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Raising joyful children in an angry world, a podcast dedicated to faithful parents navigating their families through a stormy culture

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I heard a quote this week by G. K. Chesterton. It goes this way, Therefore, it is the paradox of history that each generation is converted by the saint who contradicts it most. This is Raising Joyful Children in an Angry World. I'm your host, Paul Osborne. I believe I saw a little slice of this and how it works and something I want you to consider in bringing kids to faith. I don't want you to hear this though as, are you really doing it right? Or some Christian guilt trip, can't stand that stuff, doesn't do us any good. But I hope you can see That is we get so busy in our lives and the culture is driving us that we can miss things that we have to sort of stop and think about. I had another grandson this week come up for the night training. He was ill during the summer. And so we got into it. And if you recall a podcast I did called initiating boys to become men in the kingdom of God, the first lesson is to learn that you are not the King and to care about what the King is. And so we did a similar thing. We went to the grocery store and we bought some cereals. Lucky Charms was his favorite. And I said, Hey, you know, a bunch of other stuff that we got. And I said, look, we're going to, we're going to give this away. And then when I told him that he says, no, we're not. He thought I was joking around because I tend to joke around too much. And so that's on me, not on him. But I said, no, no, no. Our first lesson is I'm not the King and you're not the King. And we have to care about what the King, King Jesus cares about. So, because it's a Saturday when we were doing this, we went to a place called the Church Pantry in downtown Bryan. And as we carried in our donations, We saw the faces of poverty, there were people literally lined up around the block and people on the porch of this pantry waiting to get food and it drew a bunch of questions and it helped him to see, Hey, everybody doesn't live like you. But what struck me about the Chesterton quote in this experience it was something about it in trying to bring kids to faith and understand it. The culture our kids grow up in when it comes to giving away food is likely to be dominated by the snack bag at soccer, or baseball, or cupcakes at school for your birthday for your classmates. And that's all good. That's fine. But if we want our kids to meet Jesus up close and personal, we're going to need to schedule an occasional Matthew 25. I'm sure you're familiar with the text. It's often preached on when the son of man comes in his glory and all the angels are with him and he sits down on his throne and the nations are gathered and he separates right the sheep from the goats and the sheep are on the right and the goats are on the left. And he tells those on his right, come you're blessed to my father or take your inheritance. The kingdom is prepared for you. He says, for I was hungry and you gave me something to eat. I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink. I was a stranger. You invited me in. I needed clothes and you clothed me, et cetera. You know this verse if you've been in church and then the people say to him, well, when did we see you hungry or feed you or thirsty and gave you something to drink? When were you a stranger that we invited in? And he answers them. I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these, my brothers and sisters, you You did for me. See, what I saw in the seeing this poverty, it was more than like the can drive, right? Where maybe the class collects a can of beans Or maybe you do it for your sports team or even at your church or a blanket drive. These are all great events. I'm not trying to say, to be some kind of purist. And I certainly am not trying to lay a guilt trip on anybody, but there's something about standing near people that are poor, something about being near the elderly in a nursing home or someone ill in there. And it is counter productive. Cultural. I saw a recent drugstore ad advertising this weekend where this mother brings this boy in and it's this sort of solemn thing. And this very caring pharmacist comes out to give the kid his flu shot or his COVID shot. And I'm not here to get into a discussion on whether you should or shouldn't do that. But the culture in that ad and the culture is playing on the fears of parents. Oh, your children should never be sick. Keep your distance from those hungry people. Focus mainly on your own hunger and in our over cautious, always wanting to give our kids the best. They miss something in this unto the Lord Himself to the least of these. And we try to catch up maybe with mission trips in our teens and all this stuff is good. But the earlier, the earlier the child can make that connection to giving away something of importance and significance of themselves to the least of these, the better. The book of Exodus is something that we're going through with the fifth and sixth graders. And it tells us that God hardened Pharaoh's heart and then Pharaoh hardened his own heart. It's a, it's a paradox. But for the rich and powerful ruler, he did not want to give up the slaves that served him. The sovereign God and the responsibility of man is in this hardening text, but clearly Pharaoh had training, training to care exclusively about himself. And he reached this level of narcissistic madness in which he wanted to be. The baby boy Hebrew boys killed, fearing that those boys would become soldiers and take over. And while at the same time, not wanting them to leave, right? He wants, he doesn't want too many old. They'll take over and take my throne because I'm the king mindset. And it justified infanticide. And then at the same time, well, I still want them here to serve me as my slaves. He was stuck in thinking he was the king. And we don't want to raise a pharaoh. The culture is constantly teaching us about feeding ourselves. It's you watch a football game and you're going to see pizzas and hamburgers and eating out and all that sort of stuff. You're going to see running backs. And I think Zeke Elliott started this, where he starts feeding himself and pretending, feed me, feed me. Our love of dining out and I'm not trying to, as I say, to bring some sort of guilt trip on anyone. there's no way we're going to escape the messages of our culture. There's no way we're going to be able to put up a bunch of fences. But we have to recognize we are easily influenced and the, and the young are particularly vulnerable. this same weekend as we're driving up, my grandson says, he calls me, Gov, Gov, you don't remember things, do you? I said, what do you mean? Well, you, you don't have the memory because you're old. I said, well, who told you that? He said, I heard it on a commercial. And I laughed about it and his parents are like the most diligent people about carefully limiting his time and what he watches, but it is demonstrative of how easily our kids are influenced by a message. And of course we talked about commercials and they're trying to sell us stuff. But I, I think there's something about taking a kid to a food bank where people might be there, to a shelter, to take some clothes to a, to one of these missions where you might see some people shopping. at the least sponsor a child where you can put the picture on the fridge. Because again, we're not going to avoid never seeing a commercial. We're going to bring our snacks to soccer. The world's messages are going to have to be dealt with. And that's a completely different topic, but for our kids to see Jesus up close and personal, we're going to have to do some, a little bit, we're going to have to schedule some Matthew 25 times. The messages of Jesus for the most part are simple. They're not complex and they're counter cultural. The parent, the Christian parent can be the saint that Chesterton is describing by adding some contradicting actions, activities, and words to the culture. And one way to do it involves a very simple trip to a grocery store in which a kid picks out some of their favorites and then gives them to the least of these in something to eat and to drink and to wear. The ultimate battle for the heart and soul is a fight for identity. Our king invites our kids to know who they are, what to believe, and where they belong. Until next time, let's remember the words for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.