Do As I Say, Not As I Do
We have all heard this saying at least once in our life. We may have used it ourselves at some point in desperation. But does it ever work? Of course not. Telling your child not to drink alcohol while you are sipping on a Margaretta is ridiculous. Even young children are able to see the hypocrisy involved in such a statement. Now understand that the Bible only tells us that drunkenness, not drinking, is a sin, but the issue here is what we are teaching our children.
Children learn from an early age that there are different rules for adults and children. Most children understand that they are not allowed to cross the road without permission, or that they cannot have coffee, or that they must go to bed earlier than we do. They often look forward to the day when they will be old enough to stray further from home, drink coffee and stay up all night if they want. But think of the other things you do that may be influencing them as well.
Statistically children who smoke or drink underage had at least one parent who smokes or drinks. Children who have sex before marriage generally had parents who had sex before marriage. It is really difficult to teach children or youth that they should not do these things when we ourselves are guilty of doing them.
My father smoked when I was a small child. My brother and I used to steal some of his cigarettes and go out into the woods to smoke them when I was only in 1st grade. Why would a first grader want to smoke? Because I thought it would make me all grown up. I wanted to be like my dad.
Now, I know that some people will say that there is nothing wrong or sinful in smoking or drinking or having premarital sex. I have heard all of the excuses:
We must model the way we want our children and youth to live. One area that has really concerned me is how many Christians will post comments, photos, videos, etc. on YouTube, facebook, twitter or other internet sites that show them in less than a Christ-like manner. I do not think that Christ would post a status update using modified forms of cusswords such as OMG, friggin' or beyotch. I cannot see Christ posing for a photo holding up his Budweiser bottle (it is strange that we never see photos of people holding up their Coke cans). We need to remember that we are not only to model Christ-like behaviors for our children, but that we are also role models for the teens in our churches as well as ambassadors for Christ throughout the world.
If I am caught doing something that I should not do, then I would hope that other Christians would hold me accountable for it. Remember that we are not to be like the world for (unlike Obama) we are not citizens of this world. We need to live our lives in a way that will honor Christ. God modeled how we are to live our lives and never once told us to do as He said, not as He did.
Children learn from an early age that there are different rules for adults and children. Most children understand that they are not allowed to cross the road without permission, or that they cannot have coffee, or that they must go to bed earlier than we do. They often look forward to the day when they will be old enough to stray further from home, drink coffee and stay up all night if they want. But think of the other things you do that may be influencing them as well.
Statistically children who smoke or drink underage had at least one parent who smokes or drinks. Children who have sex before marriage generally had parents who had sex before marriage. It is really difficult to teach children or youth that they should not do these things when we ourselves are guilty of doing them.
My father smoked when I was a small child. My brother and I used to steal some of his cigarettes and go out into the woods to smoke them when I was only in 1st grade. Why would a first grader want to smoke? Because I thought it would make me all grown up. I wanted to be like my dad.
Now, I know that some people will say that there is nothing wrong or sinful in smoking or drinking or having premarital sex. I have heard all of the excuses:
- We only drink on special ocassions [problem is that you teach your children that drinking is special and since they want to be special they want to drink]
- I have an addiction to cigarettes and cannot quit [problem is that you teach your children that addictions are impossible for God to do anything about]
- I made a mistake by having sex before marriage and can use that to teach my children why they should not make the same mistakes I did [problem is that no matter what our parents told us, most of us made the same mistakes that our parents did...this is one of the consequences of our sins]
We must model the way we want our children and youth to live. One area that has really concerned me is how many Christians will post comments, photos, videos, etc. on YouTube, facebook, twitter or other internet sites that show them in less than a Christ-like manner. I do not think that Christ would post a status update using modified forms of cusswords such as OMG, friggin' or beyotch. I cannot see Christ posing for a photo holding up his Budweiser bottle (it is strange that we never see photos of people holding up their Coke cans). We need to remember that we are not only to model Christ-like behaviors for our children, but that we are also role models for the teens in our churches as well as ambassadors for Christ throughout the world.
If I am caught doing something that I should not do, then I would hope that other Christians would hold me accountable for it. Remember that we are not to be like the world for (unlike Obama) we are not citizens of this world. We need to live our lives in a way that will honor Christ. God modeled how we are to live our lives and never once told us to do as He said, not as He did.
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