Terror of the child-gods!

Over Protected and Smothered child-god

On Sundays, we have shifted our emphasis of study to “MINE: How Idols Kill Our souls.”

We have identified several critical truths:

• We were created/designed by God, for God, to worship God.
• Our souls seem to be suffocating and we are often oblivious to our suffering
• Our soul is the kind of thing that can get forfeited. (Mark 8:36-37)
• Anything in life, especially good, pleasurable, and powerful things, can serve as an idol.
• Anything can be an idol, and everything has been an idol.
• Idolatry is a heart issue.
• Idols compete for priority in our hearts.

Can our families become our false gods?

• What is really going on when: parents over schedule their kids and race them to the next thing (ball team practice and games, private lessons, rehearsals and recitals, clubs and groups, tutors and coaches, etc.) yet are too busy to find time for spiritual support (church services and ministries, faith talks, faith walks, faith mission)?
• What are our children learning when they hear us shouting angry obscenities at the referees and umpires, complaining about their coach’s, their teachers, their friends, their church volunteer’s, and their pastor’s incompetences?
• What will our kids become if we shelter them from failure and risk?
• Can our kids become truly wise and creative if we have smothered them with a stifling level of protection and security?

In his blog Tuesday, Jeff Berg quoted Jessica Thompson. She wrote a blog entitled, “10 Surefire Ways to Make Your Kids Hate Family Devotions” Jessica Thompson says:

"Family devotions are a good thing. They can be a means of grace to your entire family, but often we turn them into an idol. We get some idea in our head about how devotions are supposed to look, and we won’t budge an inch from getting that picture exactly right. Have you ever been so rigid in your family devotional time that you made it drudgery instead of a joy?"

Jeff identified how his reaction to a failed family devotion was a subtle warning he needed to heed.

Angry and defiant child-god

Tim Keller, in his book Counterfeit Gods, describes an actual scenario how a good thing (biological sons) became a mother’s false god. Then her idol worship dominated her parenting decisions. Instead of trusting God and parenting with wisdom and trust, she allowed fear and trepidation to foster distrust, worry, and anxiety. Eventually her son began to detest their mother for being too controlling. They acted out rebelliously while they were under her care and couldn’t wait to escape when they were old enough to move away. Keller describes her idolatry like this:

Once was a single woman, [whose biological clock was ticking] who desperately wanted to have children. She eventually married, and contrary to the low expectations of her doctors, was able to bare two healthy children despite her age. But her ultimate dreams did not come true, as she had dreamed. Her overpowering drive to give her children a perfect life made it impossible for her to actually enjoy them. Her over protectiveness, fears and anxieties, and her need to control every detail of her children’s lives made the family miserable. Her oldest child did poorly in school and showed signs of serious emotional problems. Her younger child was filled with anger. Achieving her heart’s deepest desire me in that being the worst thing that is ever happened to her.

God created us to worship Him. We were created/designed by God, for God, to worship God. Everyone of us must choose to live for something. Someone or some thing must capture our imaginations. Someone or some thing must seize our hearts deepest loyalty and hope. The bible warns us that without the intervention of the Holy Spirit what seizes our hearts, what captures our deepest loyalty, will never be God Himself.

Let that sink in.

If we look to anyone or anything to give us meaning, hope, and happiness that only God Himself can give, that someone or something will eventually fail to deliver and break our hearts. It’s not that we can love our children too much, it’s that we can love God too little in relationship to our kids. Our kids then could grow up assuming that are gods. The spoiled child with a false god complex will result in a young adult who is confused, selfish, entitled, lazy, and primed and ready for disappointment away from their parent(s) in the real world. Child-gods, who are crushed under the weight of their parent’s expectations, may one day crush their parent's dreams for a close, healthy, godly, loving family.

• Worship God alone and your kids will observe what is truth.
• Worship God alone and your kids will perceive how they were designed.
• Worship God alone and your kids will witness the priority of your heart.