The world is confused, but your kids don’t have to be. You can help your children navigate truth in a culture of confusion.
And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. Genesis 6:5
There used to be a day not too long ago when the innocence of children was protected rather than preyed upon. A world where families were allowed to teach their children right from wrong concerning morality and sexuality without fear of others trying to take that right away. However, if it were up to some people, that day would no longer exist.
A World of Choices
We live in a culture of consumerism that has created a desire for more choices than are necessary or healthy for anyone, including both ourselves and our kids. “Have it your way” is no longer just a fast-food slogan, but an on-going lifestyle for many. And while God from the very beginning gave us the freedom to choose, he did not give us the freedom from the consequences of our choices. Unrestrained freedom can be a very dangerous thing.
A Clash of Terms
Much of the confusion in our society over right vs. wrong depends upon who you talk to, and has simply become all about how you frame the question. If we just give things a different name, rather than calling it what it actually is, it’s not hard to call evil good and good evil. (Isaiah 5:20)
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Is it a woman’s right to choose or a baby’s right to live?
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Is it really about a choice or is it really about a life? (Psalm 139:13-16)
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Is pornography just the appreciation of women’s beauty or the objectification and desecration of women’s bodies?
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Is unfaithfulness to the marriage bed just a matter of “messing around” or is it a matter of fornication and adultery that God promises to judge? (Hebrews 13:4)
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Is pushing sex education on young children preparing them for successful adulthood or stealing from them the innocence of childhood?
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Is transgenderism nothing more than fun adult dress up, or is it a perversion and rejection of God’s divine order and biological authority?
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Is truth cultural: “Love is love” and “Gender is fluid?” Or is truth biblical: “God is love” and “Gender is fixed?” (I John 4:8, Mark 10:6)
“So God created man in His own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.” Genesis 1:27
A Bend Towards Evil
Genesis 6:5 reminds us that the very imagination of men’s hearts leans towards what is evil rather than what is right. In looking at the current state of our world today, I am convinced that there is nothing that a sinful heart can’t justify, no matter how wrong it is, because “the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” (Jeremiah 17:9).
“The fool is capable of any evil and at the same time incapable of seeing that it is evil.” -Dietrick Bonhoeffer
When people get far from God, they can justify anything and everything that fits into their own agenda and selfish desires. Because once sin is no longer sin, people have no need for a Savior. And with the absence of godly leadership or accountability, we see happening today what happened in the Old Testament, “Every man did that which was right in his own eyes.” (Judges 21:25)
Mark Twain once wisely said, “It’s easier to fool people than to convince them that they have been fooled.”
A Golden Opportunity
If we’re not careful, it’s easy to get distracted by all the negative around us that we fail to get laser focused on the opportunity right in front of us with our kids.
As godly parents, we have the opportunity to shape the hearts, minds, and worldviews of our own children, regardless of what other may say. Everyone is entitled to their own opinions, but everyone is not entitled to their own truth. Truth does not change just because one’s opinions differ from it. (John 17:17)
Never forget that God has given you home-court advantage if you’ll use it. You can play offense rather than defense in your home, and I hope that you will.
Here are some practical questions to ask and answer with your kids to help them understand biblical truth and grace in a godless society.
Who am I?
- This is a fundamental question that every person wrestles with, including our children. It is most important for them to understand that every person is made in the image of God and was created for a lifelong relationship with Jesus. God has wonderfully created them as either male or female on purpose, and no one and nothing can ever change that.
- Contrary to what some are trying to say, being male or female goes far deeper and beyond just being able to surgically change one’s genitalia. It’s not a body issue, but a Bible issue. It’s not a choice our children have to make, but a choice that’s already been made for them, by a loving and all-knowing God who makes no mistakes. (Psalm 18:30)
Who is God?
- At the heart of every issue that our culture is facing is a desire to become our own gods rather than submitting to the authority of God in our lives. Gender fluidity is just one more attempt to reject the God who created us by denying the very obvious and observable facts of who and how he chose to make us.
- Unlike America, many other nations are not jumping on the cultural bandwagon of gender fluidity, but are sticking with the historical (and biblical) understanding of gender roles. Why? Because they see the looming destruction it will inevitably cause. They see the wolf in sheep’s clothing. It is is nothing more than yet another attempt by the enemy to destroy not just a nation, but the family, and divert future generations away from God’s truth.
- There is nothing new under the sun. This is what Adam and Eve wrestled with in the Garden of Eden, and it is the same battle that we are wrestling with today. Either we can be god, or God can be God, but not both. (Joshua 24:15) Our choice changes how we choose to live, both now and for eternity.
How Do I Live With Grace While Standing for Truth?
- As the world gets further and further away from truth, it will hate more and more those who speak it. But may that never change our love for the people who have believed the enemy’s lies of confusion—people we are called to love. People Jesus died to save. People who are eternally lost without this gospel we hold. May we boldly, yet graciously, stand for truth, while teaching our children how to do the same.
- Our children need to hear about these issues from a grace-filled, biblical standpoint, and the best ones to talk to them about it is you—their parent. And if you’re doing it right, such conversations ought to deepen your love for the people in need of this life-changing, freedom-giving truth we possess. (John 14:17)
- Let me strongly encourage you to talk with your kids about these important truths, and even use the points and scriptures referenced above to help you do it.
“We can stand for Christ without compromising truth; we can love the lost without losing our testimony; and we can raise up a generation who understands how to do both.”
