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 Religion
Parents Are Always Teaching Their Children By Pastor Phillip Howle web posted August 11, 2010 RELIGION – I confessed a few months back in my column “Rules or Relationship” that I bite my fingernails and then chew on them. I know gross. Not only is this gross, but this habit which I have always thought harmless is not really that harmless. A little research today shows that it does transport bacteria that are buried under the surface of my nails directly into my mouth. I should have seen this coming! Man, I got to quit! But this past week, I noticed my three year old son Cason biting his nails and then he looked at me and said “I will chew this like you.” My gut response was “no son that is gross!” But, then it hit me, he was just acting like me. I mean I had never even noticed him watching me bite my nails then chew them. I had no idea. But he watches every move I make. He wants to dress like me, ride a bike like me, and even pretends to be me after church when he pulls a chair up to my pulpit to speak in the microphone and say “Welcome to Antioch Baptist Church, please take a seat.” While I am flattered by most of his imitations, the fingernail thing made me think, what else Cason has seen me do or not do. What other habits in my life have I grown accustomed to that he is witnessing every day? What is there is my life right now, that I would hate for Cason and Luke to do like me? Now, you stop and think about that. Do you want your kids to grow up and be just like you? Because studies show most likely they will. Why J.C. Ryle a hundred years said that “Fathers and mothers, do not forget that children learn more by the eye than they do by the ear… What they see has a much stronger effect on their minds than what they are told.” He also added “Children are very quick observers; very quick in seeing through some kinds of hypocrisy, very quick in finding out what you really think and feel, very quick in adopting all your ways and opinions.” The Bible confirms this in a passage that offers a promise and hope to many Christian parents, but should also cause fear to parents who just play with religion and set a bad example for their kids to follow. Solomon writes in Proverbs 22:6 “Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it.” Right now, you are setting up the rest of your child’s life. You can set them on the path to Jesus and godliness, or down the sad road of dead religion and immorality. The choice rests with you. So here is where the rubber meets the road: Just be honest, though it may not be fun. Do you want them to have the same marriage that you have? Do you want them to smoke like you? Do you want your kids to have the same relationship with Jesus that you do? Do you want your child to treat his future spouse the way you treat your spouse? Do you want your kids to visit the same internet sites you do? Do you want your kids to manage their money the way you do? Do you want your kids to drink like you do? While some of these questions may make you a little uncomfortable, that is ok. Better to realize that life change is needed now than teach your children to repeat the same sins and failures you have committed in your life. Now what we must do is repent. What is repentance? It is turning from the sins you love to the holy God you’re called to love. It is admitting that you’re not God. It is beginning to value Jesus more than your immediate pleasure. It is giving up those things the Bible calls sin and leaving them to follow Jesus. Repentance is not just moaning and remorse, but turning and change. If you have realized that your life and what you are teaching your kids is wrong, then get right. Seek Jesus, seek forgiveness, apologize to your kids for your bad example, and show them how to live the life that you desire for them to live. Pray over this passage and see if you are living it out in your home today. Deuteronomy 6:4-9 “Listen, Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is One. (5) Love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. (6) These words that I am giving you today are to be in your heart. (7) Repeat them to your children. Talk about them when you sit in your house and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. (8) Bind them as a sign on your hand and let them be a symbol on your forehead. (9) Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. Resolving to quite citing my nails! Pastor Phillip © Copyright 2010 EdgefieldDaily.com All original
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