Category: Popular Culture

What Will Distract Your Kids From God?

The devil isn’t going to walk up to your kids dressed in red and carrying a pitchfork. He might not even get them enmeshed in a some sin from which they find it difficult to extract themselves. If you are familiar with the works of C.S. Lewis, however, you know often Satan uses more subtle tricks to move us away from God. One of those tricks is to distract your kids so that God – and obeying and serving Him – slips their minds.

It’s not that they forget God exists or even stop believing in Him. They just don’t think it’s that important to obey Him, serve Him or make Him happy. They think they have a free pass to Heaven and can do whatever they want because God has become a very low priority in their distracted state.

So what will distract your kids from being who God wants them to be? I wish I could tell you and give you a full proof battle plan to protect them. The truth is that each of your kids will be potentially distracted by different things. Some will be distracted by the bad things that happen when one lives in a fallen world. Others will be distracted by so called good things, like money or fame. Others will become distracted with their jobs, sports, leisure activities and even family.

Part of the way you can teach your kids to avoid becoming distracted is to let them know that it can happen so innocently and subtly that they may not even realize it is happening. Talk about the areas in which each of them feels they could be vulnerable. Discuss ways of noticing for themselves and for others in the family when someone is becoming distracted. Figure out ways to get back on track when one of you realizes you have been distracted for a time.

Don’t let Satan win your children away from God by the easiest and most subtle trick he’s got. Protect them by preparing them. Sometimes awareness is the best prevention of all.

Activity to Get Your Kids Thinking About Their Social Media Posts

You don’t have to look very hard to find lists of guidelines and rules you should have for your kids regarding social media. While that can help, there is a bigger issue at hand. They won’t have you policing them or even be truly accountable to you in a few years. Do they really care about how what they post impacts others? Do they think about the consequences or are their posts stream of consciousness, letting the chips fall where they may?

There is a mini family devotional and conversation you can do with your kids to get them thinking more deeply about their social media posts. Start by asking your kids if they can think of anyone in the Bible who was rather upset and embarrassed when God or Jesus asked them about what they had done? Ask them why, for instance, King David had Uriah murdered when he knew it was wrong and how he reacted when he was confronted by the prophet. There is a tendency to forget God sees and hears everything we do and knows what we are thinking. Read 2 Corinthians 5:10. Would any of the people in the Bible they mentioned earlier have acted differently had they remembered they would have to answer to God for their choices?

Explain that social media posts are seen by God. In fact, He knows what we are thinking, before we even post it. What would God’s opinion be of what they have posted? Would they be embarrassed to show God their posts? You may even want to take a look at a celebrity’s social media posts. Are there things they would be proud to show God? What about their motives for posting certain things? Or the honesty of them? Are they promoting products that are chintzy in order to make more money for themselves…knowing their followers are wasting their money? Have fun with it, but try to get them thinking deeper about what they post, too.

End the conversation by asking them to think of ways to remember that God cares about what they post. How can they use social media to honor and serve God? How can they still have fun on social media without hurting others? How does God want them to use their social media platform?

The Resource Christian Parents Need to Have Great Conversations About Culture With Their Kids

Have you ever had one of your kids come home and say something as if it were truth, but it just didn’t sound right? Maybe you instinctively knew the statement was anti-biblical. Perhaps it just didn’t seem like it made sense in comparison to what God has to say about the topic. Or perhaps you knew the view was outright sinful.

What happens next is crucial. Parents tend to go one of two ways. They either have an immediate, strong reaction and begin preaching a sermon or they pretend the statement doesn’t bother them (while hoping their kids will somehow mysteriously realize the statement is problematic and reject it themselves). Either of these reactions can cause all sorts of problems for your kids’ faith and/or your relationship with them.

Or maybe you have tried to have a calm conversation with them about the topic, but found yourself at a loss to explain yourself and scripture in ways that they could understand. Maybe the conversation started out well enough, but then you felt like you couldn’t think of examples or explanations quickly enough. Wouldn’t it have been nice to have an expert by your side, guiding the conversation?!

I can’t provide someone to be with you in person, but I do have a suggestion that can help prepare you for many of these conversations before they ever happen. Live Your Truth and Other Lies by Alisa Childers is a must read for every Christian parent. Childers does one of the best jobs I have seen to date of breaking down many of the current ideas floating around in culture and looking at them from a biblical perspective.

Not only does she cover popular ideas like “Live your truth” and “God just wants you to be happy”, but she discusses them in a way that’s understandable without becoming condescending, “preachy” or too high brow. She does include lots of scripture, as well as quoting popular Christian books with questionable theology to help readers begin sorting out the truth from the cultural lies – even within Christianity.

Honestly, I think this would be a great book to read with many children in upper elementary and middle school, as well as high school. Get a copy for yourself and read it together. Find a time for a weekly “coffee” date to discuss how each of you feels about what she writes in each chapter. Let your kids talk first and really listen to what they are saying. Ask clarifying questions to make sure you are understanding them correctly before you give a counter view.

If you disagree with your child in these discussions, stay calm. Point out what you think were her most important points and scriptures. Add a few scriptures of your own or other examples. Don’t lose your temper, yell, call your children names or say hurtful things. For a few of you, your children may be saying things for your negative reaction – not because they even really believe what they are saying. Becoming angry only encourages them to continue saying and doing the opposite of what they think you want. A calm reaction will eliminate the fun and they will stop playing games.

On occasion, your children may want to go deeper than the book or explore a topic she doesn’t cover. Don’t be afraid to ask for help from a minister, Bible teacher or other trusted Christian. Be willing to admit when you don’t know the answer and work together to find what God has to say about the topic in scripture. Never shut down the conversation because you are embarrassed. Showing a willingness to learn with your kids can be the best lesson you teach them.

Whether you use this book to help you or not, make sure you talk about the messages in culture and how God feels about them. If you don’t, chances are great your kids will believe the lies Satan tells them through the world around them.

Are You Raising 100% Kids?

We live in a world of quiet quitting. A world where perfectionism is considered toxic. A culture where telling kids to do their best is considered poor parenting because it puts too much stress on them. Where the goal is to do as little work as possible in order to spend as much time on a device as possible – making zero positive impact on the world. A world where serving others and sharing our faith is way too much work and is best done by others.

Yet, as Christians, God has actually called your family to a standard of perfection. It may never be achieved, which is why God’s grace is so important, but it is what we are called to strive for in life. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus tells the people (and us), “You therefore must be perfect, as your Heavenly Father is perfect.” (Matthew 5:48) In Colossians, Paul doesn’t use the word perfection, but he tells us that “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord…” (Colossians 3:23).

God calls you and your children to be 100% in on whatever it is you are doing. To do your best. To go the extra mile. To love others like you love yourself. To work as if your teacher or your boss were Jesus. To accurately reflect the image of God. Sit down with your kids and look up all of the Bible verses about perfection, going the extra mile, loving God and others, work ethic, etc.

You will find God wants you and your kids to be 100% in – all of the time. 100% in on being a Christian. A student. A worker. A friend. A servant to others. A faith sharer. Don’t forget though to balance that striving for perfection the way God advises us to do. By taking a day a week for healthy, godly, Sabbath type rest (no devices or work). By fellowshipping with Christians and worshipping God at in person worship and activities to get re-charged. By realizing when you and your children aren’t 100%, you can ask for God’s forgiveness and receive it.

Don’t raise children who put in the least amount of effort possible into everything. Raise children who are 100% in on everything. Their lives will be fuller and richer. Their faith will be stronger. The world will be a better place because they are giving their all.

Is Your Children’s Spiritual Growth Hampered by the Bean Soup Effect?

Once upon a time, someone posted a recipe for bean soup on the Internet. The comments that followed were both funny and horrifying. Not just one. Not just a handful. Scads of people posted comments asking her to rework the recipe so it didn’t contain beans. Mind you, this was a BEAN soup recipe. When she didn’t post a reworked recipe without beans, she was verbally clobbered.

Our world online is currently ruled by algorithms. Ever wonder why everyone online appears to agree with your viewpoint on issues or likes the same things you like? Ever begun to think your opinions and preferences are the most popular at the moment based on what you see on social media platforms? Sorry to burst your bubble, but that’s because those wonderful little algorithms want to keep you happy. Because if you are happy, you will stay on their website or app longer. Which turns into more revenue for them.

The bean soup people of the world are the result of “having it your way” all of the time. Bean soup people can’t tolerate differences of opinion or ways of looking at the world. Mind you, we aren’t just talking about spiritual, biblical disagreements. We suddenly hate people who love bacon when we don’t like it. You know. Important things. Things that have started wars.

And of course, carefully curated content matches our moods and keeps us constantly entertained. Boredom is the only deadly sin (other than poorly executed content). If something doesn’t make us immediately feel better, we quickly move on to something else that may.

Unfortunately, churches and ministries have bought the bean soup hype that children and teens must constantly be in a high tech environment that is carefully curated to match their tastes and beliefs (no matter how naive or wrong they may be) and above all to keep them on a constant emotional high. Learning to these Christians is irrelevant. Keeping everyone on some sort of self focused high so they will return is more important than teaching them how to be who God really wants them to be…. selfless servants.

Parents – even those who see the building selfishness and entitlement in their own children – may even demand churches and ministries deliver this highly entertaining, yet usually shallow content. Please don’t misunderstand. Part of the mission of our ministry is to encourage engaging spiritual educational content in every environment. Where we part ways is that our emphasis is on the spiritual education piece of the puzzle. While we believe our activity ideas are engaging, we plan them to extend and deepen learning – not to entertain (although often both goals are met). If we were somehow forced to choose between content that is highly entertaining and shallow versus content that isn’t flashy but deepens knowledge, understanding and application of scripture, we will always go for the richer content.

Don’t raise bean soup affect children. Teach them to look for substance and not just flash. Remind them the world should revolve around God and not themselves. And when they encounter a bean soup recipe they don’t like, don’t complain. The world should never be all about them and their personal preferences.