My spiritual walk has seen the hills and valleys that are so commonly used to describe the ups and downs of anything that poses a challenge. When I graduated high school I found the biggest challenge that faced me as a Christian was the complete alienation I began to feel by those who I called friends and family. It was hard enough to plug along in my walk and open displays of conviction I shared through the posts on my blog when I faced criticism from people close to me.
But then my blog migrated to a more public forum and while I did not face a sudden onslaught of comments from strangers, I feared that I would. In the past year I have become painfully aware of the depravity that permeates the world around me and I wince every time I read a news article and find myself reading the comments left by other readers. The negativity. The venom with which people spout their opinions and beliefs, whether I agree with them or not, is oftentimes sickening. It angers me that so many people can be mistaken in their perspective of who God and the values that I hold dear because of Him. But then someone who proclaims a sentiment I agree with that is controversial, take having a stance against legalizing gay marriage for example, comes along and makes a comment that is hateful, ignorant and completely devoid of the love of Christ and I see exactly where this misinformation is birthed.
My biggest challenge now as a Christian is not what it was seven years ago. As I watch my daughter grow before my eyes and begin to feel the baby I am carrying kicking I pray. I pray my heart out that God would give me wisdom in how to raise our children in a godly home. I do not mean a home where we are “church-going-folk”. Attending church is important to my husband and I but it is not what makes us Christians. I do not mean that we are a family that simply upholds “good values”. I want to raise my daughter and her younger sibling in a home where the Word of God is held with the high regard it ought to be. The Bible is truth from front to back and you cannot pick and choose what you will obey and what you will not.
I loved my parents so I did my best to obey what they asked of me because they could see the bigger picture. It was not always easy and I did not always do what I ought to but because what they expected of me was in line with scripture when I delved into the Bible on my own I was able to see even clearer why God asks us to refrain from certain things that world would have us embrace wholeheartedly. I love God and He sees an even bigger picture than my parents. That is why I choose to obey Him. Sure, I still fall short. I am not proud of that fact just being honest. Thankfully, my eternity in Heaven is not hinged on how many sins I have or have not committed.
But how do you raise your children to live an upstanding life when the world shouts messages contrary to everything that is Truth? How do you raise your child to value life when the world says that the baby growing inside me now is only a baby if I choose it to be so? How do you raise your child to hold onto naivety in a world that praises little girls who feel they need to parade around in next to nothing in adult film roles in an effort to become a woman? How do we raise our children to live boldly for Christ in a world that hates everything He stands for?
I grapple with the answers to these questions on a daily basis and I come back to the same idea each time: be an example. If I want my daughter to use her fork to eat her food instead of fingers then I demonstrate how I eat my food with a fork. My daughter is not going to want to go to church if she sees us grumble about the inconvenience. She won’t want to read her Bible if we never dust ours off. She won’t want to obey God’s Word if we contradict it at every turn.
And finally, I continue to pray.
I have heard friends wonder what the point is bringing children into a world that is in such a wicked state. Why subject them? My answer has been and remains: If you don’t, then who will be around to make the change?
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