I don’t recall much from my childhood, but I can vividly remember my first encounter with a Nintendo and the legendary game Mario Bros. When my cousin Deena handed me the remote for the first time, I was hooked. I knew that if my life was going to be complete, I needed my very own Nintendo to make me a better person. Or at least, that’s what I thought I needed.

In an age of cell phones, X-Boxes, Nintendo Switches, laptops, and Alexas, it’s easy to get caught up in the chaos of the newest things. As parents, it’s easy to think your kids need these things to make you a good parent and for them to be fulfilled. Otherwise, they’re missing out, right?

Let me say there’s nothing wrong with having these things in moderation. Having them doesn’t make you a wicked person. But they aren’t what your kids really need from you as a parent.

Here are two things your kids need from you right now:

They need you to protect them from wicked schemes. 

The Bible says you are to “Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of sufferings.” (1 Peter 5:8-9)

If you’ve missed the memo, let me clarify it for you. You have an enemy, and he is very real. His name is Satan, and he’s also the enemy of your children. That doesn’t need to cause you fear, but it should make you take it seriously. 

Satan is not a “roaring lion.” He only pretends to be one. He’s a poser. Jesus is the real lion of God’s people.

But Satan is scheming against all things godly, especially your kids. He wants nothing more than to keep your kids from following Jesus.

That’s why the Bible tells you to “be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world, and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” (Ephesians 6:10-12)

They need you to protect them, not shelter them.

Here’s the brutal truth. Your kids live in a real world with real sin issues. So maybe it’s time you stopped pretending they don’t. 

Too often, I’ve seen parents who shelter their kids from absolutely everything in the world out of fear. Then when their kid gets older, often out of resentment, they do everything their parents told them not to. 

Here’s what you need to know. Your kids need you to teach them how to live in a world with real sin issues. What they don’t need is for you to pretend the world doesn’t exist.

Remember, they are in the world, not of the world, and sent to the world.

Jesus put it best when he said, “My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world.” (John 17:15-18)

Jesus didn’t want you or your children taken out of the world. He wanted protection from the evil one as he sends you into the world to reach the world for him. Teach your kids that!

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