There’s no future in the middle of the road!

   Do you ever feel like the danger and evil in our high pressure, in-your-face world will just run us and our children over? Does our next generation have a chance? What can we do? 

    The National Study on Youth and Religion (2002 to 2005) may have pinpointed the problem. We parents will have to live out the answer. In her book Almost Christian, Kenda Creasy Dean summarizes the results of the NSYR project.

   
     Some results are encouraging: Teens are much more interested in God and religion than we have assumed. And they are 80% influenced by the faith of their parents. That’s encouraging.
 

     Some results are troubling: The faith that the parents are passing on to their children is not quite Christian. Almost Christian. Middle of the road. Here is the brand of faith in Jesus that the American church is passing on to the next generation:
        1.    A god exists who watches over the world.
        2.    God wants people to be good, nice, and fair.
        3.    The main goal in life is to be happy and feel good about oneself.
        4.    God is not involved except when I need him to solve a problem.
        5.    Good people go to heaven when they die.

    Jesus has a different calling for us.
        1.    God is our Father.
        2.    If anyone would follow him, he must deny himself and take up his cross.
        3.    The main goal in life is to do the will of God, to live for him, to bring him glory.
        4.    Jesus is involved in everything, from atoms to galaxies, from babies to nations.
        5.    Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life: the only way to the heavenly Father.

    How do we move ourselves and our teens from the first set of beliefs to the call of Jesus? From shallow faith to deep commitment. From pastel to passionate. From zombie to zealot. From fear to boldness. How do we get out of the middle-of-the-road mentality?

    I am starting on my knees. I am praying that the intense fire of God’s Spirit will rekindle me and my family and my church and our churches until the next generation is ablaze. Until Peter and James and John and Paul would look at our generation and say, “That’s what we lived and died for.” Until the Lord himself would say, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”

    If we as parents are 80% of the influence on our kids, our own faith needs to be rekindled. We have to step up and step forward. We have to look our children and our culture in the eye and demonstrate that our time, our money, and our energy belong to Jesus Christ!

    As Isaac Watts penned, “Love so amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all.”

    Question: In addition to prayer, what actions can we take to get out of the middle of the road and really follow Jesus?

Active Dads, Effective Dads

    Not long ago, I sat in church and noticed a young visiting couple having difficulty with their little one. As I watched, the young mother got up once during the worship, once during the announcements, and once during the message—three times— to take her little troublemaker out. Meanwhile, the dad sat there and did nothing. He was passive.

    It reminded me of Adam in the garden when Eve was being tempted by the serpent. Eve discussed, listened, and ate. Then she gave the fruit to Adam “who was with her.” He had been there the whole time and done nothing. He had been passive. His passivity did not benefit his offspring.

    When I was a young tyke, too young to remember the incident directly, I acted up in church. (My mom has related this story to me out of her compassion.) Apparently, I made enough noise to disturb the people nearby. My dad swept me into his arms and marched out of the auditorium and down the stairs to the basement of the church. There, he “warmed my bottom.” Then he instructed me that it was time to “dry it up,” meaning it was time to stop crying. In the intensity of that one-on-one moment, I calmed myself.

    Then Dad carried me back upstairs and into the auditorium. After about five steps in, I saw Mom and let out a wail. That was a big mistake! Dad immediately whirled around, took me back downstairs, and again warmed my bottom. Knowing my dad as I later came to know my dad, I imagine he said, “Now, I mean, dry it up!” I did my best, sniffling and snuffling, but far from crying and wailing.

    When we re-entered the auditorium this time, I managed to keep my noise limited to those same sniffles and snuffles. There I sat, through the rest of that morning, beside my dad, muffling my snuffling as well as I could.

    Whatever age I was, that was the day I learned to listen in church. That discipline has served me well through the years. Because of him, I listened, I learned, I responded.

    “Shorty” Currie was an involved dad. He didn’t sit back and watch my mother carry the family. He stepped up. Today, we need more dads like Shorty Currie. I am sure that he probably made some minor mistakes along the way, just as we all have. But he got the main things right: Don’t be a passive dad, take responsibility, lead the discipline charge.

    This week, if he were still alive, William Carnelious Currie would be turning ninety-one. My brother, my sister, and I have benefited from his fatherhood. He was an active and effective dad.