My eleven month old is very interested in the trash can right now! He loves to go over to it and open the lid and even pull things out if the trash is full and I don't catch him soon enough (thankfully that hasn't happened often!). As you can see, our trash can is very shiny and nice looking on the outside (for a trash can that is). Our little guy likes that and he enjoys opening and closing the lid, but he doesn't realize that what seems like harmless fun could make him sick or hurt him in other ways. He's not mature enough to know that and it is my responsibility as a parent to teach him about things like this and to prevent him from accessing those potentially harmful things while he is still so young.
I'd liken this to immature Christians who may be interested in some things that could be very harmful to them spiritually and they just don't realize it. God has given us His word as a standard and guide and He also requires us to teach and lead other Christians. In Titus 2:3, Paul tells older women to teach the younger:
"Older women likewise are to be reverent in their behavior, not malicious gossips nor enslaved to much wine, teaching what is good," (NASB, emphasis mine)
In what we call "The Great Commission" found in Matthew 28:19-20, Jesus instructs us to make disciples and teach them:
"Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." (emphasis mine)
And we can easily conclude that God expects us to teach others as we mature from the admonishment the Hebrews' author gives his recipients in Hebrews 5:12-14:
"For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the oracles of God, and you have come to need milk and not solid food. For everyone who partakes only of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness, for he is an infant. But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil." (emphasis mine)
We can also glean from this passage that those who are mature are able to differentiate between what is good and what is evil. Those who are mature should be able to discern evil even when it comes "wrapped up in a pretty package," kind of like that trash can up there.
So, how do we discern what is good from what is evil then? Well, we certainly can't trust our "hearts" on this one or most any other matter actually. A pet peeve of mine is how so many of the secular kids' movies and "feel-good" type shows like to use the phrase, "Follow your heart," or something else along those lines. It sounds great, doesn't it? It's the kind of saying that could give you warm, fuzzy feelings all over, but there's a major problem here. Check out Jeremiah 17:9:
"The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick; who can understand it?"
Or, how about Proverbs 28:26?
"He who trusts in his own heart is a fool, but he who walks wisely will be delivered."
Yikes! Those verses make that pleasant-sounding, little snippet of advice from all those kids' movies sound pretty scary! Alright, so if our hearts aren't going to help us out on this one, where do we get this ability to tell good from evil? Well, we have been given the Word of God and in I Timothy 3:16-17, Paul writes:
"All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work." (emphasis mine)
Is it a "good work" to be able to discern right from wrong and to teach others to do so as well? You bet it is! God's Word provides us with guidelines, principles and commands that help us know what is good and what is evil. And once we can discern good from evil, we need to be very careful to keep the evil out and watch out for deceptive appearances. Hebrews 5:14 also said that it takes "practice" to get to this point, which means it is going to require study and continually looking to God's Word for guidance.
An example that comes to mind is a movie preview that may not have any sinful behavior in it. You think it looks interesting, so you decide to see the movie, but discover while watching it that there were scenes or language you were not expecting. In this instance, it would have been easy to look up Christian reviews of the movie before you watched it, which would have told you exactly what offensive material was in the movie. This is so helpful in making a wise decision. Based on the review, you can decide from your study of God's Word whether or not you think it would be beneficial for you to view this film or allow your children to watch it.
We need to be especially careful of what we read, what we watch and who we listen to, as all these things will influence us...for good or for bad. Let's try to always choose the good! And let's take responsibility as older Christians and parents to help teach and train our children and other young Christians to be able to discern between the good and the evil as well in this world!
Here are a couple of links that provide good movie reviews:
http://www.christiananswers.net/spotlight/home.html
http://www.dove.org/default1.asp
And, by the way, I did wash baby's hands as soon as I finished snapping the picture above! :)
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