This post is from our "Parents After God's Own Heart" Facebook page:
Parents After God's Own Heart, are you concerned with what you allow into your hearts and in your children's hearts? The world we live in bombards us with negativity, immorality, and sin, but we can control a lot of that if we make wise choices about things we allow in our lives.
In the entertainment world, we have a choice. We can say yes to the world and the things in and of the world, or we can say no. We can watch, see, read, listen to filth or we can choose not to do so.
There's a movie coming out that we, personally, have no knowledge about, but because of some memes going around FB, we asked about it. The movie is "Straight Outta Compton". A friend of ours, who also is a youth minister and striving to direct the minds and hearts of kids along with parents, posted this about the movie: "Straight Outta Compton: 300 F bombs, 170 S words, and 50 N words (via Plugged In online, not from my own experience)." One of his family members even made the truthful comment: Straight Outta Potty Mouth"! Sad, but true.
When you see everything that movie has in it from the pluggin.com website, how does that make you feel about the movie? If you had seen it, would you have sat there counting each of them? No. Would you have even noticed that many? Chances are, no....unless you're not used to watching movies like that and then they would smack you in the face. But, if you weren't used to watching movies with that type of language, maybe...hopefully....you would have checked it out in advance on sites like Plugged In.
Take the time to find out what your kids are watching. Their minds are being filled with all kinds of things. It needs to be filled with good things, not filth. But as in all things, you have to be the example for them. You have to make wise choices, as well.
Why would you deliberately choose to allow your own mind and your children's minds to be filled with filth? Not just this movie, but in all things? Some things you just hear. You can't totally get away from the world unless you live in seclusion and hibernation. Your kids are hearing it at school, anyway. BUT, where you CAN prevent it, please do. Only YOU can make a difference for you and your family. Make the choice to say no to the world. Make the choice to raise your children differently than what the world says is okay. Raise your children according to God's Word.
A common question went around many years ago, "What Would Jesus Do?" An even better question is, "What DID Jesus do?" We know what He did by reading the Bible. Would Jesus listen to, watch, see, read, hear what you are watching, seeing, listening to and doing? He may have been around things, but it wasn't for His pleasure. It was to serve and to do good and to love others. It wasn't to fill His mind with filth. Let's imitate Him.
Showing posts with label Choices. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Choices. Show all posts
Wednesday, August 19, 2015
Sunday, February 20, 2011
The Chronicles of Biscuit - Choices
The Chronicles of Biscuit - Stories about our youngest son, Tyler, whose nickname is Biscuit.
Last night I was making homemade pizza for Biscuit, Lauren, and I. I asked Biscuit if he wanted cheese, pepperoni, or beef pizza. He replied, "I want pepperoni, but I would rather have cheese." So, I asked again, but left out beef. I asked, "So, do you want pepperoni or cheese?" Again, Biscuit answered, "Mom, I said I want pepperoni, but I would rather have cheese." I explained to Biscuit that I knew perfectly well what he said, but that it didn't make sense. He just looked at me like I was crazy and like I was the one who had the problem with the pizza selection!
Sometimes in our life, with the choices we are faced with, we kind of sound like Biscuit. We may say, "Well, I want to do this one thing, but I would rather do this other thing." In other words, (not referring to pizza being right or wrong, of course!) maybe we know that this one thing is the better choice as a Christian, but maybe we want to do this other thing that maybe isn't as good of a choice for our Christian walk.
Choices are hard! Some choices are trivial - like pizza preference - but others can have lasting and life-long consequences. Some affect only us. Some affect others, too. Some even affect future generations.
So, how do we know what is the best choice? How can we make more sense of a situation and the choices we have to make in each of those situations? Biscuit ended up getting both kinds of pizza - well, all three choices in the end, but he didn't even realize that what he was saying didn't make sense! It seemed clear as a bell to him!
Our choices may seem impossible to deal with, but God's written word can help in those situations. We can look to the Bible for answers. There's nothing new under the sun.
What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again;
there is nothing new under the sun.
Ecclesiastes 1:9
Saturday, January 16, 2010
The Right Choice
A friend told me a story about her teenage son a few days ago. He is on the high school basketball team and the coach has asked the boys not to drink soft drinks during the season. Her son has not had one at all - even during the Christmas break when there weren't any games or many practices.
The interesting this is that during the break my friend, her husband, and their son went out to eat at a nice restaurant about an hour away from here, and by mistake the waitress brought the teen a Dr. Pepper instead of the water he had ordered. His mom thought he might go ahead and drink it because it was there and she was figuring they had been charged for the drink anyway; however, the teenager scooted the drink over to the side of the table and asked the waitress for a water.
Ironically, while they were eating, the teen's basketball coach and his wife came into the restaurant to celebrate their first anniversary. Of course the coach noticed the drink sitting over by the teen, so they explained the mixup to the coach. My friend was so glad that her son had stuck to his decision to keep the rule, even during Christmas break!
This story has several different life applications to it. Let's look at some of them:
Observation:
From the teen's perspective, he could have made the decision to drink one Dr. Pepper during the break. He could have thought that no one would know and that it wouldn't hurt anything to just have one soft drink.
Lesson to learn:
Even if no one had seen him drink the drink, God would have known. He knows everything. And, because the coach made a rule, the teen should have followed it as he did - even during Christmas break.
Observation:
The coach believed that because the Dr. Pepper was to the side of the teen, it was his. It really would have appeared to be the case.
Lesson to learn:
Sometimes things are not how they appear to be. We may get all upset about something, only to find out later that we saw or interpreted something in the wrong way. We shouldn't assume the worst in a person or in a situation, but be sure to make sure we have all of the facts about the situation.
Observation:
Sometimes people can get the wrong impression of us. Even though we may not always think so, our example really does matter. In virtually everyone of our lives, somebody is watching us and learning from us. We may not realize it and we may not really like it, but it happens all of the time.
Lesson to learn:
Only God is our judge, but our influence on others and the example we show others matters. Suppose that some other basketball player and his family from this teen's team had been at the same restaurant, but not talked to my friend and her family. Maybe they happened to be leaving on the other side of the room right when the waitress sat the drink down? The other boy and his family would have assumed that this teen was drinking the Dr. Pepper, even though in the end he didn't. They would have only seen it being sat down by him. So, this other teen might have thought it was okay to have a soft drink during the break, too, and then decide to get one on the way home...then maybe the next day and the next and so on. Would my friend's son have been wrong? Of course not, but it does show how what we do (or appear to do) can influence others and what they may do or not do.
My friend wondered if the coach would really think about the fact that her son didn't drink the Dr. Pepper, but the other day when her son asked his coach about something, he said, "You could go up in the stands and drink a Dr. Pepper," kind of as a joke. So, see? He really did notice and he was proud of the teen for obeying his rule. People really do notice when we choose to do the right thing.
This story reminds me of one of my favorite mottos that I've mentioned before: "Do the right thing 'cause it's the right thing to do". It also goes with this motto, as well: "Do the right thing even when no one is watching." Of course, there is always someone watching and that's God. He knows everything about us and everything we do. He's not in Heaven hoping we'll mess up, though. No. He's in Heaven wanting us to choose to do the right thing as we serve Him and live as His children.
The interesting this is that during the break my friend, her husband, and their son went out to eat at a nice restaurant about an hour away from here, and by mistake the waitress brought the teen a Dr. Pepper instead of the water he had ordered. His mom thought he might go ahead and drink it because it was there and she was figuring they had been charged for the drink anyway; however, the teenager scooted the drink over to the side of the table and asked the waitress for a water.
Ironically, while they were eating, the teen's basketball coach and his wife came into the restaurant to celebrate their first anniversary. Of course the coach noticed the drink sitting over by the teen, so they explained the mixup to the coach. My friend was so glad that her son had stuck to his decision to keep the rule, even during Christmas break!
This story has several different life applications to it. Let's look at some of them:
Observation:
From the teen's perspective, he could have made the decision to drink one Dr. Pepper during the break. He could have thought that no one would know and that it wouldn't hurt anything to just have one soft drink.
Lesson to learn:
Even if no one had seen him drink the drink, God would have known. He knows everything. And, because the coach made a rule, the teen should have followed it as he did - even during Christmas break.
Observation:
The coach believed that because the Dr. Pepper was to the side of the teen, it was his. It really would have appeared to be the case.
Lesson to learn:
Sometimes things are not how they appear to be. We may get all upset about something, only to find out later that we saw or interpreted something in the wrong way. We shouldn't assume the worst in a person or in a situation, but be sure to make sure we have all of the facts about the situation.
Observation:
Sometimes people can get the wrong impression of us. Even though we may not always think so, our example really does matter. In virtually everyone of our lives, somebody is watching us and learning from us. We may not realize it and we may not really like it, but it happens all of the time.
Lesson to learn:
Only God is our judge, but our influence on others and the example we show others matters. Suppose that some other basketball player and his family from this teen's team had been at the same restaurant, but not talked to my friend and her family. Maybe they happened to be leaving on the other side of the room right when the waitress sat the drink down? The other boy and his family would have assumed that this teen was drinking the Dr. Pepper, even though in the end he didn't. They would have only seen it being sat down by him. So, this other teen might have thought it was okay to have a soft drink during the break, too, and then decide to get one on the way home...then maybe the next day and the next and so on. Would my friend's son have been wrong? Of course not, but it does show how what we do (or appear to do) can influence others and what they may do or not do.
My friend wondered if the coach would really think about the fact that her son didn't drink the Dr. Pepper, but the other day when her son asked his coach about something, he said, "You could go up in the stands and drink a Dr. Pepper," kind of as a joke. So, see? He really did notice and he was proud of the teen for obeying his rule. People really do notice when we choose to do the right thing.
This story reminds me of one of my favorite mottos that I've mentioned before: "Do the right thing 'cause it's the right thing to do". It also goes with this motto, as well: "Do the right thing even when no one is watching." Of course, there is always someone watching and that's God. He knows everything about us and everything we do. He's not in Heaven hoping we'll mess up, though. No. He's in Heaven wanting us to choose to do the right thing as we serve Him and live as His children.
So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.
1 Corinthians 10:31
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