Responsibility has been on my mind a lot the last few months.  I’m disturbed by the blatant lack of responsibility that I see throughout our culture.  I believe we live in a day when no one wants to take responsibility for their actions or their decisions.  I have seen parents want to take the easy road today in their parenting, and then are confused that that road doesn’t spit out children of integrity.   The easy road and the road that leads to the establishment of children of integrity are paths that are mutually exclusive.  The path of deep rewards is at the end of the road that has flat places, dips, sharp turns, bumps, potholes, beautiful scenery and barren land.  These parents are a sad tribute to God’s design for our children, and a selfish way to live.  God has a better plan and one that honors Him.  Everything worth doing is worth doing well.  How much more should we do something of excellence for our children?  They are made in God’s image, and he has graciously given them to us as a gift for Himself.  Our parenting is our thanks to Him for their lives.  Be careful, once you have the knowledge that God expects and deserves more, then you are bound by that knowledge.  Our children are crying out for parents of integrity to say the tough things and do the tough things.

I want my daughter to know deep in her soul that my life’s consuming desire was for her good and that all my decisions were brought to fruition with the intent to build in her a character that was above reproach.  I want her to know she was WORTH all the thoughts, prayers, tears, and hard decisions.  I want her to know that nothing in my life was more important than raising her to be all that God intended her to be.  Why is that so critical?  Because then she will undertake her child-rearing with the same passion and focus.  Why?  Because her kids will be worth it.  I want her to be a woman worthy of respect – a woman who’s word was as good as gold, a woman who did what she said she was going to do, a woman who stood for what was right, a woman who beared down when things were tough and prayed and honored God in her actions and words, a woman who loved deeply, served everyone, and prayed without ceasing, a woman who sought to honor God in ALL things.   Those character traits don’t just happen.  They happened when we held her to her word, when we made her own up to her sins and helped her to see a better way, then we stopped everything to pray for the crisis of the moment, when we insisted that some things are wrong whether everyone is doing them or not, etc…
Too many parents raise their kids with such a lazy attitude.  They want them to be all that God has called them to be, but they don’t want to have to model that behavior, train them, reprimand them, say the hard words, put them back on the right road or do the tough work required.

We live in a society that wants to reap all the benefits with none of the work.  But it just doesn’t work that way.  Nothing of value ever just happens magically.  Things of value happen with a plan.  The plan helps us hold on when things get tough because we have an end in site.

It’s time for parents to begin a revolution.  It’s time to quit worrying about self-esteem and start helping our children have God-esteem.  God-esteem will enable them to know who they are in Christ and the self-esteem will flow from there.  Once they know that they were chosen before the creation of the world, that they are blessed with all the riches of heaven, that they have been redeemed, forgiven and adopted as children of the Most High God – how can your self-esteem not soar?  Our kids deserve more than they have been given.  It’s not enough to just have a parent, they need someone to show them and model for them what they should be.

I worry about our country’s future.  In the past, men and women have run things ready to sacrifice and do the hard things.  Today, everyone wants to be the good guy and take the path of least resistance.  None of the truly great things in life came without a cost and without sacrifice.  It’s never too late.