Influences of Your Mind and Your Children’s Minds: Be Intentional

What influences you and your children?

Let’s talk about what is influencing you and what you allow to influence your children.

Being relaxed about what you consume because you enjoy the entertainment allows the devil to influence your mind and the minds of your kids for a laugh.

There is more evil than you may realize lurking in the screens, radio waves, and pages of books that have childlike covers. Cartoons and apps can seem cute and innocent while training your child little by little to accept and even celebrate things that are against God’s design and will.

Be intentional about what you allow to be watched, read, listened to, etc. in your home and life.

Influences of You and Your Children

• Books/AI/Articles
• Movies
• TV Shows
• Music
• Sports (famous players, culture)
• Games
• School
• Church
• Family members
• Friends (yours and your child’s)
• Your example as a role model

Don’t delegate raising your kids

Raising your kids is not a task you can delegate. You’re responsible for knowing what they are consuming. It is quite literally shaping who they become.

Do you know what lyrics are in the songs they listen to? Do you know what’s being said by the characters in the books they read? Do you know what’s being shown and/or celebrated in the shows and movies that they watch or games that they play? Pay attention.

An old song I heard sang to a child…

A mom I was friends with online once shared a video of her singing this song with her children. The song was called, “Oh, Be Careful.” It teaches to be careful what you see, hear, think about. It’s a great way to help yourself and your kids understand that we have to guard our hearts and minds. Protect your mind and your children’s minds.

Things that appear innocent can have hidden messages

What seems innocent can be laying the groundwork for accepting and participating in sinful behavior that creates distance between your children and God.

Don’t let culture pull them away from God. Create a culture in your home and life that brings you and your children closer to God. Let the sound of sinful behavior and curse words and the mention of ungodly things pierce your ears. Let it be so unseen that you’re appalled if you accidentally overhear some of what’s “normal” in our world today.

We have to be set apart. This shouldn’t be seen as missing out in a bad way, but in a good way. Missing out on the subtle or not so subtle encouragement of sinful behaviors, lifestyles, and attitudes of many people in the world.

Create rather than consuming constantly

We need to create things as Christians that counteract this too. We can have beautiful art, music, movies, and books that glorify God and tell stories that inspire and motivate us to be the best we can be. We can change culture and make it so that it supports the Christian walk. If it isn’t changed “out there,” it can still be changed in our homes.

Do things on purpose

Intentionally seek out things that teach your children Biblical values. Watch things together so that if there is something like a situation that comes up in a scene or storyline, you can discuss it from a Christian perspective and turn it off if you realize that something you thought would be good isn’t. You’re in control of what you and your kids consume. Don’t just consume things and let them consume things willy nilly, do it on purpose.

Put in the work

Of course it’s hard to be aware and make yourself know what’s going on, and it’s easier to tune out and let them sit in front of a screen so that it’s quiet. But don’t take the easy way out. Put in the hard work of being vigilant protecting your child from the awful influences that run rampant in our world.

Surround Yourself and Your Children with godly influences

Provide them with godly influences instead and steward their souls. Guide them to a closer walk with Jesus through living a life rooted in Holiness. Be saved, sanctified, and filled with the Holy Ghost and live unashamedly for God, while encouraging and guiding your children. You’ll never regret taking more time to guide them rather than pacifying the world by going along with what everyone else is doing. Do the work, it’s worth it.