How to Offer your Children Security in a Changing World

Christian Family

If you fear losing your home to foreclosure, apply now for inclusion in the Hope for Homeowners program. Even if you do not necessarily believe you need it, checking into it now will greatly add to your security. Fear of losing the car can be relieved simply by knowing how else to get around, such as with public transportation, and also having a network of friends at the ready if you need to set up school drop off and pick ups for the kids.

Deal with your fears head on and have a backup plan for any problem that you foresee that may cause you to have doubts about your security. Dealing rationally with these fears is a key element in having the kind of calm attitude your children pick up on, and can then make their own. If the kids know that mom or dad have a plan, they are confident that they will be taken care of.

Refocus away from False Hopes to Real Security

Yet what should you do if your fears are not really grounded in reality? What do you do if you do have some money in the bank, you do have the back up plans for eventualities, and you are still getting caught up in the fear and panic that might be reigning in the lives of some you are surrounded by?

Your children will pick up on this fear and insecurity, even if it is by and large not entirely rational. It is at this juncture that you need to refocus away from the false hopes and false security offered by "things" and refocus on the security offered by those spiritual values that will never be taken away from you.

Identifying False Sources of Security

• Personal strength or prowess. Samson thought that it was his physical strength that could get him out of any situation. It got to the point of cockiness, and only when God cut him down to size did he realize that his reliance on God went out the window when his reliance on strength grew.
• A comfort zone or title. Moses thought of himself as a shepherd. When God called to him he was unwilling (and therefore unable) to see himself as the leader God asked him to be. As such, his reluctance to get in step with God's vision ultimately cost him the full extent of his potential.
• A job or career. Jephthah soared to great heights in his chosen profession of warrior for God. His success was so heady that he made rash vows, costing him the life of his only child.
• Relationships or friendships. Solomon was the wisest man who ever lived, but for the sake of his many wives he gradually allowed his heart to drift away from God. Instead, he found what he thought was satisfaction and personal validation in the arms of well trained courtesans.

Refocusing on the Only Source of Security that won't disappoint:

God Identifying false sources of security and hope is the first step in replacing them with the only source that does not disappoint: God. As a Christian parent it is crucial to live out Matthew 7:24-28 that urges anyone to recognize the authority of Christ, and become a wise builder, rather than a foolish one, and set up her or his house on the rock that is God, not the shifting sand that is a mortgage, car payment, and career.

Remember, whatever confidence you exude in your life, it is the same confidence your children will pick up on. Best of all, if you model to them now not to put their faith in the stuff that can be taken away or destroyed, imagine how much heartache and heartbreak they will be spared when they do not fall into the same traps you and I have fallen into so many times!

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