them. Lives are at stake here. Lives for all of eternity. This is no small matter, your child's destiny is at stake. Will you invest the time to learn? Will you invest the time to teach them? Or is your child's eternal destiny not that important compared to what you want to do? Don't bother answering that, you actions will show where your heart is.

Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your mind, and with all your strength. Listen and obey what He says this day.