Teaching Your Kids to Be Confident in Their Biblical Beliefs Without Compromising
As I reflect on my younger years, I am grateful that my parents taught me about God and the ways of the Bible. But I really wish that I learned, in my early years, to not be surprised if I got teased, questioned, or misunderstood because of my Biblical beliefs. I thought something was wrong with me whenever opposition came due to my Christian faith. There were times where I suffered negative consequences due to compromising my faith that could have been avoided had I been confident enough to know that nothing was wrong with me and that the opinions of others really didn't matter. Thankfully, I eventually grasped this concept after understanding that I was truly loved by God and received my confidence in Christ. Then I was able to start making better decisions.
The truth is each of us as individual people have to live out the consequences for the choices that we make. And the people who gave us bad advice or negatively influenced us will not be dealing with the punishments that we will deal with for making wrong choices. So there’s really no benefit in compromising because the bad results will eventually catch up to us.
It’s sad to see all the evil that is coming after our youth. Kids are being exposed to topics prematurely and learning content that contradicts Biblical standards. When I was a classroom teacher, it was surprising to me the topics that young elementary kids were talking about, based off of what they were watching and listening to from the media and conversations.
Recently, I’ve had elementary school parents talk to me about how disturbed they are because their kids are being told they can choose what gender they want to be. The Bible says in Deuteronomy 22:5, “A woman must not wear men’s clothing, nor a man wear women’s clothing, for the Lord your God detests anyone who does this.” Genesis 1:27, says, “So God created mankind in His own image, in the image of God He created them; male and female He created them.” Kids don’t need to choose their own gender because God already chose it for them.
If a child is confused or insecure about who they are, a parent must do their part to encourage their child to love the way they were created by God and help build their confidence. Figure out what’s influencing your child whether it be TV shows/movies they are watching, books they are reading, information they are seeing on the internet, information being taught at school, or the friends they are hanging out with. Then be courageous enough to make any necessary changes to help them. And it’s so important that we are constantly praying for our kids. Prayer is so powerful and changes things for the better.
As parents, we need to help our kids live the right way according to the Bible. It’s definitely not easy to do, but your life is so much better when you are obedient to God’s word. The interesting thing is that if you read the whole entire Bible you will not be surprised at what is going on in the world and you will be better equipped to handle life’s challenges. There were many years where I was intimidated to read the Bible. But I finally got the courage to start from Genesis and read all the way through Revelation. It took me some years, but I did it. I learned so much and my eyes were opened and I saw life from a total different perspective.
With that being said, I want to stress the importance of helping you understand that in order to be confident in your Biblical beliefs you have to actually read the Bible so you know the right way to live. You will not know if you don’t read. There is only so much you will learn at church. You have to read it for yourself. I encourage you to figure out a plan that works best for you and then just start reading. Then you will feel better prepared to help your kids.
Our kids will need to know God’s rules and design for self/gender identity, marriage, sexual purity, respecting your body, and staying sober. There are other topics too, but these are the ones that really come at our children during the preteen and teenage years. Sadly, some kids get exposed negatively during the elementary years. Even though these topics can be uncomfortable to talk about, we should be the ones intentionally teaching them to our kids in developmentally appropriate ways. This way they can live the right way instead of learning the wrong ways from other sources.
We have to teach them that opposition is a normal part of life. They need to know that yes- they will get teased, questioned, and misunderstood sometimes. But this doesn’t mean anything is wrong with them or that they need to change to fit in with the crowd. They can be confident enough to say no and to not do things that are wrong. We can prepare them so they aren’t surprised and won’t feel they need to compromise their Biblical beliefs and participate in acts that they will later regret.
There are ways we can stay strong and grounded in our Christian faith. Play Christian music for yourself and your kids to keep your mind on positive things. There are a variety of talented music artists that you can stream from your phone. Check out the Free Resources page for some fun children’s music. The Parent Self Care page, Facebook page, and Instagram page have songs for you to enjoy. Read the Bible and a devotional to help you stay knowledgeable in the Word. You can listen to podcasts that speak Biblical truth. Spend time in community with other trusted believers. Be mindful of the content that you and your children watch and read, so that you don’t start slacking on your Christian values.
There is a resource available for you in the shop that you can purchase to help your kids. It’s a chart called “Always Do the Right Thing.” It provides parents with a simple way to remind their children to follow their Biblical morals and values, even when others are not. You can read it to your kids and then post it on a wall in an area that they will see it daily. This way even if your children are taught content at school or other places that clash with the Bible, you can remind them to be confident in their faith and to not follow the negative ways of the world.
I hope you are encouraged to make a commitment to remind your children on a regular basis to stay committed to their Biblical values, even when criticism comes. I have made this same commitment to my children because I want them to be confident Christians who do not compromise on their Christian values. Do your best to keep going and do not give up on your kids. They will grow up to be adults. You do not want to live in regret of them choosing the wrong path because you didn’t make the choice to be intentional to set aside time to teach them the right way to live without compromising their morals. You can do all things through Christ!