Prepare your children for a hostile takeover

The world as a hostile place that will turn your children from God. This hostility is masked by deception. The world does not present itself as a hostile enemy. Rather, the world offers itself as the ultimate source of understanding, pleasure, fulfillment and satisfaction. The success of this deception is evident in the lives of many children who have been savaged by the world. Too many children from Christian homes echo the cry of the man in Proverbs 5

 

At the end of your life you will groan,
when your flesh and body are spent.
You will say, “How I hated discipline!
How my heart spurned correction!
I would not obey my teachers
or listen to my instructors.
I have come to the brink of utter ruin
in the midst of the whole assembly.” (Proverbs 5:11-14)

 

What is the answer to that anguished cry of regret? Why didn’t he listen? Why didn’t he pay attention?

 

At least one reason is that he believed the lies, the deceptions of Satan’s world. As the saying goes, beauty is only skin deep. The world has only the appearance of beauty, not the reality. But the appearance of beauty is alluring and powerful, even though it is false. Satan is hard at work putting an appealing, beautiful veneer over the horrible world that he rules. Never underestimate the danger of false beauty!

 

Your job as a parent is to use the time while your children are in the protected environment of your home to prepare them for the deceptive, hostile world that they must soon face. The day will come when they must leave behind the protection of your greenhouse. Then they must be strong enough and wise enough to see through Satan’s deceit.

 

You know your children. Help them prepare for a world system, i.e. the world the flesh and the devil, that wants them to say the same words the man in Proverbs uttered 3,000 years ago. Bring the light and truth of Scripture to your children. Build relationships so that they will believe you what you tell them. Their lives may depend on it.

Shepherd Press