I woke up early.
Sad.
And mad.

Sad and mad that, once again, I’ve had a front row seat to watch parents encourage their children to go ahead and do an unholy thing because they, “deserve to be happy”.

This is nothing new.

For years, I watched as parents of my kids’ friends did this. They compromised Biblical principles as they lied about their addresses to get their kids into out of district schools, they forfeited church attendance for travel sports, and bought prom dresses that look like wedding night lingerie because they wanted their kids to “just be happy.”

But this forsaking of right things for temporary happiness doesn’t seem to ever end and the results are tragic.

It goes on as adult children become unhappy with their marriages. And instead of encouraging their kids to keep their promises to God and protect their families, these parents once again promote a temporary happiness over encouraging an eternal holiness— telling their kids, “you deserve to be happy” even when that happiness involves leaving their marriage for another relationship.

And the marriage dissolves, and children are shuffled every week from one house to the other, and often end up being raised by grandparents who didn’t hold the line with their kids and will fail even more to do so with their grandchildren.

And the “they deserve-to-be-happy” cycle of sin snowballs for generations. And, what’s more, none of them seem all too happy.

But it doesn’t have to be this way!

Parents, grandparents, we really can trust God and His ways more than we trust us!

We can trust Him with our kids. We can ask Him to give us the wisdom and strength to parent with their eternal well-being in mind.

We can stop cycles of generational sin and sorrow when we ask God to help us trust Him more than what this messed-up world tells us is normal and will bring happiness.

We can find the courage to do the right things, and we can teach our kids to do so. That’s where we, and those we love so very much, will find peace, joy and steadfast confidence.

We, nor our children, will ever find lasting happiness by compromising with sin. Let’s refute this lie from the enemy.

For sin is crouching at our door, its desire is to master us (Gen 4:7) and rob and kill and destroy (John 10:10) all the good things God has planned for us and those we love.

Can we do all this and still raise a prodigal? Sadly, yes. But God can give us peace, even in this, as we remember we can’t go against the ways of a Holy God and expect lasting joy. He loves us. He is for us, and as we acknowledge Him in all our ways, He will make our paths straight (Prov 3:6).

And it is there, and ONLY there, that we, and our kids, will ever find life and peace (Rom 8:6).

trustHim

betterway

kimjaggers.com

(Written a while back. Resharing today)