Pensamientos para hoy (afterthought for today)
Kids grow up
An interesting and somewhat disconcerting development takes place in the lives of most adolescents. They gradually shift from wanting to please their parents to wanting to please their friends. Children naturally want to please their parents. Their parents are the most important people in their lives and so they seek to win their approval. As they get older, however, they begin to care more about their friends and their friend's opinions then they do their parents. At the same time, these young people begin to desire greater and greater independence. They are in the process of "finding themselves", becoming their own persons, and learning to make their own decisions. As these two processes take place a form of rebellion often results. Sometimes the rebellion is subtle and sometimes overt. If you have ever had teenagers, then you know how trying this process can be. Yet, we should never forget that these developments are natural and inevitable and are part of the process of growing from childhood into adulthood. The problem comes when the rebellion gets out of hand and the young person harms not only his relationship with his parents but harms himself. Sometimes teenagers can get out of control and get in serious, criminal, and even life-threatening behavior. If you are going through this experience, then you should find someone who can help you deal with this situation. Your pastor, rabbi, or priest should be able to give some good advice. You can also find help on-line at www.biblicalparenting.org or www.familylife.com. When our children reach a certain age they become responsible for their own decisions and their own choices. As parents we often wish that they might make different choices, but unless we are invited to give them advice, we no longer have that role in their lives. But this change in our role as parents does not mean that we no longer have a part to play in their lives. The Bible tells us what our new role is: 1) Remember that God loves them more than we ever could and he is more concerned about them than we are. The Bible says to cast "all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you (1 Peter 5:7)."1 We can leave our children in God's hands and know that he will take care of them. 2) We can pray that God will help our children to make the right choices in their lives. 3) We can trust that the things we tried to teach our children when they were young will stay with them when they are adults. God says, "Train up a child in the way he should go, even when he is old he will not depart from it (Proverbs 22:6)." This proverb is not a promise or guarantee that all our children will turn out perfect, but as a general principle God reassures us that our efforts to raise them right will have positive and lasting results. These principles hold true even for those of you who do not have children of your own. If you work with children, then you know how much you desire that they continue with the Lord when they reach adulthood. Never lose hope that even those kids who seem to have gone astray will eventually return to the Lord. The father of the prodigal son never lost hope that someday his erring son would return. He kept praying for him and watching for him, and God answered his prayer, and one day as he was watching God answered his prayer and he saw his son return home and back to the faith in which he was raised. Trying to raise godly kids into godly adults, Pastor SteveFootnotes1 1 Peter 5:7, NASB (New American Standard Bible). Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations taken from the NASB.
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