• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Sozo Fire

A Hot Spot of Knowledge

  • Home
  • Topics
    • Business
    • Construction
    • Family
    • Furniture
    • Health
    • Swimming Pools
    • Technology
  • Ask a Question
  • Blog
  • Contact Us

Paper or Plastic? Genuineness in Your Teen

May 27, 2014 By Sozo Staff Leave a Comment

encourageLike many grocery stores and customers, perhaps you find plastic preferable. After all, it’s cheaper, more convenient, and easier to store. But is it really better? Can you personalize it later and use it as wrapping paper, drop cloths, packing assistance?

In case you’re wondering, we’re not actually talking about grocery sacks, here. We’re talking about the image or presentation you desire from your teenage son or daughter. When it comes to grocery sacks, feel free to do what’s easiest; but when it comes to your teen son or daughter, you’ll want to think twice before going for plastic.

Once upon a time, in a world not too different from our own, cultural rebellion became the norm. Understandably, many Christian parents realized that the standards of their day encouraged a take-it-or-leave it response to the commands of God’s Word. And they reacted.

mom and son bondUnfortunately, many chose — unwittingly, perhaps — to focus on externals rather than the heart. Appearances and behaviors — they could easily be covered with the plastic mask, helping their family stick out as a “Christian family” with well-behaved, respectable-looking children that grandma and grandpa didn’t find “disgraceful” — you know, like “most kids nowadays.”

While teaching our children to respect cultural mores can be a good thing, it can also be detrimental if overemphasized or taught outside the context of loving others (Philippians 2:3, Romans 12:10). Of course, apart from Christ, none of us is truly capable of truly loving others (1 John 4:7, 8).

When we force behaviors in our unregenerate children without the context of the gospel, they miss out on the greatest potential benefits that come from recognizing our own insufficiency and humbly relying on the Lord to enable our obedience and heart-felt selfless love (Matthew 5:3).

helping with homeworkInstead, we teach them to “be good.” Since they, like we, can never truly attain that standard, what we’re really teaching them is to pretend they’re good (Matthew 19:17). I’ve never heard a parent say, “Put on the plastic and just look good; make me look good,” but in essence, that’s what we’re telling our kids when we want them to act a certain way.

Before our kids can truly desire to delight in and obey God (which needs to be in that order!), they need to humbly realize their need for His grace. If all we’re teaching them is a heartless duty, we’re not teaching them Christianity; delighting in fulfilling our duty is possible, through Christ.

Instead of plastic, let your teenager be paper — vulnerable, usable, real. That takes faith on your part, Mom and Dad. It takes recognizing that, as one blogger put it, “[Their] light comes from Jesus, not from [their] awesome behavior.”

That concept begs these questions, as the blogger continued: “Do you believe Christ himself has taken up residence within [the teen]? Do you trust [Christ] with her life – her decisions, her emotions, her relationships? Do you truly believe [Christ] goes with her wherever she goes? . . . If so, then . . . how about encouraging her to be herself?”

Filed Under: Family

Additional Articles

young siblings jumping into swimming pool excitedly
Drowning Prevention in Swimming Pools
boys enjoying their maxtrix corner loft bunkbed
Making Childhood Memories with Furniture from The Bedroom Source
couple relaxing on floating tube
Sun Protection Tips, Part 2
young couple relaxing on stairs inside pool
Sun Protection Tips, Part 1
Great Ideas for Enhancing Your Backyard Pool Oasis
Improve Pool Organization & Pool Area Appearance

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

15 − ten =



Primary Sidebar

Lyon Financial

Popular Posts

  • Facts About Teak Wood & Its Applications
  • Benefits of Aquatic Exercises
  • Sun Protection Tips
  • Meeting Workout Goals This Year
  • Drowning Prevention in Swimming Pools
  • Black Algae in Your Pool? Here’s What to Do
  • Setting Up Your X10 System: Beginner’s Guide to Home Automation
  • Septic System Pumping in the Charlotte, NC Area
  • What Type of Swimming Pool Should I Add to My Backyard?
  • What to Look for in an Industrial Concrete Flooring Contractor
  • Teach Your Daycare Kids to Care About Sharing
X10 Home Automation

Recent Posts

  • Facts About Teak Wood & Its Applications
  • Drowning Prevention in Swimming Pools
  • Making Childhood Memories with Furniture from The Bedroom Source
  • Black Algae in Your Pool? Here’s What to Do, Part 2
  • Black Algae in Your Pool? Here’s What to Do, Part 1
  • Helping Dogs and Cats Get Along
  • Sun Protection Tips, Part 2
  • Sun Protection Tips, Part 1
  • Setting Up Your X10 System: Beginner’s Guide to Home Automation
  • X10 Key Components in Protecting Your Home’s Perimeter
Lyon Financial

Recent Comments

  • Alice Carroll on Pool Choices: Pool Fences
  • Zachary Tomlinson on Swimming Pool Cover Advantages
  • Hannah on X10 GSM Home Security Systems
  • Michael Cobb on X10 GSM Home Security Systems

Copyright © 2023 Sozo Firm Inc · Privacy Policy · Disclaimer · Sitemap