Thoughts From Luke - Day 70 Raising Godly Children

      
                                                                Luke 15:11-32


Jesus continued: “There was a man who had two sons. ¹² The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them.
¹³ “Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. ¹⁴ After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. ¹⁵ So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. ¹⁶ He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.
¹⁷ “When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! ¹⁸ I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. ¹⁹ I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants.’ ²⁰ So he got up and went to his father.
“But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.
²¹ “The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’
²² “But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. ²³ Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. ²⁴ For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate.
²⁵ “Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. ²⁶ So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. ²⁷ ‘Your brother has come,’ he replied, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’
²⁸ “The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. ²⁹ But he answered his father, ‘Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. ³⁰ But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’
³¹ “‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. ³² But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’”


            If you really want to know this parable inside and out, read "The Prodigal God" by Tim Keller. I can't improve on anything he says, so let me approach this from a totally different angle - what can we do as Christian parents to keep our kids from turning out like these two. Actually, that probably isn't fair to the prodigal son who we assume ended up turning out well, but wouldn't you as a parent want to spare your child from the carnage that apparently he brought home with him? Today he would come home with multiple piercings, tattoos all over his body, HPV, Hepatitis C, drug addictions requiring withdrawl, a criminal record resulting in a limited employment future, and a mindful of memories that will be haunting both him and his future spouse the rest of his life. But even with all that, he is  better off than his brother who looked the perfect part on all the Christmas cards, yet inside was a bitter, reluctant, prideful, non-merciful, unloving, slave to obedience, son of a father who he really didn't know. So once again the question is, how can we avoid these two outcomes? Let me give you 3 things that come immediately to my mind.

         Number one - Christian music. This may come totally out of left field to you, but I have yet to see a teenager who was heavy into Christian music, go bad. What do I mean by "heavy into"? These are kids that go to Christian concerts, music festivals, and their favorite band or an artist is a Christian. They might have t-shirts or posters of these artists and their playlists are comprised of music that glorifies God. I'm not saying that the music is necessarily filling their hearts and minds and transforming them into radical Christians, although that is possible, but I think it's all the other stuff that goes along with Christian music that solidifies kid's faith. First of all, in a world where Christian Music Awards are shown tape delayed on the INSP network, parents that find good Christian music and concerts for their kids to listen to and go to, are usually very invested in their kid's spiritual development. Therefore the Christian music is probably more the secondary effect of the primary cause which is parents that see training their kids in Godliness more important than popularity, fitting in, not being different, etc. Secondly, it draws kids into a like minded peer group. Kids migrate to friends that have similar interests and musical tastes is one of the major ties that bind. A taste for Christian music will draw kids to a subset of kids who have like-minded parents, families, and binds them even closer together when they take road trips to somewhat less accessible Christian concert venues with weekend theme park music festivals. Third, it helps develop a backbone. It develops kids that aren't robots following what the world is telling them to like, but kids that have their own opinion of what is good. When all the kids are being told to like "One Direction", our kids like TobyMac and express that minority opinion. That takes guts. That takes strength of Character. That develops kids who don't follow the crowd. That doesn't mean they can't like a band like "One Direction" or be familiar with their music or discuss them intelligently. We don't need to raise un-relevant or nerdly kids, but rather kids that have strength of character and morality.

           Number two - Family devotions. These only happen in families who once again are committed to their kid's spiritual development as of primary importance. Otherwise, if they aren't committed, they might try it for a little while but soon give up because it is too much trouble. It takes work to do family devotions and not just leave the spiritual training of your kids to the local church and Sunday School teachers who quite often know less about the Bible than Jeopardy contestants. The work is in gathering the kids together for 15 minutes in a society where electronics, TV shows, sports, homework, etc. try to pull them in while we are pulling them away. We have to find something that is worth pulling away from those things and drawing into something else against a spiritual force that would love to see devotions defeated. The work also is in finding a fun, relevant, age appropriate devotion to do with your kids. Maybe devotions are met with a groan from your kids because you expect them to sit quietly as you read an excerpt from Guideposts or Our Daily Bread that are geared toward geriatrics. Ask parents who have been successful at this, "what worked for you"? Search Amazon for resources. Nothing against the booklets your denominations may supply families for home devotions but frankly most of the time they are extremely bad. Kids like fun. Kids like activity. Kids like singing dancing and imagination. Kids like creative videos. Kids like variety. Kids like noise. What does your child like - Paw Patrol, Jake and the Pirates, some Disney Junior program? Have you ever tried to watch one and come up with a devotion discussing it? It is possible. Read a Bible story from a Kids' Bible with pictures, then find a YouTube video on it. Maybe you will find a LEGO one. Or act it out with the kids or puppets or action figures. I don't know - do whatever it takes. Then sing some songs banging on musical instruments while kids run, jump, and dance around the room. Organized chaos!

           Number 3 - Involvement in their lives. Enjoy your kids. Find out what they like and do it with them. I picture the older brother working out in the fields to make his father pleased with him rather than the father working out in the field with him because they enjoy each other's company. Watch the shows the kids like with them rather than making them watch your shows. Listen to the style of music they like rather than making them listen to your style. Maybe you want them to like baseball but they like soccer, or even worse - video games. Do you make them play baseball or do you learn the difference between a direct and indirect kick. Do you make them turn off the video games or learn how to use a toggle? Find some good Christian fiction they like and read a chapter with them every night before bed. Make an environment where they want kids to come to your house rather than going to other kids' houses because you can control the influences at your house. The prodigal son wanted to leave his house. I wonder why that was? That's why grounding is such a terrible punishment - a child being taught that staying home is a bad thing - that is a travesty!

         Those are a few thoughts - maybe you can come up with some more. Let me know.