“When good things spiritually harm our kids”

April 20, 2022 by Melissa Edgington

It was Sunday morning, and the baseball team, ranging in age from nine to twelve years, met excitedly in the parking lot so their parents could take enthusiastic photos before caravanning to the tournament. Their car windows were covered in shoe-polished cheers, boasting the kids’ jersey numbers and shouting family excitement about the games before them. Some of the parents who took their place in the line of cars were professing Christians. Some were even pretty involved in the life of their church. But somewhere along the line, their understanding of the place of baseball in their kids’ lives changed. What started out as a once in awhile Sunday game turned into an every weekend, every Sunday commitment. And before long, they began speaking a truth directly to their kids’ hearts: church is a non-essential. And the longer this way of life continues, the more parents will speak to their kids’ hearts: Jesus isn’t central. Faith is a side interest. Church involvement has little to do with the rest of life. My own faith isn’t important to me. On and on the messaging goes, while well-meaning Christian parents convince themselves that they are acting in the best interest of their children. After several years of this messaging, kids’ hearts have learned the lessons. Faith is of very little consequence in their lives. Their parents have taught them well to major in the minors, and the result, in many cases, may even be eternal death.

Sounds dramatic, doesn’t it? No true Christian who is a parent would ever in a million years say that an extra-curricular is worth their child’s soul. Yet, what seems like no big deal can result in a lifetime of faithlessness.

I’m not just talking about sports, either. Any good interest that a child nurtures can be transformed into an all-encompassing endeavor if parents don’t rein in their own drive and enthusiasm while tempering their child’s. We must teach our kids that literally any good and beneficial thing can become an idol that displaces Christ in our hearts.