I often wonder what's happening to our children when I see the level of disrespect that they show toward their parents. It seems that everything a parent says is questioned and challenged by today's kids. Do you ever see a child saying, "Yes, Mom I'll do that or Okay Dad I'll do what you ask."? Children today act as if they are their own authority. They act as if their parents are stupid, uncool, clueless, creatures who lived during the stone age and can't possibly understand what life is really like for teenagers today.
Parents are unfair and mean and only want to squash their fun. "Why are you doing this to me?" they ask when they don't get their way. Then they slather on the guilt parents are supposed to feel when kids don't get what they want. "You don't love me. You don't care about me. You want me to have a boring life like you.."And on and on it goes.
When I was a teenager, I had to work up the courage just to ask my mom to go somewhere. I remember sitting in my bedroom for hours trying to decide exactly how I should ask and when would be the best time to approach my mom. I didn't assume that I had the right to do anything. I knew that everything I did had to meet my parents approval. I was submissive to their authority. I respected them as my caretakers and if they said No to something I didn't protest and argue until I got my way. I didn't scream and stomp and cry. I simply accepted the No and went to my room.
Yes, I was disappointed many times but I survived the No's. I lived through all the times I had to stay at home. And today I'm grateful that I wasn't raised by parents who let me do everything I wanted because some of the things I wanted weren't good for me. I couldn't see it at the time, but years later I realized that my parents had my best interests at heart. They loved me and when they said No it was because they thought they were doing the right thing for me.
What's happening today is nothing less than a spirit of rebellion and disrespect overtaking our children. It's a satanic spirit that no one wants to talk about but it's there. You can't deny it. If you have pre-teen or teenage children, you know what I'm talking about. Unless your children have accepted their god-given authority and completely pulled themselves out of this world, they are probably rebellious and disrespectful. They want what they want when they want it and they will fight anyone who tries to keep them from getting what they want.
How does this happen? Why were children so agreeable and submissive thirty years ago but today they treat their parents like bank tellers and drivers who are only good for giving them what they want and getting them where they want to be?
All you have to do is watch TV, go to the movies, or listen to a child psychologist to find the answers. Parents are made to look uncool and stupid on TV sitcoms. Kids rule the roost in today's movies. And child psychologists tell us that we have to be careful not to hurt our children's feelings and we have to watch how we discipline them because we might destroy their self esteem and scar them for life.
While rebellion and disrespect is made to look cool, anyone who tries to instill discipline is seen as an ogre. Parents are told that they have to be a friend to their children first. And many of them shove aside the much-needed discipline in exchange for being a best buddy to their kids. And they raise manipulative brats who think only of themselves, kids who never see consequences for their actions. Their parents bail them out every time punishment is about to fall and these kids think they are invincible. They think they are above any kind of rules, any kind of law, any kind of ethical code. The message they hear is that they can do whatever they want without answering to anyone.
When children willingly place themselves under the authority God has put in their lives, God protects them. While rebellion opens children up to the influence of Satan. Rebellious children who don't respect their parents give the enemy many opportunities to attack them. By being rebellious, they step out from under God's protection and they suffer satanic attacks on their mind, will, and emotions.
Submitting to parental authority brings great blessing and protection. Children don't realize how much they hurt themselves when they talk to their parents disrespectfully and when they talk about their parents to others in a negative way. God sees this. He hears every word. And he has the power to cleanse this rebellious attitude right out of them in whatever way he pleases. Proverbs 21:1 says, "The King's heart is a stream of water in the hand of the Lord; he turns it wherever he will."
Rebelling against parents is like rebelling against the God who put them in authority over you. Ephesians 5:21 says we are to submit to God-ordained authority "out of reverence for Christ." A higher authority controls every human authority and we need to seriously consider the consequences we bring upon ourselves by taking that for granted. Our parents may let us get away with rebellion, but God surely will not.
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