Who Is Going To Be Responsible For This Child?

“Behold, the third time I am ready to come to you; and I will not be burdensome to you: for I seek not yours, but you: for the children ought not to lay up for the parents, but the parents for the children.” 2 Corinthians 12:14

Paul speaks of a financial responsibility, but this grows out of a larger principle of general parental responsibility.

Deut 6:4-9 Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD: 5 And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.  6 And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart:  7 And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.  8 And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes.  9 And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates.  (KJV)

Over a month has passed since the Columbine H. S. shootings. The grieving process contines to play itself out. Just ahead, however, the grief will turn to anger, and the lawsuits will come. Two sets of parents are about to discover how much responsibility they had for the actions of their sons. Strife has torn every community apart that has suffered these multiple school shootings.

Parental responsibility cannot be something we consider after the fact. If parents would sit down and take a serious, sober look at their job now, they will probably change their tactics drastically. It cannot be left up to someone else.

If you leave it up to the schools… 

• Evolution is true,
• Everyone’s God is to be accepted
• Homosexuality is normal
• Old-fashioned values are wrong

If you leave it up to the streets…

• Cursing
• Smoking
• Drinking
• Drugs
• Fighting
• Gangs

If you leave it up to the television…

• Fashion
• Materialism
• Unrealistic expectations
• Perversion

If you leave it up to your family…

• Coddled, or cruel treatment
• Indulged or ignored,
• Worshipped or resented

If you leave it up to the neighborhood friends…

• Intense pressure to do wrong
• Stealing and shoplifting
• Firearms and bombs
• Selling dope
• Occult practices
• Ideas like neo-nazism

If you leave it up to chance…

• No discipline
• Inconsistent training
• Lack of true caring
• Unguarded influences
• Unregulated learing

When you leave your responsibilities up to anyone else…

• You will lose the trust that God gave to you
• You will lose control over the outcome
• You cannot be sure that the right things are being done

A child is a living, growing viable member of the human race. A child is another you! If you believe in God, if you believe in the Bible, if you believe in the future, then you must invest yourself into your child. Your child is…

• More valuable than a bank account
• More precious than an heirloom
• More treasured than a priceless antique
• More important to your future than anything else you have!

Who will step forward and say, my child is MY responsibility…not the schools, not the streets, not television, not family, not neighborhood friends, not chance?  Who will say I accept this responsibility and will invest my entire self into this child I helped to bring into this world?