Sermonette: Raising Children in America Today

The book of Daniel begins with a peculiar story. The best young men of Israel, who had been forcibly taken from their homes, are in Babylon when an edict comes to them. They are to be raised and educated in the palace with the best that Babylon has to offer for three years. At the end of those three years, they are to be tested, and the best of them will join the royal court. Among them is Daniel and his friends.

The sticking point of the story comes in when the young men are to be fed. See, the officers of Babylon wanted to feed the young men choice meat and wine for every meal. This project was so important they had access to the best food. Perhaps, a modern equivalent might be Pizza Ranch buffet every single day. Most of the young men, as young men would, jumped at this opportunity. Daniel and his friends, however, took issue. They had been raised a certain way. Now, it’s not clear if Daniel took issue with the unbalanced diet, or if there was an unspoken pagan issue (meat was often offered to idols first.) Either way, the point is that Babylon sought to give them their desires, and Daniel resisted, preferring instead to eat in a way that was good and proper. Eventually, the officer in charge relented and allowed them a test period. Daniel and his friends could eat healthy for 10 days, then they would see if the four of them looked better, or worse than their peers. After 10 days, guess who looked better? Daniel and his friends did. At the end of three years, guess who was head and shoulders ahead of the rest of the young men? Daniel and his friends. Daniel and his friends had been raised to recognize right from wrong and when the going got tough, they stuck to what they knew was right.

We live in an age where teaching our children right from wrong is under attack. Culture will tell you that your (the parents) happiness is more important than a traditional family, so break up and reform your family as best serves you. Culture will tell you that all kids have sex, drink underage, and experiment with drugs, so you might as well let them. Culture will tell you that your kids know their sexuality better than you or God, so let them decide. Culture will tell you that your 19-year-old is still a kid and can’t handle adult responsibilities yet. Culture (politicians, tv, social media) seems to have a lot to say about how you should and shouldn’t raise your kids; and its willing to punish you if you resist.

My challenge to you, is read Daniel 1. Daniel 1 is proof of what I suspect will happen in America in the coming years. As culture assaults good parenting, most children are going to be handicapped. Their parents stood idly by and let them make the dumb choices and then get saddled with the baggage that comes from those decisions. However, I suspect the kids that were raised correctly will, like Daniel and his friends, start to come out ahead. I’m already seeing a correlation between the successful kids,

and kids who take their faith seriously and make good decisions. In the coming years, I’d bet my trombone that the disparity will only grow. There will be the kids that their parents let culture parent them, and far ahead, will be the kids whose parents risked culture’s disapproval and raised their kids to be high functioning, emotionally mature, spiritually deep young adults, like Daniel and his friends.

Don’t be weak. Be strong for your kids. The Bible has good advice about how to raise kids. Take it, and resist the nonsense of our culture. Do it for the sake of your kids.