This week, we continued our Trending series. What was in the headlines that mattered? What can we learn about God and how we can live for Him through the events of our day?
Today's trending topic is protecting our kids online. This fall, Apple is rolling out new protections that will give parents greater control over the content on their children's phones. Parents can approve app downloads, manage contacts, limit website access, and block nudity in messages and FaceTime.
These are helpful tools. But as Mandy Majors reminded us at Family Camp, and as many commentators have noted, protection is not ultimately found in a device. Protection is found in a relationship.
No phone can replace a parent.
No filter can replace a conversation.
No technology can replace discipleship.
Thousands of years before smartphones, King Solomon addressed this same issue in Proverbs 4. Solomon, known for his wisdom, wrote about the instruction he received from his father, David: "Listen, my sons, to a father's instruction; pay attention and gain understanding." (Proverbs 4:1)
God calls parents to lead their children. The way that leadership looks changes through different stages of life, but the calling remains the same. Parents are called to teach, guide, encourage, correct, and model wisdom.
The goal is not simply to raise happy, successful kids. The goal is to help our kids love Jesus and live wisely.
Solomon continues: "I instruct you in the way of wisdom and lead you along straight paths." (Proverbs 4:11) Children need boundaries before they have the maturity to consistently make wise decisions on their own. Clear boundaries are not punishments. They are protections. They help kids avoid stumbling while they are still learning to walk in wisdom.
But Proverbs 4 is not only for parents. It is personal for all of us.
"Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it." (Proverbs 4:23) The heart, in Scripture, refers to the center of our inner life: our thoughts, desires, motives, affections, and will. What fills our hearts eventually shapes our words, decisions, and actions.
We guard our homes with locks. We protect our bank accounts with passwords. Yet many of us allow countless influences into our hearts every day without asking whether they are helping us follow Jesus.
The principle is simple: what fills your heart influences what you say. What captures your attention shapes your decisions. Your decisions determine the direction of your life.
Parents establish boundaries because children need protection. God calls us to establish boundaries for ourselves because we still need protection, too.
Maturity is not outgrowing boundaries. Maturity is learning to establish them for yourself before someone else has to establish them for you.
Today's trending topic is protecting our kids online. This fall, Apple is rolling out new protections that will give parents greater control over the content on their children's phones. Parents can approve app downloads, manage contacts, limit website access, and block nudity in messages and FaceTime.
These are helpful tools. But as Mandy Majors reminded us at Family Camp, and as many commentators have noted, protection is not ultimately found in a device. Protection is found in a relationship.
No phone can replace a parent.
No filter can replace a conversation.
No technology can replace discipleship.
Thousands of years before smartphones, King Solomon addressed this same issue in Proverbs 4. Solomon, known for his wisdom, wrote about the instruction he received from his father, David: "Listen, my sons, to a father's instruction; pay attention and gain understanding." (Proverbs 4:1)
God calls parents to lead their children. The way that leadership looks changes through different stages of life, but the calling remains the same. Parents are called to teach, guide, encourage, correct, and model wisdom.
The goal is not simply to raise happy, successful kids. The goal is to help our kids love Jesus and live wisely.
Solomon continues: "I instruct you in the way of wisdom and lead you along straight paths." (Proverbs 4:11) Children need boundaries before they have the maturity to consistently make wise decisions on their own. Clear boundaries are not punishments. They are protections. They help kids avoid stumbling while they are still learning to walk in wisdom.
But Proverbs 4 is not only for parents. It is personal for all of us.
"Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it." (Proverbs 4:23) The heart, in Scripture, refers to the center of our inner life: our thoughts, desires, motives, affections, and will. What fills our hearts eventually shapes our words, decisions, and actions.
We guard our homes with locks. We protect our bank accounts with passwords. Yet many of us allow countless influences into our hearts every day without asking whether they are helping us follow Jesus.
- What captures your attention?
- What fills your mind?
- What shapes your thinking?
The principle is simple: what fills your heart influences what you say. What captures your attention shapes your decisions. Your decisions determine the direction of your life.
Parents establish boundaries because children need protection. God calls us to establish boundaries for ourselves because we still need protection, too.
Maturity is not outgrowing boundaries. Maturity is learning to establish them for yourself before someone else has to establish them for you.