Does God Care About Your Teen’s Facebook Page?

{Note: I have been praying about when to unveil this post and I believe now is the time. Anytime you swim against the flow of everyday Christianity, you risk being labeled judgmental. So I know going in that this post will be labeled narrow minded, legalistic, etc…and I am willing to risk that. Also know that I am parenting four teens right now and have to practice what I preach, myself. This is not easy.}

Christian Parenting is No Picnic.

Sometimes the truth hurts. Temporarily. Like a band-aid being ripped off quickly. But in the end, the band aid has to come off so we can deal with what lies underneath.

The truth is that christian parenting is not easy because we have to call things the way God calls them. And the ugly truth is that many times we love our children more than we love God.

When we make excuses for our children’s sin, we are showing where our true loyalty lies…and it isn’t with Christ.

I fear that many Christian mothers are blinded by “mother love.” I know as a mom it is easy to want to believe the best about my kids because I love them. We excuse bad behavior and get irritated when other people dare to correct our cherubs.

We go along our merry way, parenting our kids like we are at a picnic, when in reality we are in the middle of a war zone.

The Christian life is hard and Christian parenting is hard. Why? Because we have to say no to self and teach our kids to say NO to self. This goes against our natural man.

Mothers have always been at risk of making their children little idols.

Sometimes mother love morphs into something insidious and out of balance. When you start excusing your children’s bad behavior {sin} and explaining it away, you know you’ve made an idol out of your child.

Mothers everywhere: We need to agree with God’s word about sin. EVEN.IN.OUR.OWN.CHILDREN.

How do you do that? Being in God’s word. Knowing yourself and your own temptations. And then realizing that you gave birth to a little sinner just.like yourself.

It’s nothing personal…it’s a family thing. 🙂

I am going to pick on Facebook for a minute. Facebook itself is amoral. It is a blank slate that can be used for good or evil and depending what is inside of you, that is what comes out on FB.

Imagine that one day you are on line and you notice that your husband posts a new pic to his FB profile. You click on over to check it out. You notice that it is a picture of him and a female coworker at lunch. They are sitting in a booth, and he has his arm around her and she is sitting cozily next to him. They are sharing this moment with the whole FB world.

Is there a problem with this?

Yes, of course. There is a purity problem AND a the VERY LEAST, there is an “avoidance of evil” problem.

Your husband has just posted a pic that leads eveyone to believe that he is carrying on SOME sort of close/physical relationship with someone who is not his wife.

Why did I give this hypothetical? Because every wife reading this can see this one “crystal clear” when it is our husbands….but not when it is our kids.

We need to be mindful of the “avoidance of evil” principle in scripture. And we need to pray for “eyes wide open” when it comes to dealing with our kids’ sin.

It is disheartening to see pictures of Christian young people posing with their boyfriends on pillows as though they are in bed. OR in groups of five or six kids laying on beds together in provocative poses. This is not avoiding the appearance of evil.

It is repulsive to see two girls licking/kissing each other?? {not sure what this trend is and I am sure I don’t want to know}

It is unwholesome and immodest for a Christian girl to be posing in her bikini as though she is on the front of the cover of some adult magazine.

If your kids are posing like gangsters, rappers, outlaws or other rebellious portions of society, is that representing Christ’s character properly?

Does God care about our kids FB pages and pictures? I think He does.

He has called us to be holy. I am not saying that kids shouldn’t have fun. But fun does not need to be sinful.

If your kids pics look unholy in some manner, would you consider addressing this with them?

For the sake of Christ, make them take them down, or deactivate the FB account all together.

And, just for clarification, the issue is not that you should be embarrassed that someone saw your kids doing something ungodly. If that is your first concern, you are showing that you are more concerned about your own reputation and image. No, be concerned that your child is not walking in the way that would please God. That they are actually walking contrary to scripture. THAT is the issue.

God’s glory is at stake in your kids pics.

When we dismiss their behavior as “typical teenage behavior” we are not helping them spiritually–we are harming them spiritually. Typical might be typical for he world around us, but sinful is never typical for a Christian.

Normal Christian behavior is that which is growing in holiness and love for the Savior who bought you with His precious blood. We are not our own, we are bought with a price, and we are to glorify this God in our bodies and spirit.

I recently read this young college students status on FB. I was very much encouraged to see this kind of boldness in a teen boy. He writes:

I’m sorry, I know it’s lame to rant on facebook, but I am repulsed by many of my friends who call themselves followers of Christ. Every time I look on facebook, I am blasted with sin. Many of my friends who are “good Christians” are posting foul language, sensual pictures, utterly repulsive forms of worship, etc. Christ doesn’t leave your life at the doorstep of church! But as He which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in ALL manner of conversation! (conversation: lifestyle) I am brought to tears by the debauchery being posted by Christians for all the world to see, people proudly displaying anti-Biblical lifestyles in public. If you are unashamed of your sin so as to display it and bring dishonor to the spotless Lamb of God, do not associate yourself with anything Christian. God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. Stop posting lyrics from the devil’s music. Stop adorning yourselves with promiscuous clothing. Stop displaying an anti-God lifestyle. How long will God put up with our licentiousness? Did not Christ die to free you from your sins? Does not He that was slain deserve to receive the reward of His suffering? When will we understand that Christ didn’t die on the cross for us to social drink? to listen to the devil’s music? to watch filth? to use our tongues to spread guile? My Christian friends, if Christ turned over the tables of the temple because they were molesting the worship of God, what would He do to your facebook page?

These truths don’t just apply to FB. It applies to all of life: our kids gaming habits, viewing habits, music choices, friendship choices.

Sometimes saying Yes to God means saying No to other things.

Let’s value God and his word more than what our kids want or desire. WE are the parent. We are the teachers. If we ignore sin in our own kids lives, we are responsible.