Make a Difference (Starting With Your Children!)

Saturday's Devotion (2-11-06)

"Even a child is known by his doings, whether his work be pure, and whether it be right." Proverbs 20:11 (KJV)

First off, I want to say that I know that some of you must've been praying for me when I requested it awhile back. I requested prayer to get a job. Yesterday, I had a job interview. I think it went well, please continue to pray that I would be called to work with this company. Thank you!

Kids will be kids, right? The problem with that statement is that some kids will always be kids. Parents let their children run wild to the point of no return. Some parents just don't care enough to sit their children down and have a talk with them. They don't care enough to correct a child for their wrongs. They use that very same phrase, "Kids will be kids," to justify their own lack of parenting. Kids do know right from wrong, but parents have to be enforcers of what's right. If a person isn't taught right as a child, then most likely they will grow up to be criminals... Instead of doctors, preachers, or lawyers, etc. All they need is your love and support, it makes all the difference in the world. Love isn't always easy, sometimes it is TOUGH... very tough, but the motive behind love is always good, never to harm. That's the Lord's love towards us. His love can be tough at times, but love is designed to: Comfort, to correct/punish to prevent someone from going on the wrong road, and love never intends to harm only to help. When parents do nothing to lead their children in the right path, then they are harming their children's' future. That my friends is not true love. Love can be both gentle and tough at times, always remember that.

The other thing is that parents need to lead by example. My dad told me, "Never start smoking boy, it'll kill you!" It basically went through one year and out the other. I started to steal my cigarettes from him! He'd be sleeping, I'd sneak in and take some of his smokes. I'm not a smoker now, but the point is that his advice was useless to me at that time. The advice that sticks out the most with me is my grandmother's advice. She told me, "Don't end up a smoker like the rest of my grand children, don't end up on drugs or alcohol." It wasn't those words exact, but I remember her telling me something along those lines. She made me promise, and I did. I believe that she saved me from a bad road. Alcoholism runs in my family, just about everyone except my mother smokes in my family, drugs are heavy with my cousins, etc. I could've been some washed up drug addict on the street corner. With that in mind, please sit your children down and talk to them before it's too late. You can make a difference in the fight against child drug abuse, starting with your own children!

Prayer: Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for this message, and for all things. Please forgive us of all our sins, and we forgive all those who've wronged us. Please help those with children to develop a loving/close relationship with their kids. Let them lead their children to you, and let them lead their children away from drugs and crime. In Jesus name. A-men!

God bless!

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