THE MAP & THE COMPASS
by Mike Robinson
I don't like driving in Sydney. But then, who does.? It seems that most times I go there I lose my way! I drive around looking for some familiar landmark that will give me a clue as to just where I am lost!
But to be lost in life is far worse.
A parent once said to me, "We have decided not to give our kids any religion. They can make up their own minds when they are old enough". I was amazed that a statement like that could come out of the mouth of an otherwise responsible parent. But I was more stunned when I realised that he actually meant it!
If we adopted that same attitude in other areas of the child's upbringing, we would call down on our heads the wrath of the community, our family and our friends. We would be considered irresponsible. Yet, in the realm of faith and spiritual values, such an approach is applauded by many as being "broad-minded" and "tolerant".
Life is a journey. It requires preparation, direction, guidance and advice. To send our children out on this journey without a moral map and a spiritual compass and with nothing more than the unlikely possibility that somewhere, somehow, sometime they might find either or both....well, no wonder our young people are the aimless generation.
Then again, it is possible that such parental neglect exists because the parents themselves are lost and aimless and so this "lost in life" syndrome passes from one generation to another.
Yes, by all means, let us encourage our children to make their own decisions as they mature into adults. But let us, as parents, give them the necessary facts and information so that they have a basis on which to make a decision. If you haven't got a Bible, why not drop by the local Christian bookshop and get a modern translation of the Bible? I like to refer to it as "God's Manual for Successful Living" It continues to be the most popular map and compass available for reaching the desired destination on this journey of life.
