“The godly walk with integrity; blessed are their children who follow them. Even children are known by the way they act, whether their conduct is pure, and whether it is right.” Proverbs 20:7, 11 (NLT)
In case you haven’t caught the news in the last year or so, our country is in decline. Spiritual, moral, and social decline.
It’s frustrating! Heartbreaking!
I remember when I was growing up and my mother told me…
“Stephanie, I will always love you no matter what… but when you do wrong, you will suffer the consequences. And if you get swats at school for disobeying your teacher, expect to get swats when you get home too. Right is right and wrong is wrong. Respect authority, do what is right… and you won’t have anything to worry about.”
That’s not the conversation many moms are having with their kids these days but it is a conversation that moms SHOULD be having with their kids.
It can be dated back to the 1947 case of Everson v. Board of Education, when the Supreme Court declared, “The First Amendment has erected a wall between church and state. That wall must be kept high and impregnable. We could not approve the slightest breach.”
In an attempt by secular humanists to develop a secular society, they have very strategically and very intentionally whittled away at our Godly heritage until they have developed a country in which prayer has been removed from schools, being a Christian is scorned, and talking about Jesus is unacceptable.
And during the height of the Civil Rights movement, Martin Luther King declared this popular and powerful statement, “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.”
But people aren’t worried about character anymore…instead they are more worried about making this a nation of confusion where crimes are committed and defended rather than fulfilling the most important part of Martin Luther King’s statement that people would be known for their character, not their race, not their gender and not their social or economic status.
And so, here we are. In a country where they call wrong right and right wrong, and where our children are growing up in an entitlement society where no one wins, you don’t have to work to survive, and authority is to be challenged – not respected.
So what do we do when we live in a culture of spiritual, social and moral decline? Are we completely without hope and at the mercy of the merciless and the politically correct? The truth is, moms are the ones who mold the heart of the next generation and families are where spiritual truths, social behavior and morals are taught best.
The heart of the next generation is in your hands moms… so, here are 5 priorities you can put in place to get you started…
1. Make it a priority to teach your children God’s Word – not only by what you say to them, but by the way you live out the Word of God in your own home. Set a time every day to spend in the Word with our children, pray with them and teach them how to study the Scriptures for themselves. Most importantly, teach them that Scripture is not just something you know, but it is what you live out.
2. Make it a priority to teach your children about our Godly Heritage – Here’s a link to Wallbuilders to help you get started. Mike Huckabee also has produced some videos that can help you teach your children about our country, and their role and responsibility to be good citizens and make a difference.
3. Make it a priority to teach your children to fear the Lord, to love the Lord, to know right from wrong, to care about others, to respect authority and to be men and women of integrity – In a world where the lines between right and wrong have been blurred and people don’t fear God, it is important to know that if we want our children to be wise, wisdom begins by fearing God… and loving Him, knowing right from wrong, caring about others, respecting authority and being people of integrity all flow from their relationship with and view of God.
4. Make it a priority to let your children fail and suffer the consequences – So often, parents prevent their children from facing the consequences of their actions and it is high time that parents let their children see the reality that for every action, there is a consequence.
5. Make it a priority to teach your children that they can do/be anything they want IF they pray, work hard, discipline themselves and surround themselves with wise, good and godly friends – We live in a culture of entitlement. Those who do nothing somehow believe that they deserve everything, no one should ever have to do without anything, and everyone wants to be a star. You have an opportunity to instill a real work ethic in the heart of your kids and to teach them the value of hard work, discipline and choosing wisely who they hang around with.
ARE YOU FRUSTRATED BY THE SPIRITUAL, SOCIAL AND MORAL DECLINE OF OUR COUNTRY? WHICH OF THE FIVE PRIORITIES ABOVE WILL YOU BEGIN IMPLEMENTING? WHICH WILL BE THE MOST DIFFICULT?
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