As many of you know, I wasn’t raised in a Christian home. My parents weren’t atheists or involved in a cult or religious in any way. They were good (by worldly standards), honest, caring, hard-working people who did the very best that they knew how to raise their seven children. I am the third oldest.
When I was about eight-years-old, I remember a neighbor who used to take my younger sister, Cindy, and me to church every Wednesday night. They had a great kids’ program. Our family didn’t go – just Cindy and me. I was sad when we moved away from that church. I don’t remember what they taught there. But I remember very well feeling loved and accepted, and I thoroughly enjoyed going, as did Cindy.
But the military moved us out into the middle of the Pacific Ocean to Hawaii. My parents found a nearby Methodist church and they started attending the Sunday morning services semi regularly. They didn’t have a children’s church program, so we were always in the service.
That was the extent of my childhood religious training. One day, I talked to my mother about it. I’ll never forget what she said. “Marjie, Dad and I don’t believe in forcing religion on you kids. But we feel that it’s important for you to have some type of religious instruction so that when you are an adult, you may choose and decide what you want to believe.”
At age 17, to the best of my knowledge, I heard the Gospel for the first time in my life at a friend’s house, and I accepted Christ as my Savior. About twenty-five years later, my older sister, Terryl, accepted the Lord shortly before she died because a hospital chaplain visited her hospital room. But without receiving purposeful spiritual instruction and guidance, my other siblings have placed their eternal destinations in the lies of the world.
I have no contact with my older brother, Joel. He lives in Reno, Nevada, and he never writes or returns phone calls, so I do not know where he’s placed his faith, but if he’d trusted Christ, my mother would have said something to me because she talks to him on a regular basis. However, I know where my younger siblings are spiritually, and it breaks my heart. In order from the oldest to the youngest: Cindy is an agnostic. Jim is a Mormon. Lewis is a Catholic. And Melanie is an atheist.
Caring parents understand that their children need instruction and guidance. Like any normal mother, ours also gave us certain restrictions and requirements. She provided us with guidelines to live by and instructions to grow by. She offered quality advice to get us through life. She wanted all of her children to grow up to be responsible adults who made quality decisions for their lives and futures – and we all did. And yet, the most important decision we faced, where we would spend eternity, was left for us to decide without any spiritual instruction or guidance.
It is our responsibility as parents to influence our children in the things of God. Because if we don’t, the world will certainly influence them against the truths found in God’s word. Be a spiritual leader in your home. Pray for the salvation of your children. Teach them the Word of God. Be faithful to a Gospel preaching, Bible believing church. Let your children see the love of the Savior in your life. Don’t just let them decide what they want to believe when they become adults. If you don’t teach them the truth as they’re growing, they’re far more susceptible to the lies of the world. Next month, I would have been saved for forty years. I’m still praying for the salvation of my siblings.