Will the World Catechize Your Child or Will You?
It was ten years ago, summer of 2015, when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled five to four in favor of legalizing same-sex marriage. Since that time, I’ve had many inquiries from Christian parents wondering how to navigate this with their children. God’s laws are not always upheld by the highest court in our land, and when that is the case, how do we respond?
The only way I know how is with Christ’s love and God’s Word. Reading Genesis 1:24, 27-28 and Matthew 19:4-5, we see that God designed this sacred vow of marriage between a man and a woman (biological man and woman). This is God’s best for His created beings, who are made in His image. However, as parents of the 21st century, your children will be exposed to seeing and hearing things that you were not exposed to when you were growing up.
How do we prepare for today’s culture; how do we rear children to be IN the world but not OF the world? We pray and recognize our enemy is not others who have a differing worldview from ours, even though it very much feels like that is the case. Ephesians 6:12 tells us, “For our struggles are not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.” When we know our enemy, we can love people with God’s love and hate evil and the source of that evil – the same evil that nailed Jesus to the cross.
We cannot do this in our own strength, nor can we teach our children how to love with Christ’s love in our own strength. The ONLY way is to stay steeped in the Word, pray unceasingly, and walk in the power of the Holy Spirit, depending totally upon our Savior. For God did not give us a spirit of fear, but of love, power, and a sound mind (2 Timothy 1:7). A true warrior does not cower in fear, and a sound mind comes from knowing Scriptural truth and the power of the Gospel unto salvation.
When you attend Parent-Teacher Fellowship Thursday evening, you will receive a small booklet entitled “First Catechism by Great Commission Publications.” This tool is a good resource to use as a primer for teaching biblical worldview truths to your children. Catechizing is a method of Socratic instruction using a simple Q. and A. format. You can teach your children to memorize the short answers that are presented in this booklet; your teachers will give you an explanation Thursday evening. This is rote knowledge, of course, but it is building a foundation of biblical truth and the Gospel message for your child.
Scripture teaches us that God’s Word does not return void (Isaiah 55:11). We must be IN the Word, KNOW the Word, and TEACH the Word to our children. Will you catechize your children or will the world?
