But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law. Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit. Let us not become boastful, challenging one another, envying one another. NASB
Did you get that? Those that live outside of Christ are under the law and are subject to the fruits of living according to the flesh: immorality.... impurity....strife....outbursts of anger....drunkenness...factions...disputes. I don't know about you but this is what I am seeing in this upcoming generation. We as believers, on other hand, should look different: good, loving, kind, peaceful, gentle, patient, faithful, self-controlled and joyful. Hmmm. I can safely say that I don't always see these things in myself, let alone in my kids....but....we are working towards these things and it is always looking hopeful for us and our children.
So this is one of my jobs as a parent: to teach my children the fruit of the Spirit. This is done first of all by living them. Ok...far more than I cover for the sake of this blog; suffice it to say, "John 13:34-35 "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another." And this includes our children. Our children will know and experience Christ through us first.
Living out the fruit of the Spirit, as parents, takes on a different face then it may while dealing with our friends, co-workers, or even our spouses. For example: let's take the definition of kindness. Kindness means being good, moral, kind, useful. I cannot define kindness according to our current culture....examples of kindness in this context is not parallel to the teaching of the scripture as the worldly definition includes giving into the anothers wishes in order to make them happy. This is one thing that is wrong in our society with the way we are raising our kids. In general we give them what they want to make them happy. So how do we act out kindness as parents? How about this: Is it "useful" or "good" to let them do, listen to, read, watch, or play things that are contrary to the teachings of Christ? Yes, I let my kids watch TV and movies.....but I am feeling more and more convicted on what they are watching. I don't let them listen to secular music (they don't want to as the christian music they listen to is exciting and uplifting). As a matter of fact, as a family we are unplugging the TV sets for 1 month and committing not to watch movies or shows on the computer. It may last much longer than one month as I expect that we will see changes in our own lives and in the lives of our children. Whether we like it or not, the philosophies of the world are being taught in books, music, TV shows and movies. We need to wake up and realize that satan is active in these areas and he is working hard to steal the minds of our children!!
I believe that we are not showing kindness by allowing them to partake in worldly things that may be harmful to them. They may pick up ideas and concepts that later in life they have to work hard to be free from. Though, I am not negating that God is amazing and will work all things out to His Glory for those that love Him and are called according to His purposes however this is a blessing on their lives later despite my parental actions. Right now my "head is on the chopping block" so to speak. I have been given the responsibility to watch over them and to keep them until such a time as they are no longer under my direct responsibility and I have to answer to God for what I am doing with them while they are young. Sobering thought! Do we want to raise our children the easy way which may lead to our regret later when we see how they are living their adult lives or do we want to do the very best for them which may be difficult and challenging and painful? They may make contrary choices in their lives despite our best efforts but at least we can rest in the Lord knowing that we did our job. It is never easy to watch our children make bad choices and while they are in our care we can help them through these choices by displaying and teaching the fruit of the Spirit. Some people have relented by saying that no matter what, my children will make mistakes and there is nothing I can do about it. To a certain degree this is true as it is inevitable that we will make mistakes and they will make mistakes. But I want to do the kind thing for them by making it as easy as possible by giving my children a strong moral compass and minds which are uncluttered by worldly philosophies. Hereby they have this foundation from which to work and not sandy soil.
I would love to start a discussion on this subject. Please respond with your thoughts whether they be agreement, disagreement or indifferent...you won't offend me.
