Wednesday, March 3, 2021

Protecting Our Children

 

Lot chose to live in Sodom, an evil but very prosperous city. God decided to destroy the city of Sodom for its wickedness. Abraham interceded for Lot and his family. God sent two angels to that city to lead Lot and his family out. When they arrived at Lot’s house, the rampant evil reared its head. Moses explains: “…all the men from every part of the city of Sodom — both young and old — surrounded the house.”  They called out, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us so that we can have sex with them” (Gen. 19:4-5).

Sodom was a city where sexual violence had become routine. However, we are shocked by Lot’s response as he went outside and tried to talk to the mob: “No, my friends. Don’t do this wicked thing.  Look, I have two daughters who have never slept with a man. Let me bring them out to you, and you can do what you like with them. But don’t do anything to these men, for they have come under the protection of my roof” (Gen. 19:6-8).

You might be thinking, “How could this man do this to his daughters?” Do not be so quick to judge! Today, parents are throwing their sons and daughters to the wolves by abdicating their parental authority. Teenagers who are barely old enough to know the basics of life skills are becoming sexually active. They are doing so with the knowledge and, in some cases, the permission of their parents. Teenagers’ emotional intelligence is not capable of prolonged physical intimacy with another teenager, so it usually ends abruptly. The sense of rejection drives these adolescents to look for another and another. By the time they graduate, they have accumulated enough emotional baggage to wreck any future marriage.

Parents are throwing their kids into the mob by allowing them to get involved in addicting social media.  Programs such as Snapchat, Instagram, and others enable them to get involved emotionally with others at a very young age.  They become consumed with their body and appearance, which becomes a gateway to becoming sexually active at a young age.  As parents who love their children, we have to be vigilant for their emotional, physical, and spiritual well-being.  Many predators are preying on our children, and we need God’s help to keep them safe.


Parents are throwing their kids into the culture by allowing them to listen to violent music, especially rap.  Teenagers grow up on this vulgar and profane music that glorifies killing, sexual violence, and disrespect for life.  Parents are throwing them into the culture by allowing them to watch any perverse thing they desire, whether video games, movies, or YouTube.  The world has placed a cesspool of profane language, violent content, and sexually depraved material at their child’s fingertips.  If you do not intervene, it will take over your child’s mind and damage their future life.

Unconditional Love


 

Unconditional Love

The Apostle Paul said that love is not irritable (1 Cor 13:5). That is quite a statement. How many of us could say that we love without being irritated at those we live with every day? Most likely, most of us would come up short. All of us know something about irritability. It’s what we do when we are frustrated, and it is mostly in response to little things. It might be the way someone talks or doesn’t talk to us or the way they eat or a hundred other things. I want to suggest that our irritability is our inability to control our emotions. Most tend to blame others for their irritability, saying things like, “He knows just how to push my buttons” or “She makes me so frustrated.” The primary issue, according to Paul, is not how irritating the other is but how willing I am to be responsible for my own attitude.

Often when we find ourselves very irritated by another’s actions, we have allowed our emotions to run rampant. Instead of thinking through what is happening to us and asking God to help us, we often do not give in to the irritation. When our emotions are controlling us, we aren’t doing too much thinking. That is a dangerous place because when we are irritated, we are vulnerable to outbursts of anger. Of course, when we are angry, we say things we really don’t mean, which can harm those around us. Augustine wrote, “We are irritable, O Lord until we make our peace with you.”[i]

I think Augustine was right. The key to controlling our emotions is to trust God with our inabilities and allow him to teach us how to handle life’s frustrations. When our relationship with God is connected and alive, we have the inner strength to control our emotions. We are more in control because we are anchored to the One who gives us peace.

Philip Ryken shares a great story:

 

A simple but marvelous illustration of nonirritable love took place during a baseball game between the Philadelphia Phillies and the Washington Nationals during the 2009 pennant race. Phillies fan Steve Montforto was sitting with his three-year-old daughter Emily when a foul ball curled back into the upper deck. Montforto leaned over the railing to catch his first and only foul ball-every fan’s dream. But when he handed the ball to little Emily, immedi­ately she threw it back over the railing and down into the lower deck. Everyone gasped. Montforto himself was as surprised as any­one to see her throw the ball away. But rather than getting irritated with his little girl, he did what a loving father should do: he wrapped his daughter up in a tender embrace.

 

This is the way God loves us. He puts gifts into our hands that we could never catch for ourselves. Without realizing what we are doing, sometimes, we throw them away. Yet rather than getting irritated with us, he loves us again. Then he gives us the freedom to go love someone else with the same kind of love. He even gives us the grace to go back to people who throw our love away and love them all over again. Who are the loveless people that God is calling you to love? Will you love them the way that Jesus loves?[ii]

 

 



[i] Lewis Smedes, Love Within Limits: A Realist’s View of 1 Corinthians 13 (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1978, P. 58. 

[ii] Phillip Ryken, Loving The Way Jesus Loves, Crossway, Wheaton, IL 2012, PP. 52-58.