The Cure for Truth Decay

As our children enter another year of school, one of the many concerns on a mom's mind is, "Will my child be influenced by the wrong crowd? Will he be able to stand up for his faith in the midst of temptation?" What it really comes down to is, "Have I instilled in my children enough Biblical truth, that they can discern truth from a lie, and make good choices based on what they believe?"

The fact is, we are living in a world of rampant truth decay. We can spend years trying to instill Biblical truth and morality into our children, but the fact of the matter is that as our children get older, they are going to get mixed-messages about truth, The Bible, what scripture actually says, and salvation, that can confuse them and make them just another statistic.

Several years ago, I read a study by the Barna Group that revealed that 83% of teenagers say that moral truth is based on circumstances, 53% said they believe Jesus sinned when he was on earth, and 61% said that they believe you can get to heaven by being a good person. Even more shocking is that only 9% of teens who said they were Christians said they believe there are moral absolutes. How can this be? And what, if anything, can we as moms do to prevent this?

It starts by teaching our children a Biblical worldview from an early age. What does that mean? It means that God's word is not just for Sunday, and it's not just some stories about people that lived a long time ago. God's word applies to every area of our life, and it applies as much today as it did a hundred years ago. God's word is Truth, and there are moral absolutes and the lines between right and wrong are there for us in scripture. We need to know scripture and use it as a filter through which we pass everything to see if it measures up or not.

We must teach our kids to understand that they are going to be told things by the media, peers, maybe even teachers, or (God forbid) people in authority over them that do not line-up with scripture, and to be ready for it. Keep in mind that not all teachers are in classrooms and not all preachers stand in front of congregations. I challenge you to sit down and watch a couple of hours of some of your child's favorite TV shows and the commercials in-between. Listen to the music they listen to. How many times is a message taught or implied that is contrary to scripture? You might be surprised. It might be subtle, but how many times a day is your child hearing this? At some point, if we bombard our children with mixed messages, those messages are going to drown out truth, and by allowing so much exposure to those things, you (by default) are implying approval.

As Christian moms, lets make sure we are part of the solution and not part of the problem. The cure for truth decay is to make sure that we are teaching our children sound, solid, Biblical truth, and that we teach them and model for them how to live that truth out in day-to-day life. We can't isolate our children, but we MUST insulate them until a time they have the ability to correctly discern biblical truth from a lie. Then we teach them to be discerning consumers and be in God's Word, and to not just be hearers of word, but doers.

Finally, lets not forget the power of prayer! God promises that He will equip us to do what He has called us to do. Ask Him, and He will show you how to raise your child in a way that honors Him.

Blessings,

Kym