Another year has gone by. During that year, whom did we allow to influence us, and what attitudes did we and our children adopt?
Whom do we want our children to be like? Who is a role model for our children? Do our children have heroes?
Many young people today look up to sports stars as their heroes; some look up to movie stars. Such people have a great influence on those who look up to them—even their attitudes and lifestyles, etc.
Television has now brought such people right into our homes. Many young people, even from Christian homes, idolize those heroes.
And what do these heroes teach our children? One politician recently said that a "star" who had contracted the AIDS virus because of sexual promiscuity, was a great "role model" for our children. More and more, well-known people are coming forward publicly to announce that they are gay, or who have the AIDS virus, or who are sexually promiscuous, and the media portrays them as heroes.
One television star recently commented that his "hobby" was being sexually involved with as many women as possible. Recently, stories about such people have dominated the news. One such "hero" said he was going to devote his life to helping teenagers have "safe sex," and the media told the world this was such a noble thing to do.
But what is missing in all this? What should we be hearing? As parents of two teenagers, my wife and I spent time with our children talking about such events. We explained how people could contract the AIDS virus when they disobey God's rules regarding sex. Our children had already been trained to understand that because God is Creator, and because God created marriage and sex, they must obey His rules.
It was easy for us to do so, because we had laid the foundation from Genesis in our children's thinking and trained all five of our children that the real heroes they should look up to must exhibit Godliness in all they do, and profess to love and serve the Creator, the Lord Jesus Christ.
For instance, we use the book, Men of Science: Men of God, published by ICR, to show our children some real heroes—some of the world's greatest scientists, who were Christians and ardent creationists. It wasn't that long ago those children did see such people as heroes—but no longer. Our public education system has become so devoid of God and His law that the majority of young people seem more interested in sex, or drugs, etc. They admire those who are involved in evil, rather than those who are involved in good.
As a father, I also recognize that my children look to me, and thus will be molded by what I do or don't do. I know how much of an effect my parents had on me. They brought me up to respect God's Word as the holy, infallible word of the Creator God. They trained me not to compromise in any way, and to me, my father and mother are real heroes. Because of this training, I am now involved in reaching millions with the message of creation.
As Christian parents, we want our children to see us as heroes, also. For this to happen, we should realize that we must be obedient to God's Word concerning how we bring up our children. We need to spend time with them, and train them carefully. However, we also realize that to do this, we must, in every way, reflect the Lord Jesus Christ.
In II Corinthians 3:18 we are told, "But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord."
In other words, we are to look to the Lord Jesus Christ and be conformed to His image. Our children look to us, and by so doing, they are to be conformed to the image of Christ, because we should so reflect His image. Thus, the real hero—the real role model we should train our children to look up to is the Creator of the world, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Great Godly scientists and parents can be heroes, but our children need to realize that all of us are sinners, and that we thus will reflect a marred image. They should be trained to realize that every attitude of even those Godly heroes should be judged against God's standards.
