Like most people around the world, I’m shocked by what’s happening.
The virus is shocking sure, but the reaction…
People hording toilet paper, is shocking.
People fighting over toilet paper, is even more shocking.
Survival food websites that are completely sold out of their products, is shocking.
Empty shelves in the grocery stores, isn’t just shocking, its terrifying!
There’s a whole new level of stress most people aren’t used to dealing with.
It’s hard. It’s maddening. It’s sad.
When this first started, I opened my Bible to this:
He then said to me: “Son of man, I will cut off the supply of food in Jerusalem. The people will eat rationed food in anxiety and drink rationed water in despair, for food and water will be scarce. They will be appalled at the sight of each other and will waste away because of their sin.” Ezekiel 4:16-17
I don’t know about y’all, but I am pretty appalled by the sight of toilet paper hoarders…
It goes deeper than that though. In our society, moms are told, often by various media outlets, to not like their kids. I have to wonder how many parents are just getting to know their kids, since most schools are temporarily closed.
That’s more tragic than the hoarders.
Many moms are more concerned with what their favorite talk show host, favorite celebrity, or gossip rags has to say, than the words of their own children.
Meanwhile, most dads are focused on their favorite sports teams and hobbies to spend much time at home.
Celebrities, athletes, and the talking heads of the world, they don’t care to even know your name. They couldn’t care less if you lived, or died. What are you to them? More importantly, what are they to you? An idol? Why is their opinion so important, to YOU?
Yet your children, they care very much for your opinion of life, most of all, your opinion of them. Your health is vital to them, not just for their survival, but for their heart.
Children love their parents more than anyone else on earth.
Yet society tells us to shuffle them around, and that it’s better for kids to be raised by their peers.
Look at the increasing crime rates, and children born to single moms and tell me how well that social experiment is going…
Calloused parenting is not what God intended.
Not just because of the crime rate, or negative effects on society, selfish, half-hearted parenting brings, but for the kids themselves.
Pastors, and Youth Pastors, are great and important, but NO ONE is supposed to have more influence, or a bigger roll in ministering to children, than their parents.
Has not the LORD made them one? In flesh and spirit they are his. And why one? Because he was seeking godly offspring, and do not break faith with the wife of your youth. Malachi 2:15
God wants PARENTS to raise godly offspring, not the village. Not even the church. That’s the job of mom AND dad.
From birth I was cast upon you; from my mother’s womb you have been my God. Psalm 22:10
A great king, one of the most talked about, and influential people in the Bible, King David, was ministered to first, by his mother.
Mothers, what kind of children do you want to raise?
One of the biggest tragedies of our culture, is that most dads have checked out from responsibilities of fatherhood. Even some Christian men, don’t step up to the plate, and why? Because society says that’s the way it should be!
What does God say?
“See, I will send the prophet Elijah before that great and dreadful day of the LORD comes. He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers; or else I will come and strike the land with a curse.” Malachi 4:5-6
Does our land feel cursed?
Now parents are forced to spend time with their kids, when most the time they’d rather do anything but.
And this is not a knock against “working parents” because my husband is the BEST father I have seen, and he’s a soldier. He not only works, but he deploys. When he is home, he is present, and our kids know that he loves them. He may golf occasionally, but his main hobby, his main focus, is spending time with our kids. To him, they are worth it.
What are your kids worth to you?
The saddest part about all of this, isn’t just what the kids suffer, but what the parents miss out on. The blessings in making your children a priority are more than anything else you could ever gain. No accomplishment, no amount of wealth, no position, no earthly title, or celebrity connection, could ever be more important than raising your children.
He settles the barren woman in her home as a happy mother of children. Praise the LORD! Psalm 113:9
May the LORD make you increase, both you and your children. May you be blessed by the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth. Psalm 115:14-15
When your priorities are not straight, you’re the one who misses out.
So during this time of social distancing, please, love your children. Talk with them. Minister to them. We call God our Heavenly Father for a reason, because the roll of parent, is the most important roll on earth.
Don’t take it for granted.
Kimberly Humphreys