One of the blessings of watching my daughters move from children to young ladies the past few years has been the conversations we are having. The conversations are at random times and about seemingly random matters but about that which their brains are trying to sort out.
As a parent, it is enjoyable (though sometimes taxing or inconvenient) to help them grow in the melding of faith and life.
Often, the conversations revolve around what the Bible says and why we make the decisions we make. This can be difficult because there is trust (of the parents) involved and there are mixed messages around them from any number of sources. Amanda and I do not desire the sloppy, lazy way out of, "I SAID SO"...though it is very appealing at times.
So, we embark on a journey for each conversation to bring our daughters from what the Bible does say to application in ways it may not explicitly demand.
A simple, somewhat trivial example- friends in the community, school, or church have seen movie "X". They ask if they can see movie "X" and we explain why we are not desirous (at this point of their lives) for them to take in that content. As parents, we want to be careful about saying the Bible forbids it if it does not or casting a cloud of ungodliness over their friends/parents for allowing it.
This is a good moment for Bible teaching, shaping their conscience/Christian liberty choices, growing their trust in their parents' wisdom, and learning to love others you may not agree with.
PAUSE..read this next part slowly. Often, the attitude we have towards the unsaved in our community, the issues we have or experience at church, and the trouble we may experience at home is often tied to this subject in some capacity.
We fall into one of two ugly ditches; we either do NOT know what the Bible explicitly teaches about a matter because we are not reading it/hearing it taught regularly OR we mistake application of the Bible (or our subjective experiences) as absolute truth.
This leads to dogmatism where there should be humility, disunity where there should be harmony, and carnality where there should be spirituality.
It hinders the unsaved from coming to Christ through our active witness to them verbally and by their observation of active grace in our lives.
It hurts Christ's churches as people become "experts" in matters they do not fully understand or have studied, elevate matters the Bible has not due to the former or due to subjectivism through life experience, or refuse to trust any leadership they have a slight disagreement with (whether in personality or choice).
It harms the eternal souls we are living within our houses by crafting an environment that claims to be "biblical" but offers little in the way of answers...unshockingly, such an environment seems to be fostering the rise of the "NONES" in America (consider 1/5 Ohioans identify as such).
Friends, it is a good thing that our God is not the constant lawyer of every moment looking to throw the book at us for not handling each situation in a strict, precise, uniform application throughout the sea of humanity. He allows us to grow in truth, yield to grace, and learn to love others using our Christian liberty for their salvation or sanctification.
What He declares unmoveable, unchangeable, and needed, may we also without apology!
What He allows us to liberty within, guided by implicit principles, may we do so humility!
I can already tell you, Amanda and I have wrestled with the beginnings of this part of the parenting journey and have likely already failed in some way (whether cognizant of it or not) BUT it is a journey worth taking so that our daughters may grow to love the Bible for what it says and understand the beauty of walking in grace throughout their day encountering matters it does not explicitly address.
Pastor Paul