Sometimes, our parenting can get skewed and off-base by our perceptions.
We begin over-reacting–in effect teaching from a false place of understanding. As a result, we lead our children astray. For instance, one of my very favorite movie scenes is from Jurassic Park, where the jeep is going along the road and you see the mirror with a reflection of a T-Rex running after the jeep.
Then you read it: Objects in mirror are closer than they appear. Aaaah!
Well here is an ad with an opposite occurrence and the same meaning–sometimes we misunderstand what we are seeing.
Whether we represent something as an over-statement or under-statement, our tendency is to over-react.
We can misunderstand a person or event, and the result is the same–our facts are diluted and misguided. But does it really matter?
Oh yes, it matters. We take in all these facts, both true and untrue, and we RESPOND to them. Our response then will affect everyone around us. Not only that, but we start a series of choices that take us down the wrong road.
For example, when I grew up, some dear friends of our family lost their son in a motorcycle accident. Therefore, the “fact” for my life was this: I would not get on a motorcycle, because my mom was convinced that motorcycles killed people. But do they? Well no. They don’t kill people–either due to a driver’s error, mechanical error or road and weather conditions, an accident may occur.
False beliefs bring about unreasonable and wrong decisions.
In fact, it steals from the freedom we have to enjoy life and creates fear. Our walls begin to close in. There would be no Olympians and no X-treme sports, if everyone looked at this bag o’ goods as truth.
It’s the same for believing God. Who is He? Is He good? Is He fair? Does He give us what we deserve? Does He have some sort of lottery or superstition for each occurrence in our lives? What does He base His decisions on?
These are questions that play through our minds from time to time. We take what our life has brought to us and come up with conclusions about God. It becomes our truth. Could some of that truth be skewed? Oh yeah, it can. And the result is that we have applied characteristics to God that are off base and wrong.
So, it’s important to know what to base our understanding on. We base it on His Word. We base it on His deeds–not the deeds of man. And honestly, we may need counsel when it comes to some things from our life experience that have misapplied truth, like God is out to get you and repay you for your sins.
I grew up with many kinds of false-beliefs about God. Let me tell you, it has taken some reprogramming to defragment my brain. If you lie, the devil will come from under your bed and get you. Ooo. If you disobey, something bad will happen. ohh. See I told you, if you got on that motorcycle, something bad would happen. Well, it really didn’t happen on the bike. It happened after I got off the bike and a dog bit me.
We need to get back to baseline with a truth-alignment that we can only get from the Word of God.
What is the TRUTH? When Jesus asked His disciples, who do people say I am, He wasn’t saying that people were right–for He was not John the Baptist, Elijah or the prophets. I think He was leading the disciples to base their understanding on what they saw every day in Jesus. Who is He? Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Messiah, the Anointed One.”
What does this have to do with our everyday lives and parenting? Everything! For the truth will set us free. Are you bound by untruths that are controlling your decisions everyday? Well, get free by knowing the truth.
2 Samuel 7:28 (NIV)
O Sovereign LORD, you are God! Your words are trustworthy, and you have promised these good things to your servant.Deuteronomy 32:1 (The Message)
Listen, Heavens, I have something to tell you. Attention, Earth, I’ve got a mouth full of words. My teaching, let it fall like a gentle rain, my words arrive like morning dew, Like a sprinkling rain on new grass, like spring showers on the garden. For it’s God’s Name I’m preaching— respond to the greatness of our God! The Rock: His works are perfect, and the way he works is fair and just; A God you can depend upon, no exceptions, a straight-arrow God. His messed-up, mixed-up children, his non-children, throw mud at him but none of it sticks.Psalm 25:8 (The Message)
God is fair and just; He corrects the misdirected, Sends them in the right direction.Psalm 103:9-11 (NIV)
He will not always accuse, nor will He harbor his anger forever; He does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him.
Get Truth, friends. Then you can react and respond wisely.
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