What Are You Teaching Your Children this Election Season?

 

As moms we are keenly aware of our responsibilities in raising our children. And that responsibility can sometimes be overwhelming, can’t it? 

There is so much to teach our children, that we want them to know, that we are burdened to prepare them for. 

I am a visionary, so this idea of preparing my children for their future has been at the forefront of my mind and the one of the motivations for many of our parenting decisions. So if this post is overwhelming to you because you are not naturally a mission-minded mom, please don’t shy away from the questions I ask you. Instead, please jot them down on paper and begin being intentional in opening up the discussion with yourself, your husband, and your kids.

Sometimes we need to be reminded that God did instruct us to train, teach, and disciple our children.

Questions every parent should ask:

Are you teaching your children the importance of voting? Are you modeling this for them, or do they hear you saying things like, “I just can’t vote” or “my vote doesn’t matter anyway?”

Are you inviting your children hear you discussing issues and policies in light of God’s Word? Are you humble enough to say, “I don’t know what the Bible says about this, let’s figure it out together.” The reality is that most of our grandparents and parents probably didn’t teach us how to engage the issues of today through a Biblical worldview. They didn’t know what our future would hold and what we would be facing today. So we need to teach our children how to search the Word of God, discern sin, and make wise choices.

Did you model for your children how to look at each issue through a biblical paradigm?

Did you bring them along side you as you were researching candidates? Did you invite their opinion?

Did you inspire them to own a conviction and opinion?

Did they see you praying? Did they pray with you? 

Did they pray for those who they disagree with because they saw you doing that?

Or did they witness you only condemning others and do the same?

Did they see you seeking God for the truth, as best as you could?

This is part of preparing your children for the future.

Are you preparing them for the future they are inheriting?

All our children are young, under twenty years old. Our oldest two children are in their teen years and very passionate about politics. They understand that their future is going to be directly impacted by this election. They have their own minds, their own opinions, and they own their convictions. I cannot tell you how many nights my husband was up late watching documentaries, videos, debates, reading, and doing research with these two throughout this past year. But I can tell you that because he invested in spending time with them and developing a relationship of being able to talk, question, pray, and seek truth together, they are stronger in their relationship.

I hope that you took the time to model for your children exercising this liberty to vote and that you engaged in deep conversations evaluating and testing ALL things you read, saw, heard throughout the candidates debates and more.

Unfortunately, it is hard to distinguish truth from fiction regarding what you read and hear in the news.

How did you handle this? Did you just go on living your life unaffected or did you do due diligence, taking great responsibility for how you voted?
Either way, whether you voted or not, how you prepared to vote, or didn’t prepare, modeled for your children something? What was it that you modeled?
Did they see you constantly checking facebook and getting angry as you debated haters left and right?

Or did they witness you stand up for your convictions and lead with truth and love? And when you did, how did you handle confrontation? Did you let persecution get to you? Or did you let it roll off your back, knowing that God alone knows your heart and motivations, and you have peace with God?
Were you completely oblivious, choosing not to discuss what was going on at all with your children?  

Many of you moms have young children, and to you, I would recommend using caution. Some of the truth that has been exposed about the candidates is scary, disgusting, and so sinful I wouldn’t even want to speak of it. It’s like an R-rated horror movie. So we MUST use discretion and discernment in what we are exposing our children to. We need to evaluate where our child is on a maturity level and discern what is ok for them to hear or see. But for those of us who have teenagers, this is preparation time.

We are living in a day and age where our children are exposed to many false prophets.

“Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world.” 1 John 4:1

Are you training your children in how to discern a false prophet? Now is the time to begin preparing them for that.
The reason I bring this up, is because regardless of the outcome of the election, we all, need to be preparing our children for the future they are inheriting from us. Times are changing.
Never before have I seen or heard of an election bringing such division among the Family of God. Some leaders in the Christian community are renovating the Word of God to quench the appetites of the people of the land.
We live in a day in age where people are more concerned with being loved by the world, than by obeying the Holy of Word of God and defending its sovereignty and authority.
We need to be alert and careful who we allow to influence us and teach our children to be wise as well.

2 Timothy 4:3 warns us that, “For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions,”

When you read or share a blog or a book, do you know what that author believes personally?

Do they declare the WHOLE gospel or only the parts they know others will like or agree with? What they believe drastically influences their writing!

Our children need to be careful what they are sharing on social media as well! They need to be taught how to use social media, but it begins with us. They will undoubtedly make mistakes. It’s all part of learning and we need to be ready to have grace just as our Father in Heaven has grace with us when we make mistakes.
What can we moms do?

First of all, we can’t teach our children how to vote biblically minded or develop convictions and opinions through a biblical worldview IF we don’t have biblical knowledge and if the Bible isn’t the main influence on our worldview. So we need to invest time into studying the Word. 

Secondly, we need guidance and courage to face hard decisions and then we need to act on them with a vote and stand by it confidentially. What does a cowardly vote say to our children? I am not saying you need to declare it to the world. I am just saying we need to have a conviction and stand by it. As my husband quotes Alexander Hamilton, Peter Marshall, and others “If you don’t stand for something, you will fall for anything.”

Most importantly, we need live our lives loyal to ONE, the only one worthy of our loyalty, Christ Jesus, and model what that looks like to our kids.

We can equip our children by interceding for them in prayer, teaching them the truth, and arming them with the gospel of truth and the sword of the Spirit.

Will you join me in raising the next generation to love Jesus and be loyal to His word?

Let’s pray together and look at Ephesians 6, asking God to cover our children with His spiritual armor.