It Starts With Me

I am concerned about where our country is headed. The rulings that are taking place in courtrooms, laws that are being passed in congress, the influence money is having in our political scene seem to be taking our country down the wrong path. So who is to blame, who do I want to point my finger at? The government because they are passing laws making it tougher and tougher to be open about our faith? No. The schools because they are making it harder to teach Biblical principals in the classroom and pray during school events? Nope. How about churches who seem to miss the mark Sunday after Sunday, getting caught up in the pomp and circumstance of religion and never sharing the Gospel? No. So who do I get to blame? I blame parents. I think all of these issues could be addressed if moms and dads, especially dads, would talk about and teach Biblical principals in their homes.

Deuteronomy 11: 18-21 18 Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 19 Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 20 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates, 21 so that your days and the days of your children may be many in the land that the LORD swore to give your forefathers, as many as the days that the heavens are above the earth.

Notice what God is telling Israel. You families need to do this. He did not say Moses needs to do this, he did not say Aaron needed to do this for them. He is speaking to the families. Moms and dads are to do this. We are far too consumed with work, sports, money and other things that will not matter in eternity. Take a look at what Paul told Timothy. Paul was not married and did not have children of his own but he considered Timothy to be his spiritual son, a young man God brought into his life as the son he never had:

II Timothy 1:13, 14 - 13 What you heard from me, keep as the pattern of sound teaching, with faith and love in Christ Jesus. 14 Guard the good deposit that was entrusted to you—guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in us.

Paul has lived out his faith before Timothy. He has poured into Timothy over the years. Look at Acts 16 - 20 and you can see some of the interaction between them. Paul mentions Timothy in Romans, I and II Corinthians as well as the two letters he wrote to Timothy - I and II Timothy. In the passage above Paul says "What you heard from me", again Paul was Timothy's spiritual father who taught Timothy much. He did not say "What you heard from your teacher at school" he did not say "What you heard from the governor" he did not even say "What you heard from your Sunday school teacher" he said "What you heard from me". If you are a parent are you being a "Me" to your children, are you being a "Me" to your family? It's time to stop putting the responsibility of spiritual matters on someone else and start putting it on yourself.

If we are going to change the courtrooms, the congress or the classrooms we have to start with our own families. It is time for moms and dads to step up and teach our kids what God's word says and demonstrate what it looks like to live out a faith based on Biblical truths. If our country would repent of neglecting this truth of God's word maybe God would see fit to restore us to the great nation we once were.