Oh, Behave

If you look through the pages of the U.S. Constitution and its Amendments, there are some things in there that are not, things you were pretty sure were but, as it turns out, really aren't. One of the most obvious is the "right to privacy." It's not in there. It may be implied. Your right against illegal search and seizure, for instance, might hinge on some aspect of a right to privacy, but, in fact, the right to privacy is not in our Constitution.

One that is currently coming up more often in the news these days is parental rights. In the same way that pro-abortion folks have believed that abortion is a constitutional right, we seem to have believed all along that we have parental rights to direct the upbringing and education of our children. So when schools and doctors, for instance, start encouraging our children to change genders and hide it from their parents, we are miffed. (Is that an understatement?) We are outraged at the violation of our constitutional, parental rights. And, as it turns out, they're not in there. You can be prosecuted for failing to execute your parental responsibilities, but you have no legally protected rights in that regard. We believe that parents should be allowed to raise their children, for instance, in biblical teaching, protected by our rights as parents. It's not in there. Some states have those rights in their laws, but they're not protected by the federal laws. So today, 21 states have policies that require teachers to assign new names and pronouns to students who identify as "trans" without notifying or getting the consent of parents. Because your so-called "parental rights" are not protected by our Constitution. What are we to do?

Be the Parent
Let's face it; being a parent is work. Hard work. Continuous and lifelong work. Most parents think the hard work is that early "no sleep" phase. Would that it were so easy. After that it only gets harder. Fathers are told, "Do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord" (Eph 6:4). It is the duty of all parents to discipline and instruct their kids in the Lord. Wait ... let me look again. We all seemed to think it is the duty of all parents to be their kids' best buddies. Hmm. Not in there. Imagine that. Children will have friends throughout their lives, but parents are much more rare ... and much more necessary. God has assigned you parents to be ... parents. So we parents need to teach and train and guard our kids while they're young and do the same, in modified fashion perhaps, for life. Because we live in a world hostile to God and we are their first line of defense.

Guard their Influences
The psalmist wrote, "Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers ..." (Psa 1:1). Solomon wrote, "Whoever walks with the wise becomes wise, but the companion of fools will suffer harm" (Prov 13:20). Paul assured the Corinthians, "Do not be deceived: 'Bad company ruins good morals'" (1 Cor 15:33) So what do we do? "Well, we don't want to interfere in our childrens' lives too much. We don't want to come across as too harsh. Let's let them choose their own friends." Or, let's put it another way. "Since Satan is the 'god of this world' (2 Cor 4:4), let's let his people be our kids' primary influence."

Not only are their peers a primary influence; so are their teachers (which makes it odd that so many parents opt out of teaching their own kids). We elected to let schools teach our kids "information" and churches teach our kids "religion" and ... well ... at least that's off our plates. As public schools have become more inculcated with anti-Christian teaching and principles, it becomes clearer that public school teachers, while certainly not all bad, are not all safe. Safe in the sense of not contravening your influence, not teaching your kids that you're wrong, not turning your kids against you and your God. And churches are certainly (hopefully) better, but how many are actually teaching kids rather than entertaining them? How many are pushing your kids to dig deeper into God's Word? How many are challenging your kids to love God? From what I've seen over the last 30 years or so, that is declining, but most parents aren't paying attention.

Be the Parent
("Didn't he just say that?" Yes, I did, but ...) There is more. What your kids need more than anything is a united mother and father so dedicated to their relationship with God that they emulate Christ's relationship with the Church in their marriage in front of their kids and live dedicated to Him, to each other, and to their children. Our world tells us that's confused. Our world tells us, "You need 'Me time.' Your kids' needs are not nearly as important as your own." So we pursue our own relief and hand the kids off to "responsible adults" -- school teachers, church youth groups, etc. -- and the gaggle of unbelievers that must necessarily form a large part of the kids' friends, and are baffled when we see too much of the world in our children. We minimize our own influence and can't figure out why 1) we find our own influence minimized and 2) why we didn't see these things coming. "My child would never do that." What makes you think you would know? Are you close enough to see? And our world has warned us against godly discipline, and we're not doing it. It's not because the Scriptures are unclear (e.g., Prov 23:13-14; Heb 12:7-8; etc.) It's because we aren't being the parents we are supposed to be.

Satan has a plan. He has a plan for our children: divide and conquer. Cut them out of the "flock" where the flock is parents and other godly influences and then bring them down. Modern parents buy it. Even Christian parents. We neglect our responsibilities as parents and focus instead on our own felt needs and can't figure out where we went wrong. We seek to be our kids' pals and not their parents -- "Too authoritarian" -- and find our influencing waning quickly, even in small children. Most importantly, we forget that we are commanded to love and teach our children and we are empowered by God to do it. I would argue that Satan is executing his plan very well. I would suggest that executing God's plan for parents and their kids with extreme prejudice might be important right now. The goal of our instruction is love (1 Tim 1:5). Ignoring God's plan for our kids with us as their responsible parents is not love.