“How Families Can Build Durable Faith” by Mark McGee
If we are to believe the new breed of atheists, Christianity will be a distant memory in the rearview mirror of the 21st century. Author Albert Williams believes the world is about to change and offers up three possible outcomes:
“Religion will cease to exist, having been replaced by a new model of human behavior and understanding; Religion as we know it will change to adapt to a modern world; or Religious ideology will replace our current knowledge, transforming the world into a backward theocracy.”
On the other hand, we have these statements from Jesus Christ:
“I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.” Jesus Christ, Matthew 16:18
“My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand.” Jesus Christ, John 10:27-28
Jesus Christ believes He will prevail in the 21st century and beyond. Albert Williams and many other atheists believe Christianity will end in less than 100 years. Who are we to believe? As mature Christians we believe Christ because our faith in the evidence is strong, but what about our children? Is there anything we can do to ensure that their faith will be strong and endure to the end of their lives?
Yes, there is much Christian parents can do to ‘faith-proof’ their children in this very challenging time. It begins before children are born. Christian couples who want to become parents should spend time learning what is involved in parenting as Christians.
Parenting is far more than just the biological processes involved. Parenting brings a new “soul” into the world. Think about that for a moment. Becoming a parent means bringing a new soul into the world. That should be sobering to all of us.
A “new soul” means a new person who did not exist before conception. Bringing that new “person” into the world through biological processes carries tremendous responsibilities to parents and should not be started without serious consideration about the weight of those responsibilities.
A Serious Choice
Babies are so cute! Everybody wants to look at them, touch them, hold them, kiss them, love them. That’s natural and good for baby and parents. However, the cuteness of babies is not a good reason to become the parent of one.
Babies are human beings with souls made in the image of God. If you are pregnant, you are carrying a human being with a soul made in the image of God. If you have given birth to a new child, you are the new parent of a human being with a soul made in the image of God. If you are the parent of a child of any age, you are the parent of a human being with a soul made in the image of God.
What is my point? Parenting is a serious choice. Parents, and people thinking about becoming parents, need to seriously consider that choice. Like marriage, becoming a parent is not a decision to make lightly.
“Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, The fruit of the womb is a reward.” Psalm 127:3
God has given us these precious human souls to love, nourish, protect, teach, discipline and guide through life. What does that mean? God holds parents responsible for how they love, nourish, protect, teach, discipline and guide their children through life. I repeat. God holds parents responsible and accountable to Him for how they raise the precious gift of children.
Even as God holds parents responsible, He also gives parents a unique advantage in raising children. They get children first. Parents take their children home from the hospital and surround them with love and protection. If anyone wants to hurt our babies, they have to go through us first!
Parental Opportunity
I like telling students in our martial arts classes that they are “unique, unrepeatable miracles of God” and they like hearing that! Every child is unique. There’s no one else in the world like them. Even if some of their physical features are similar to another child who is alive now or lived in the past, their soul is unlike any other soul that ever came into being. Every child is truly unique and one of a kind.
Parenting is all about building relationships. Husbands and wives build relationships with each other, then expand that relationship to include their children. Babies change families just by being alive. The family relationship structure changes because a new soul is added to the clan. A family with two children is different than it was before the second child was born into it. A family with one child is different than it was before the first child was born into it. Children change families in ways that God intended for the growth and prosperity of the human race.
“So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. Then God blessed them, and God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” Genesis 1:28
Human “multiplication” is the beautiful way God designed to bring a living soul into the world. Parents are working with God’s purpose for life when they love each other and through that love conceive a living soul.
Parenting is a wonderful opportunity to work with your child in a very personal way to help them learn the things God wants all of His children to know. Since you get the first opportunity to impact your child, you have an advantage on the three enemies your child will face throughout his or her life:
- the world
- the flesh
- the devil (Ephesians 2:1-3)
Parents are in a unique position to help their children develop in four vital areas to combat the ravages of the three enemies:
- Knowledge
- Understanding
- Wisdom
- Character
Most Christian parents I know want their children to grow in all of those areas, but the statistics of more than half of children from Christian homes leave Christianity after high school raises some important questions. Why are they leaving and what can parents do about it?
The answer is readily available to each of us. It’s in our hearts and in God’s Word.
A Special Love
The first thing a new baby needs is love and lots of it! Babies need to be held, touched, hugged, kissed and all of the other fun stuff that parents and grandparents get to do with them. This love MUST continue throughout a child’s life to help them cope with the opposition they will face from both external (world and devil) and internal (flesh) challenges.
The Apostle Paul wrote a letter to Titus telling him to impress on older women in the church the importance of admonishing younger women “to love their children” (Titus 2:4). The word for “love” that Paul used is φιλοτέκνους. It comes from the Greek word for a deep, personal, intimate, close bond of personal affection; prizing that person based on experience.
Researchers have discovered that children who are loved unconditionally by their parents usually do better in every area of life. That includes the size of their brain, ability to learn and relate to others, better health and self-esteem, and a host of other important aspects of living. ( ** )
Can a parent’s unconditional love help build a “durable faith” in a child’s life? Absolutely! Will it be easy? Absolutely not!
Relentless
Parenting that’s needed to help build a durable faith for your child may end up being the toughest thing you do as a mother or father. Remember the three enemies your child will face throughout his or her life? They are relentless and you will have to be relentless as well.
Don’t stop. Don’t give up. Don’t give in. Be relentless.
When does ‘parenting’ end? When they’re twelve? Sixteen? Eighteen? Twenty-one?
My wife and I are the parents of two sons who are well into their forties and guess what? We still think of them as ‘our boys’. We highly respect them and their independence. We are proud of what they have accomplished in their lives. We raised our sons to be strong and independent, but does that mean we stop being parents when they leave home? No, because home is not just a ‘place.’ It’s a relationship. No matter where they live, no matter where we live, we are their parents and they are our sons. We like that.
No matter the age of your children now, they will always be your children. Parenting never stops. You can continue to have great conversations and experiences with them as long as you are alive. They will always be your children, no matter your age or their age.
They will always need your love. They will always need your help. They will always need your advice. They will always need you.
Be relentless.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
** Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Early Edition: Maternal support in early childhood predicts larger hippocampal volumes at school age.
Written by Mark McGee ~
Mark McGee is a career journalist and former atheist. He worked on the news staff of several radio and television stations (including Huntsville’s WAAY-TV from 1984-1996) and two large metropolitan newspapers. Mark was a reporter, correspondent, anchor, managing editor, executive producer, and news director during a four-decade career in news. Since retiring in 2009, Mark has worked as a communications director and consultant.
Mark has written three published books and more than 250 Ebooks. He also writes regularly for several Christian blogs. Mark serves with Ratio Christi Campus Apologetics Alliance and works with students at the University of Alabama Huntsville.
Mark has been active in martial arts and self-defense training for almost 60 years and has been teaching from a Christian perspective for almost 50. He offers free self-defense clinics to businesses, schools and churches in the Huntsville area and is an instructor with Christian Soldiers Karate at Whitesburg Baptist Church.
One Comment
I love this encouragement to be relentless!