We walked into church and my daughter grabbed my arm and whispered, “Why is it so crowded?” I looked around and she was right, every seat was filled.
“This is what happens when Christians think the world is ending,” I whispered back.
“Mom!” she said as we found our seat.
I wasn’t sure she even understand my sarcasm. It was the week of the Supreme Court decision when I wrote about love instead of fear. On the way home from church, I told my kids about the packed-out churched the Sunday after the 9/11 attack and explained that people often look to the church when they are unsure of where our world is headed or if they are afraid.
We talk a lot about cultural norms and shifts in our home because I want to teach my kids God’s standard of right and wrong, especially when issues become hot topics in our society. Because I know for a fact that their peers will be talking about what they are reading online and I’ve always wanted my kids to compare what they hear with what they’ve been taught in God’s Word, so they will know His standard in contrast to the world’s.
“Should we be afraid?” one of my kids piped up from the backseat.
We are living in uncertain times and what used to be unthinkable is now daily headlines. When I read about nearly 100 children being executed in the Middle East by ISIS lunatics because they refused to fast, I couldn’t help but want to protect my children from the evil in this world.
I understand that teaching absolute truth that sometimes contradicts cultural norms could be making life a little more challenging for them. And if the evil that is targeting Christians in the Middle East ever found its way here . . .honestly, the thought terrifies me.
But perfect love casts out fear, so we are just going to love people and hold onto Jesus.
I woke up in the middle of the night burdened for our world and these challenging times when truth becomes a battleground; hate is louder than love and children have become targets of an evil enemy. I am not a doomsday crier, but it doesn’t take a genius to recognize that our world has become more violent, darker and more uncertain in the past few years. I wrote this manifesto as a reminder of what I want to teach my children about following Jesus in uncertain times:
The Christian Parent Manifesto
This world is not our final home.
Because of this, we won’t always fit in, and actually, we should strive not to conform to the world.
The Bible is our standard for holiness and guides our everyday living.
Truth may shift in our culture, but we look to God’s Word as our standard.
There will be people who choose to live differently than we do. This doesn’t affect, change or alter how we treat them.
We love people no matter what.
There are scary things in this world, but we can hold fast to the peace of God.
His peace comforts us when we don’t understand things around us.
God is in control and He sees all and knows all.
One day, He will return for us.
This is our blessed hope.
Until that day, we will stand for what we believe is right.
We will serve others who cannot serve themselves.
We will speak up for those who have been muffled by oppression and poverty.
We will give more than we take.
We will love others because He first loved us.
We will follow Jesus wherever He leads.
(Download a copy for your family here) (or print one here)
I don’t always know how to navigate this changing culture as a Christian parent.
But this is a good guide:
“Love God, your God, with your whole heart: love him with all that’s in you, love him with all you’ve got! Write these commandments that I’ve given you today on your hearts. Get them inside of you and then get them inside your children. Talk about them wherever you are, sitting at home or walking in the street; talk about them from the time you get up in the morning to when you fall into bed at night. Tie them on your hands and foreheads as a reminder; inscribe them on the doorposts of your homes and on your city gates.” Deut. 6:5-7
LOVE THIS!! Wish it was a printable I could put on my fridge
Me too!!
Use your snipping tool, paste into Microsoft word, and print!
I just added a link in the post so you can print out a copy.
woohoo!!! thanks
Is there anyway this could be sent to my email? I am on a cheep tablet and it can’t download it, but my email could be copied by my daughter.
This is for everyone…..not just for our children! Thank you for your insight and inspiration.
Love this! Wish the manifesto was a magnet I could put on my fridge!:) Beautiful!!
So glue a magnet on the back. Wishes do come true!
So beautifully said! God was, is, and shall be in control of all things. May He calm our hearts!
Love the Manifesto! It is so true. Well done!
FANTASTIC post!!! Loved this!!!
Love this!! Wish it was a printable!!!!!
Mandy, I used my desktop’s snipping tool and pasted it in Microsoft Word.
I just added a link to the post to download/print the manifesto
Thank you for these words. The world is changing quickly. I fear for my children’s future. I so appreciate the way you are able to write in a solid, honest way that speaks of love and hope. I will be reading this with my kids!
Julia… you fear for your children’s future? My grandmother lived through the flue epidemic of 1918, WW2, the great depression, times when you had no vaccines or antibiotics, and YOU fear for YOUR kids future? Get a grip, honey.
Wow….what a snarky reply to an innocent comment. Don’t most parents fear about their kids’ future regardless of what it’s about? I have a 4 year old daughter & I fear for her’s with the way this world is going. For goodness sake….I don’t think Julia is the one who needs to get a grip.
How can we get this printed?! Loved the manifesto!!!!
At this point, I honestly don’t see how I or my children will ever live to old age. I don’t mind for me so much, but the thought of my kids being tortured terrifies me to my core.
Crystal, have lost your mind? Can’t you realize that you are being scared by the instant sharing of information on the internet? People before you endured slavery, the holocaust, the great depression, the flu epidemic of 1918… you name it! And you are scared of something that happened on the other side of the world? Suck it up, honey!
You need to crawl out of that rock you’re living under.
LOVE IT! MAKE IT A PRINTABLE! PLEASE! (with lots of cool fonts & colors and free….or maybe a $5 fundraiser for Mercy House?)
Thank you for this! I just has this conversation with my 7 year old today. I never thought a trip to the park would lend itself to a conversation about how the culture of this world has fallen so far from the truth of God’s Word. I will definitely be printing this out!
This is so, so good! My girls are 6 and 3 and they are just starting to see that the world is not the same as what we have inside our home. It isn’t all Christian or nice or comfortable. It is so much more, some good and some bad.
Thank you for these words. We needs words of encouragement and hope, not the doomsday crying some Christians are yelling at us. We need the reminder that He’s got this, and us, in His very capable hands. We need to be reminded this world is not our home, that we’re not of this world, but left in it to shine His light on a dark, dark place. I love this…if my printer had ink, it’d be posted all over our house!
Kristen, my wife and I have been following your blog for a little while now. We really enjoy reading. But I especially loved this one. Great words of encouragement for all believers. With your permission, we’d like to share your post and the manifesto with our readers on our family blog; http://www.TheHighamFamily.com. We will provide a link back to your original post.
Keep loving Jesus.
– jay
I love this!!!! I would like to reproduce it commercially. Do I need to credit you or pay you? Thank you.
Sea el día que sea la hora del día, estamos abiertos toda la semana, las 24h del día.
I love this. Thank you.
At what age do you think kids should hear from parents about the gay marriage issue? Just wondering….
This is such a fantastic reminder, thank you!
I am a Christian and know and love the Lord. However, I also have a degree in psychology and think religious fervor needs to be tempered with intellect. I would like to address a couple of these with the knowledge that small children do not understand things the same way adults do.
1. “Because of this, we won’t always fit in, and actually, we should strive not to conform to the world.” We need to teach kids that a certain amount of conformity (like following the law) is good and we SHOULD conform to the law of the land.
2. “There will be people who choose to live differently than we do. This doesn’t affect, change or alter how we treat them.” We could view this as “We choose to live differently than others.” Remember that.
3. “His peace comforts us when we don’t understand things around us.” We need to explain HOW He comforts us and how and where to find that comfort. It is not an automatic. Work with your children on this one. This makes no sense to children as a stand-alone thought.
4. “Until that day, we will stand for what we believe is right.” I would add to this that we allow others to stand for what they believe in too.
5. Finally, while we give more than we take and serve those who cannot serve themselves, we do not shove our beliefs down others’ throats and VERY important, we ask for help when we need it. It is nice to able to give, but if we are in need, we rarely teach our children how to ASK FOR HELP.
You are a Christian. That means you are a sinner in need of help. It does not mean you are “holier than” or “better than” or more “knowledgeable than”. The most important thing you can teach your children is HUMILITY.
This is awesome! I will definitely print it out for my home. I love that you mentioned both maintaining our beliefs and standards and loving those who make different choices! Thanks for sharing.
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