I am often asked to speak about how to protect our children from rebellion and I am asked to address why young people turn from the faith or apparent faithfulness. I am convinced that we have lost a handle on what it means to protect our sons and daughters from danger. We live in a time when it will be unusual for sons and daughters to go on for God. If it happens they will be a part of a remnant and it will be an unusual thing. It will be a work of God. (Read Ezekiel 14)
When we consider the chilling spiritual danger they are in, when we consider the variety of deadly means the enemy uses because his delight is the destruction of the seed of the godly it should stir up in us the deepest protections. Are you providing adequate protection for your sons and daughters? Are you really aware of the enemy? Are you ignorant of his devices? Do you realize how eager He is to destroy the seed of the godly? Do you understand how he is tirelessly working to wipe the memory of the godly form the face of the earth? Are you extending your protection beyond the time when your children are eighteen, that is when they are most vulnerable.
Here are fifteen things Bill Gothard gave a few years ago that should stir up a father’s protective instinct:
1. Taking outsiders into your home
2. Immoral guests in your home
3. Things that produce addictions
4. Jobs that undermine godly standards
5. Activities that have the appearance of evil
6. Clothing that imitates the world
7. Churches that undermine the family
8. Children who disrespect their mother
9. Guilt that remains on the conscience
10. Friends that produce peer dependence
11. Activities that waste time and resources
12. Presuppositions contrary to truth
13. Goals that teach taking vs. giving
14. Damage to family name
15. Distractions that hinder priorities.
May God help us give our sons and daughters an unusual level of protection.