One thing I really want to do when Jesus returns is pet a bear.
I mean, just look at that face! That is not the look of something violent. It’s the look of a big, furry critter that just wants a hug.
However, on this side of eternity I will never- EVER- approach a bear without something solid between me and them that keeps them from getting close to me. That’s why I like seeing bears in, say, the zoo, and would never be one of the crazy people that have them as a pet (because they are a wild animal, and who knows when Paddington the Extra Large is going to just decide to have you for a snack!).
Simply put, until Jesus makes bears tame, I’m happy to keep them on one side a fence and me on another.
How, you may ask, does that have anything to do with parenting?
I’m glad you asked!
As an expectant dad, it’s so easy to believe that the danger to my child is “out there”; that the danger is in our culture. Whether it’s coming from a sexually-saturated culture that makes it impossible to even drive down I-95 without sex being shoved in your face, or a culture that is seemingly more violent as we hear of a new shooting almost every month, or a culture where differences of opinion are no longer tolerated and Christianity is increasingly marginalized, it’s tempting to believe that the greatest threat to my child is “out there.”
Reality, however, is far different.
Certainly the world is dangerous- more so than ever. The world Grace and my baby is going to grow up in is entirely different than the one we grew up in. They will face things we never even considered and have to deal with stuff that we didn’t come face-to-face with until we were adults. And there will be seasons where they need to be protected from that, especially when they are very young.
However, the biggest “bear” so to speak, is not “out there.”
The greatest danger to our child is already in them.
Consider what David wrote in Psalm 51:7:
Surely I was sinful at birth,
sinful from the time my mother conceived me.
sinful from the time my mother conceived me.
David said we are sinful at BIRTH. That means from the moment we are born, we already have desires hardwired into us that, if followed, will lead us to destruction. Sin always desires the opposite of what God does; sin does not desire good, but evil.
In fact, the only reason the outside world is ultimately dangerous (from the standpoint of eternity and where we spend it) is the extent to which it plays on the sinful desires already within us! AND…since those desires are already in us from birth, they will be in my child and active in my child even if I never let them interact with the outside world.
That HAS to change the way I parent. I can’t simply assume protecting them will keep them safe. It won’t! The problem is already inside of them- and there’s only one thing that will solve it: the Gospel of Jesus.
That means what my child needs from the earliest age is to hear that even though they are loved, they are also a sinner. Even though they are accepted as my child, they are in need of a Savior. I am not sure how I’ll communicate that- and I’ll be begging God for wisdom along the way.
But what I must not communicate is somehow that the “problems” are all outside- because the biggest danger that will threaten my child is within them.