Translate

Saturday, December 20, 2014

Standing Up for Christ Through Active Relational Christian Mentoring


Yesterday I talked about mentoring our children and young women on standing up for God and Christ by standing up for their right to say “Merry Christmas”.  Today I would like to continue some of my thoughts on the importance of standing up for Christ. ARCM encourages Christian women to stand up for Christ in many different ways.

When we do not stand up for Christ, we are essentially denying Christ. In fact, Christ said, “If anyone acknowledges me publicly here on earth, I will openly acknowledge that person before My Father in Heaven. But if anyone denies me here on earth, I will deny that person before My Father in Heaven.”  -- (Matthew 10: 33. NLT).  Denying Christ can take many forms. We don’t have to be asked directly if we believe in Christ and then deny Him. We can deny Christ when we acquiesce to the demands to take down the Ten Commandments in our schools and public buildings. We deny Christ when we fail to use Christ’s name when we pray for fear of offending someone else. We deny Christ when we accept the world’s view or the world’s truth instead of God’s Truth and values. We deny Christ when we don’t teach our children who Christ is and how they, too, are to stand up for Him. We deny Christ when we fail to take God-given opportunities to mentor our young ladies in knowing and living for Christ. There are just too many ways that we often deny Christ to list them all here. But, all of us need to take a moment and ask ourselves: when was the last time I personally denied Christ? It might surprise you.
                                                          
One way we have denied Christ is in our failure to mentor our daughters and other young women in God’s Truth, morals and values. Instead, we have encouraged our young women to live any way that they see fit, while failing to teach them about Christ and God’s Truth, morals and values. Oh we may have taken our daughters to Sunday school or even taught others in Sunday school, but we are simply too tired to have dinner discussions with our daughters on what they learned in school that day. We don’t have godly discussions on values, morals and truth with our daughter’s friends or other young women when they come to visit either. We would rather not possibly offend someone than to stand up for what it right and true. 

Without daily communication and without discussions on right and wrong attitudes and the questionable information that our young women may have been given in school, we are giving the world the opportunity to raise our children the way the world or the government thinks they should be raised. Raising our children does not take a village (which is actually socialism). Instead, raising our children takes a morally upright God-fearing family to raise a morally upright God-fearing individual. It takes Christian women being willing to mentor our young women in God’s Truth.

Throughout their schooling, our daughters, and girls or ladies who are their friends, will be inundated with such worldly ideas as political correctness and intolerance of Christians and their beliefs. They will be taught to deny Christ. Eventually, our young ladies will accept political correctness and other untruths as the truth. Remember, if one tells a lie over and over, people will begin to believe that the lie is true. This is why many of our young women today buy into the belief that “Happy Holidays” is less offensive to the few than it is offensive to the majority. But, in many ways this is our fault too. For, we don’t teach our daughters and other young women to question some of the unproven ideas or lies they are told to accept. We don’t tell our young ladies that we are offended by someone trying to take Christ out of Christmas. We also don’t tell them that it is okay if they are offended too.

There are so many things that we just accept; many of which lead to our denying Christ. There are also many things that we don’t tell our young women today. We don’t tell our young ladies to voice their concerns and to not just accept everything the media and the higher education system tells them. Young women need to question why one person’s rights are more important than the majorities’ rights. We also don’t teach our young ladies to question the media’s agendas. We do not tell them that simply because something is stated in print does not mean it is automatically the truth. Moreover, we do not teach our young women to question their professors’ beliefs or to ask why their professor’s beliefs’ are more important than theirs.

Sadly, even though we are to be the example and role-model for Christ-like living, we often fail to tell our young women to stand up for the Truth, morals and values they learned in Sunday school. Moreover, we do not mentor them when they are confused and could use our help. As Christian women and mothers, we should reinforce the Truths our young ladies have learned in Sunday school by role-modeling Christ-like living and by discussing with them what they have learned. We should give our young ladies opportunities to talk to us while being open to discussing their questions and concerns. Invalidating their concerns and questions stifles the two-way communication and shuts down the mentoring process.

Unfortunately, we often fail to teach our daughters and other young girls and women about the most important person in their life. That person is Jesus Christ. He is the One who can save their souls for all eternity. He is the One who can help them overcome all kinds of trials and tribulations. They need to know that Christ is the One who will bring them inner peace instead of the constant inner turmoil within their lives. Jesus said, “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” – (Matthew 11: 28-29. NASV.).

ARCM teaches through example and role-modeling as well as through verbal discussions. As Christian women we must mentor our young ladies and young women by using several different types of mentoring, so they will truly understand the importance of knowing Christ and living for Him. Young women also need to understand the importance of standing up for what they believe.

Merry Christmas!

No comments:

Post a Comment