Thursday, April 6, 2017

Conditioning the Hearts of Our Children

When I was a kid growing up, on any given Friday night, one of my favorite places to be was at home curled up on the couch with my family watching the TGIF line up!  Thank God It’s Friday!  I can remember the laughs we shared together as a family as we watched all of our favorite sitcom shows!  Those were the days!  It saddens me when I turn on the television now to any major network station.  The filth that permeates our homes today grieves me.  What has happened to clean family entertainment?  Nowadays, if I turn the television to any major network on any given evening, most if not all shows are filled with sex, violence, provocative clothing, and cursing.  Most sitcoms normalize affairs, broken homes, homosexual relationships, disrespecting parents, and living together before marriage.  That’s just on television!  Don’t even get me started on movies and the internet!  I often ask myself how in the world did we get here? 

We live in a transient world and things are constantly changing in the entertainment and fashion industries.  I get that.  What shocks me is the moral shift and change that has occurred in my lifetime.  Could you imagine how our parents and grandparents would have been outraged 20, 30, or 40 years ago to turn on their television and see two half-dressed adults gyrating on the television screen during primetime hours?  Oh, and the commercials today…could you even imagine their disbelief?!  Their heads would have been spinning!  So how exactly did we get here?  If our grandparents and parents wouldn’t have allowed it then, how did we become a generation that doesn’t see any harm in it…after all, it’s just mindless entertainment, right?  Well, after an incident this last week with my own daughter, my eyes were opened to how this change has slowly crept in.  Let me share.

Every week, we look forward to visiting our local library and the kids check out new books and I let each of them choose a movie to watch that week.  Our library has a huge selection of kid and family friendly movies so they look forward to finding a new movie every week!  We have a DVD player in the car so most of the movies are viewed while driving around town.  Well, this past week, the kids were all engaged in a suspenseful movie that we hadn’t ever seen before.  You could just hear the sound of them breathing, that’s how quiet they were.  I was deep in thought when my oldest spoke up just as adamant as could be and she said, “Mom, you need to turn this movie off right now.  Hurry Mom, turn it off.  This isn’t a good movie.  We shouldn’t be watching this one.”  My initial response was to question her and ask why.  I am always very careful to check the ratings and I always get G-rated or PG-rated movies.  Although in the past, I have had to turn some PG movies off due to curse words, I didn’t catch anything as it was playing this time, so I was surprised to hear her say it was bad.  She explained to me that the little boy in the movie was naked and his privates were showing.  I was shocked and asked more questions which lead me to finding out that the little boy was wearing a shirt but no underpants and when he bent over to pick up something off of the floor, it showed his bottom.  After finding out that this boy was only a toddler boy and it didn’t really show much other than his crack, I found myself about to tell my daughter that is wasn’t a big deal, but if it showed anything else to let me know and then I would turn it off.  But just as quickly as that thought and response came to me, the Holy Spirit stopped me mid thought and I felt Him tell me so clearly as if correcting me to stop asking question and just shut the movie off.  So I did.

My response was almost immediate but in those few seconds after my daughter told me to turn it off and why, I found myself trying to determine whether or not this movie was in deed inappropriate or if she was just overreacting.  I am still mad at myself for even considering the latter! 

That day, the Lord used my daughter to teach me a really good lesson!  The Lord showed me that as her mom, I have tried to do my very best to teach her right from wrong since the moment she was born.  I have taught her that some words are not okay to say.  I have taught her that we don’t show our private parts to others, nor do we look at other people’s privates.  I have taught her that certain behaviors and actions are wrong.  This is a huge part of parenting, but ultimately, it’s what my children do with that knowledge that will determine whether or not they stay on the right path.  In that moment, the Lord showed me that my daughter’s little mind processed what she was seeing in that PG-rated movie and then she tested that information to what her parents have taught her and that’s how she came to the realization that this went against everything she has learned was right and she didn’t want to continue watching it.  Period…end of story.  Honestly, knowing my daughter so well, why would she?  She desires to please us as her parents and she knows that everything we teach her and the boundaries we put into place are because we love her and because we want to protect her.  Think about that for a minute!  That’s what our Heavenly Father has done for us and because we love him so much and desire to please Him, we should do the very exact thing!  Why would we ever consider doing differently!?  When the Holy Spirit opened my eyes to that realization, I repented because I almost conditioned my daughter’s sweet and innocent heart to be okay with something that was in deed inappropriate.  In one moment, I almost unknowingly taught her and her siblings that there is actually a margin of error for those rules and boundaries that I have so diligently taught them over all these years!   In one moment, I almost hushed the voice of the Holy Spirit and told them that it wasn’t all that bad since it was just a little boy…just a quick shot of a bottom…just once.  That’s when The Lord reminded me of the verse in 1 Peter 5:8.

1 Peter 5:8 says, “Be alert and of sober mind.  Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.” 


Wow!  Thank you, Lord for reminding me that this is a spiritual battle.  Friends, Satan is smart, strategic, and ever so patient.  He knew 30 years ago that the church would riot if he made his way into the entertainment industry overnight.  So, he went on the prowl…carefully and precisely seeking out those who were willing to have their hearts slowly conditioned to wickedness…one curse word, one image, and one sinful scene at a time.  And over those next 30 years, look where that has lead us.  First we overlooked a curse word on primetime television, then a few years later we found ourselves overlooking a short sex scene on our favorite show.  Then, a few years later we found ourselves overlooking more and more curse words and sinful ways because we have conditioned our hearts to think it’s okay as long as…honestly, I’m not sure where our boundaries lie now.  I found the Holy Spirit telling me in those moments after my daughter’s comment that God has taught us through His Word what is right and what is wrong.  He has placed clear boundaries for us as believers because He loves us and He wants to protect us.  He desires me and you to respond the way my daughter did when we encounter anything that goes against what He has taught us…be quick to turn it off and have nothing to do with it!  It is time for us to stop conditioning our hearts and the hearts of our children!  Stop telling yourself it’s okay as long as…fill in the blank!  If we continue on this path, can you even imagine what our children and grandchildren will be inundated with 30 years down the road?  My great-grandmother would roll over in her grave if she knew the kind of stuff that was permeating the homes of believers today!  I’m sure back then, much of what we see on TV today would have been considered hard-core pornography!  It grieves me to think that what we see now as adult content will soon look like an innocent children’s movie in another 40 years from now!  How have we turned a deaf ear and blind eye for so long?  Lord, forgive us. 

Believers, it’s time we wake up and look around!  The enemy is laughing at us!  Because of our lack of obedience to what we have been taught, he has slowly crept into our homes, into our computers, into our phones, into our cars, and into our hearts.  He has successfully normalized sin.  He has deceived our children into thinking that sin is okay so long as it’s not blatant or in excess.  Our boundaries have expanded and the enemy’s territory to prowl has grown.  He will devour you and your children when you least expect it and the church has no one to blame but ourselves.  We were the ones who willingly opened the gates and expanded his territories.  We were the ones that conditioned our hearts to say one drink is okay, one bad scene is okay, if it’s funny it must be okay, if it has a good beat it makes the song okay to listen and sing along to, I’m an adult so it’s okay, etc.  Oh, how that must grieve our Heavenly Father.  It would grieve me to no ends to see my children turn a blind eye and deaf ear to the things my husband and I have taught them and trained them to do, yet I’m guilty of doing that with The Lord.  I know what is right and wrong, yet I find myself saying it’s okay as long as…

I’m taking back the enemy’s territory today.  He no longer can have an entrance into my home and into the hearts of my family.  Lord, forgive me if I have been guilty of conditioning my children’s hearts to open the door to sin and inappropriate actions.  Help me be quick to trust your teachings and turn away from all wrongdoing.  Help me to instill those same teachings into the hearts of my children so that they will be quick to turn from it too, even though their friends may be conditioned to think it’s okay.  Help us be alert and open our eyes to the schemes of the enemy.  Do not let us be deceived, but rather help me to live out Ephesians 5:11.

“Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them.” Ephesians 5:11

We are in a spiritual battle and the enemy is looking for someone to devour.  Don’t let it be you.  Don’t let it be your kids.  We live in a world of darkness and we will encounter things that go against our Father’s teachings.  It will happen, but be quick to turn from it and have nothing to do with it.  Nothing.  Don’t allow your heart to be conditioned to thinking it’s okay as long as…it’s never okay and it most certainly grieves The Lord. 



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