“ . . . There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God—” 2 Timothy 3:1-4 (ESV)
We see them happening today—in Aleppo, in the Philippines.
More than ever, we need to arm our children against these evil forces that have crept in over the years, and now here with ferocity.
This was how I began my talk “Why Devotions for Kids Matter” at CSM’s Teach and Reach Seminar—not to scare my audience of 307 educators and church workers, but to stress how important children’s devotions are.
Unfortunately, if one were to base the reach of these books on sales, they are in the hands of only a few. Whatever reasons there are, I feel that Christian communities are yet to see the urgent need for kids’ devotionals.
Every single day, kids are exposed to worldwide atrocities through the internet and television—wars, rape, pornography, suicide, man-made and natural disasters, crimes, killings, cursing, lies, violence in all forms, poverty, corruption, the list goes on.
How are we to arm them?
Parents can’t keep yakking their head off. In fact, they are too busy battling traffic to and from work to even have time to yak. Teachers only have so much time to deliver the curriculum. Elected leaders have ceased to be role models. Political correctness and compromise have taken over GMRC (Good Manners and Right Conduct).
Even Christmas—the birth of our Savior—has morphed into so many varying definitions, far removed from the right one.
"I believe that regular devotion (in school, home, or church) is one armor," thus I ended my talk.
This is my prayer and CSM's, and we hope, the audience's too. We have laid it down at God’s throne of grace.
1 comment:
you're so right, ate grace! tkids nowadays must be confused as to what really matters and how to live their lives, even i as an adukt am a bit baffled as to who their role models are turning out to be. no thanks to media, what paul wrote to timothy is certainly coming to pass! not to mention so many kids growing up without their parents here in our country! may the 307 who listened to you turn the tide in their circles of influence and start leading devotions fore the kids they teach and reach.
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