Helping Parents to Fulfill the Great Commission

When my parents were growing up their families left their doors and windows unlocked. The milkman would come in the house and put the milk in the refrigerator. No one was concerned that crimes would occur in their small towns; there was trust that families were safe. These days everyone locks their doors and windows! The effects of the fall on mankind are continuously eroding the moral fiber of society.

• The open doors of busyness, distractions and neglect. Today families are so busy that not only are they missing out on wonderful opportunities to enjoy one another, they are leaving the door open for attacking wolves. Fathers and mothers are so busy with work, extracurricular activities, hobbies, entertainment, and social networking that they don’t recognize attacks on their family from the enemy. Don’t be deceived.
• The open door of your sin. The Bible tells in Rom. 3:23 “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Every parent is a sinner. Did you know that your sin harms your spouse and your children? Our sin affects not only us, but others around us. Our sin opens the doors for attacks on our family. If that was not enough, our sins blind our eyes from seeing the attacks coming on our spouse and children! Jesus told us in Matthew 5:8, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” If you have sins that you have not confessed, you can rest assured you are not seeing things as clearly as you should; you have opened the doors for attack, and the damage is considerable.
• The open door of your children’s sin. No matter how small your children may be, they are sinners. Don’t be fooled by those cherub faces. There are hidden horns and fangs in there! Seriously, every child is a sinner and their sins too leave the doors open for attacks from the enemy. Your child is being attacked by the enemy moment by moment. If you ignore your child’s sins, the attacks will escalate through these open doors.
• The open door of abdicating parental responsibility. You are the shepherd of your family; you ultimately make the decisions about how your children will be raised, trained and protected. If you allow these decisions to be made by worldly experts, your child will be discipled by the world. You are the parent. You get to decide what is best for your children. If you abdicate this responsibility then you leave the door open for wolves to consume your family.
• The open doors of debt and possessions. There is nothing inherently wrong with having money or possessions, but we are warned about the love of money. Scripture tell us in 1 Tim. 6:10, “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.” If you are tempted to go into debt to have a good education or nice cars or nice homes, then you could be leaving a door open to the enemy. How? Because your debt will cost you time with your family. Your debt may cause you and your spouse to work rather than spend time with your children. Debt may cause you to work longer. Debt may cause you to take a job that requires travel away from your family. Debt puts you in a position of weakness. Get rid of debt and enjoy freedom.
• The open door of cultural expectations. As you may know, the expectations of our culture are quite different than the expectations of the Lord. The culture expects you to use the “It Takes a Village” approach, while the Lord expects you to be the shepherd of your child. The culture expects you to be busy with your own self-gratifying pursuits, while the Lord expects you to be busy with your children. The culture expects professionals to teach your children, while the Lord expects you to teach the Word of God to them. The culture has no care for ministering to others who need the gospel, while the Lord has great concern for the spread of the gospel. The culture cares little about protecting your child, while the Lord has the utmost care that you protect him.
• The open door of amusements. The amusements available to us today could easily consume our entire lives. Consider some of them: television, movies, music, video games, sports, social networking, hobbies, texting, hanging out with peers, and the list goes on and on. Who profits from amusements other then the companies that sell them? While there is nothing wrong with the occasional amusement we receive as a gift from God, in one sense, amusements don’t help us, nor do they help others who are needy. Amusements help increase the profits of the businesses that produce them. If we allow our family to be consumed by amusements, we are leaving a door open for wolves to fill their minds with their message as opposed to God’s. Moreover, if we are consumed by amusement, we are simply wasting our lives. We might as well be dead.

1 John 2:16 sums up the things that open doors for the enemy to attack our families, “For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world.” If parents and children fall to the temptations that the world has to offer, we will open up doors for attack. Let’s learn from the Shepherd ways to close and lock these doors so we may defend our families.

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