What do we teach them?

Everything we do has consequences. Every choice we make impacts someone. Every word we say can lift another person’s life up or cause them to question their existence. Who has God allowed you to have influence over? Certainly your spouse, your children, and your friends. Yesterday, I witnessed a father loudly and overtly cursing at his wife in front of a local grocery store as he was pushing a shopping cart carrying their two year old child. Jesus said “But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these make a man ‘unclean.’ For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. These are what make a man ‘unclean’ …” (Matthew 15:18-20, NIV)

Today our schools are filled with kids using language laced with cursing and profanity. Sadly, I believe the media has so desensitized them that it is becoming indoctrinated into their culture. This offense is far from Ephesians 4:29 “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.” And is more liken to the warning God spoke to Ezekiel in verse 22:26 “Her priests do violence to my law and profane my holy things; they do not distinguish between the holy and the common; they teach that there is no difference between the unclean and the clean; and they shut their eyes to the keeping of my Sabbaths, so that I am profaned among them.”

Children are a gift from the Lord. We are charged with admonishing and teaching them in the way of our Lord. They are not our property! They are gifts. All things belong to God. And everything (all gifts, even our children) will return to the Father either invested or buried. Every action of love will endure forever, love will never fail. Everything else will burn like chaff, wood, and stubble. Let your actions, your words, and your desires speak of love. Your children, your spouse, your friends, even your enemies will be changed. You will leave a legacy that has the promise of God and it will last forever!