Are you a parent? Are you a Christian parent? Are you tired of your kids constantly being deluged by messages of sex, violence, materialism, disrespect for others, selfishness, self-glorification, and vanity?
Our culture promotes these things because they tap into our baser instincts; our sinful instincts. We are easily tempted by these things. Its not just the Devil that knows this. Companies that try to sell us things know this as well.
Because we are easily tempted by these things, they can be used to pressure us to spend out money on them. Children are particularly vulnerable to this because fitting in, being accepted, is very important to them. They are driven by their insecurity.
Want to be accepted by your peers? Wear the same clothes they do. Listen to the same music. Share their values. Even those trying to be individuals often find themselves conforming to the stereotype of what it is to be an individual or a non-conformist.
The irony is that we are promised happiness if we spend our money on these things but instead we get misery. Because companies constantly need to make more sales, the things that were popular 6 months ago are now unpopular. We have to go out and buy the next cool thing. So, we need to have more money so we can keep buying the things that, we believe, make us popular and accepted by the people around us. Before long, making money becomes the most important thing in our lives. Even parents believe that it is important for their kids to be popular, this is particularly true for girls. Kids today cannot escape the pressure to be accepted by pop-culture, even in their own homes. These kids grow up learning that in order to be accepted they must conform to the things that pop-culture requires of them.
As you can see, this is a very slippery slope. As Christians we say we disapprove of the things that go on in our culture but how many of us not only do nothing to stop these things but we passively support these things with our actions. It is our actions that perpetuate the cultural things we claim not to like. If we stopped rewarding, with our money, the companies and people who promote this culture, there would be no financial incentive for them to continue. At the very least, we can count on greed to change behavior. If there is no money in this pop- culture poison, then the culture would change. It all comes down to what we, as Christians, are willing to tolerate.
80% of Americans claim to be Christian. The Bible tells us to be in the world but not of the world. How many Christians are of the world? If you are a Christian parent and want the culture your children are being raised in to change, then you must first change the things about the culture you are willing to accept. If 80% of the public rejected this pop-culture, there would be no money in it for the ones promoting it.
The good news is that you can change the culture without public protests, without carrying picket signs, without marching on Washington. You can change the culture every day by what you’re willing to accept. And in a capitalist culture, you accept things by spending your money on them. So, if you want the culture for you and your children to change, then simply follow the list below:
Don’t watch television shows or movies with sex or sexual themes (unmarried couples living together, pre-marital sex, casual sex).
Your children mimic what they see. Do you really want your children doing these things? If you say that your children know better and they would not do these things, then why are you exposing them to television shows that you say they know not to accept? Sin begins in our minds. If we can imagine ourselves doing something then it takes little effort at all to actually do them. We have already accepted them in our minds.
Don’t watch television shows or movies with violence.
Seeing these things desensitizes us to violence. Violence is de-humanizing. It becomes easier in our minds to accept bad things happening to people if we become desensitized to them.
Don’t watch television shows or movies that promote materialism.
These things put desires into our hearts for material goods. They make us covet. When we desire the things of this world we are in this world. Desire for material things is what elevates the things of this world above God in our lives. Spend your money on the things of God. Help those who are less fortunate. Send your children to a Christian school so they they are daily surround by the values of God and not the values of this world.
Don’t watch television shows or movies that use the name of God in vain.
There was a time where using God’s name (on television in particular) was not accepted unless it was done in a reverent way. Now God’s name is used almost as slang; as an alternative for a curse word. The Bible tells us not to use God’s name in vain. When we use God’s name as slang or don’t even realize we’re using it casually in our conversation; that is about as vain as we can be with God’s name.
You’re probably starting to think that you’ll never watch television or go to a movie ever again. Well, if that is what you’re thinking then you’ve already acknowledged that the things you’re watching are not pleasing to God. If you haven’t realized this yet, pay close attention to the things that are said and done on the programs you watch and the movies you see. Just imagine that Jesus was coming over to your house for a visit. What shows would you watch on television with him? Would you watch the same programs you usually do? Just remember, Jesus is visiting our house every day. He is with us wherever we go and watching whatever we do.
Don’t buy your children everything they think they need.
Say ‘no’ to your children some times. Actually, say ‘no’ to them most of the time. If you provide your children with food, clothing, and shelter then they have the material things they need. Along with your love, there is nothing more that they need to survive. This is not saying that you shouldn’t buy them a gift every now and then. However, it is dangerous to buy them everything they ever ask for. This not only promotes and rewards materialism but it teaches them to expect to get everything they ever want. It diminishes the value of working for things. It puts materialism and consumption at the center of their lives. Let them get a customed to not getting everything they want. It will prepare them for life. It will also help them to stop living for material possessions. Then they will find that there are other, more God-pleasing, things that they can do to make their lives feel rewarding and fulfilled.
Put your Children in a Christian school.
This can be difficult because of the cost. However, you only have one time in your child’s life where you can influence their values. Many parents believe that they can, during the child’s time in the home, instill enough of their values to overcome the values they get from the world when they are outside the home. However, look at the time you actually spend talking about or instilling values when you’re with your child. When they are at home, how much time do they spend watching television, or on the Internet, or listening to music? How much time do they spend with non-Christian friends? When you actually look at the time spent instilling values, it pales in comparison to the time they are in the world absorbing the worlds values.
Putting your children in a Christian school will ensure that Monday through Friday they are spending all day in a Christian environment absorbing Christian values. You will also unburden your children from the peer pressure to live an unGodly life just to be accepted by their peers. In the years to come, they will thank you for not subjecting them to the pressure to do things that they know are wrong but feel they need to do to avoid being a social outcast in a corrupt world.
If you feel that your public schools are acceptable because they rank well nationally or because they were good when you went to them; spend a day or so sitting in on your child’s classes. Walk the halls of the school or spend time in the lunch room and listen to what you hear. Find out what values your children are being taught. There is a lot more going on in school than reading, writing, and arithmetic. Find out about the other things, in and out of the classroom, that your child is learning. You may start to better understand their behavior when you see the environment that is molding your child every day.
So, put off purchasing that new SUV for a few more years. The monthly payments to a private Christian school are the same or less. And the values that your children learn in school are much more important. Store up your treasuresin heaven.
There are also less expensive alternatives that still provide a Christian education at a more affordable cost. Online schools, such as Ontario Christian School Online, can provide a good option for families with at least one parent at home or with children who are old enough to study on their own.
Conclusion
It can be difficult to resist the world. Jesus warned us that it would be. Look at what he said in John 15:18-21:
If the world hate you, know that it hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love his own: but because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.
Remember the word that I said to you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my word, they will keep yours also. But all these things they will do to you for my name’s sake, because they know not him that sent me.
We must constantly resist the temptations of the world for Jesus’ sake. He took the punishment for our sins. We cannot continue to sin in order to please the world.
The Bible tells us in I John 2:15-17 that the things of this world are not of God. We need to look beyond the immediate desires of this world and keep our eyes and hearts on the world to come.
Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world — the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does — comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.
