Don’t Look Away
I have been a part of my husband’s family for twenty-five years. I remember one night years ago before we all had kids, when Chad’s siblings and his parents and I were sitting around telling stories. Somehow a hilarious tale came up about some high school rebellion or other that had never been found out.
As the story grew and she began to hear things she didn’t like, my sweet mother-in-law put her hands over her face and said with a laugh, “I don’t want to know about it!”
She is a brilliant woman with multiple degrees, but when it came to this story, she enjoyed her blissful ignorance. She didn’t want to hear any more. She was happy to bury her head in the sand and go on believing that her boys were just as responsible and principled in high school as they are now.
It really doesn’t matter if Chad’s mom ever listens to that story or gets wise about some of the dumb stuff her kids did in high school. She isn’t raising them anymore. They turned out pretty great, and she can freely avoid the realities of those silly things that are now long past.
But those of us who are still in the trenches don’t get out so easy. We don’t get a bury-your-head-inthe- sand pass. We need to look up, look around, listen, and understand what is happening in the world around us.
As parents, it can be hard to face the reality that there are “truths” that filmmakers and book writers, educators and animators, Tik Tok stars and government leaders are diligently trying to teach our children. But the Bible is just another book on a shelf for most of the world.
We MUST realize that the worldview that most influencers are promoting is directly opposed to what the Bible teaches. There was a time when what the culture was promoting pretty well lined up with the Bible. Parents in those days had the luxury of trusting the world at large to help them raise their children. We will not be able to coast through parenting that way. We will have to actively and consistently teach our kids how to process this world through a biblical lens, and the only way we can do that is if we look at and listen to exactly what our kids are being taught.
Over and over again when I have shared disturbing things that are targeting our kids, sweet friends have responded by saying they couldn’t watch the whole thing because they were too disgusted and disturbed. But I would urge all of us: don’t look away. Watch and listen and show your kids and talk about it with them. Know what they are seeing on YouTube and Netflix and Instagram and TikTok. Know which websites they are frequenting. Follow Teen Vogue and see all of the ways that they are encouraging your kids to sin. Listen to the rhetoric that comes out of Hollywood and Washington. We can’t combat the wrong thinking that is being poured into our kids’ brains if we refuse to listen to it.
As parents, we must wake up to the notion that our kids are being actively targeted and indoctrinated into a feelings-based worldview that completely discounts and directly opposes God’s way. But, it’s not enough to look and listen. Then we have to talk to our kids, often and with depth, and most important of all, we have to live out our faith in a way that shows them that God is real and that Jesus is so much better than anything the world has to offer.
Remember, the way is narrow and few find it. The majority of the voices out there are promoting a worldview that is the complete opposite of God’s way. Let’s raise our kids according to His word, eyes open, hearts tuned to His goodness, ears listening for the whispers of those who want to lead our children down the wide, easy path. Raising disciples in 2024 won’t be easy, but what an opportunity to bring glory to the Lord.