Sifting

If I want to know how I’m supposed to be parenting my children, Jesus should be my model. The world gives their philosophical ideas, and sometimes they seem to make sense... but the Scripture says:

The Lord knows the thoughts of human beings – that they are futile. Psalm 94:11

Or I love how the New English Translation words it:

The Lord knows that peoples’ thoughts are morally bankrupt. Psalm 94:11

When you are sifting through ideologies and methodologies, to whom do they belong? If they belong to the world, chances are, the moral compass they’re derived from, is majorly lacking.

To what standard are we holding ideas up to?

We live in an age where new studies and information and the so-called newest and greatest methods are literally streaming into our homes. I’m guessing if you’re reading this blog, you know what I mean! You’re online; you may be on Facebook where your newsfeed is littered with articles about this and that. You get the jist of what they promote by simply skimming their headlines.

I had to laugh, because the last time I streamed online radio (I live in a French environment, so I really like listening to online radio stations coming from North America), they were announcing the results of a “new“ study from Japan, which showed that babies as young as seven months were capable of “fake” crying to get attention from their caregivers. I’m sorry people... but really? I could have made money coming up with that idea, and I’m no doctor.

Or more seriously, what discipline methods do we use in our homes? Do we mostly react to our children’s bad behavior? Or instruct them in godly attitudes which will produce good behavior? What methods of punishment do we use? What about health and wellness? Homeschool? Public, or Private? How much extra-curricular is too much for them? At what age?

My point is that we must be highly trained filters in this day while we are bombarded with endless advice and notions, not to mention parent forums giving their two cents on every topic from feeding, to discipline and education. Let's not forget the mommy-groups you may have the opportunity to be a part of. And even the grandparents or aunts and uncles. Everyone has an idea they may be willing to solicit about how you might parent.

How do we begin to sift? If our moral compass isn’t the Scripture, we are on unstable ground:

So we are no longer to be children, tossed back and forth by waves and carried about by every wind of teaching by the trickery of people who craftily carry out their deceitful schemes. Eph. 4:14 NET

Our ideas and methods will change as our needs, moods, and emotions do, and as we go on an endless quest to try and find the latest and better way, we’ll end up being discouraged and frustrated as things change constantly in the world.

Your word is a lamp to walk by, and a light to illumine my path. Psalm 119:105

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