Am I
Comfortable Raising An Alien?
1 Peter 2:11 states,
“Beloved, I
urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts which
wage war against the soul.”
Are you comfortable with that verse? This is a profound verse that does not get
talked about nearly enough, in my opinion. Over the last couple of weeks this
verse has really made me think...A LOT!
Peter is telling us very clearly that if we walk with Christ we will be
strangers and aliens in this world. The
implications of this truth are astounding, but I fear that we, as believers in
Christ, try to live as if 1 Peter 2 is not practically true. As adults we want all of the advantages of
being united with Christ, but none of the peer pressure, social stigma, and
weird looks that living biblically brings.
In essence, we want our cake and to eat it too. That is deeply troubling in and of itself,
and I could write a lot about the issues this brings to our culture, but I want
to look even deeper into this verse and ask you the same question I have been
asking myself the last couple of weeks.
The question is this: Are you comfortable raising an alien? Again, the scripture is clear, if you are
united with Christ you will be an alien to the world, but am I comfortable with
that?
The reason this has been on my mind so much lately is
because my son recently asked me to purchase a video game for him that “all the
kids have.” He told me, “Dad, I just
want to be like the other kids.” As a
dad who wants all of the best for my children that statement hurt like a punch
to the gut, but it also made me think.
What is my responsibility to my son?
Is it to make him popular, cool and accepted or is it to raise him to
understand what is holy and unholy, what is evil and what is pure?
I must confess, I really want my kids to be popular, cool
and accepted, but if that is my aim then what do I sacrifice? These are big and serious questions. I am afraid, as parents, most of us do not
think about these things enough. We do
not realize that by choosing one thing we are saying ‘no’ to something
else. We cannot have our cake and eat it
too. As a result we tend to go for the
cool and do not count the cost of what being cool will cost. We have bought the lie that our kids can be
cool, have all of the same things that “other” kids have and there are no
spiritual consequences. My friends, that
is hogwash! Walking with Christ creates
significant consequences in this life.
As I have realized this in a fresh way the last two weeks I have had to
do some serious business around the question, “Am I comfortable raising an alien? “
If you are a parent I implore you to consider the
implications of this verse and how it affects your parenting. Believe me, it should! May God grant us all the grace, wisdom and
endurance needed to raise our children without fear of the world’s opinion!
