Involvement

September 23, 2014 at 11:56 AM · Filed under Life and tagged: Adults, Baptism, Baptized, Belief, Bible Study, Christ, Christian, Church, Commands, Community, Disappointed, Father, God, Involved, Involvement, Jack in the Box, John, John 14:15, Lord, Monkey's, Organized Sports, Relationship, Religious, Set Apart, Sports, Struggle, Sunday, Volunteer, Wednesday, Youth Group

I have been thinking about this for a while. I have yet to really come up with a good conversation starter to be able to address it with my husband.

I am a Christian. I am a person who has a relationship with the Lord (sometimes it is stronger than others but I have one). I believe that in order to have a good grasp and to really be a part of the community you need to be involved with others who have like beliefs (this does not mean I am against those who do not believe the same as I do or that I do not spend time with those who do not have the same beliefs that I do).

I understand that Monkey’s need to be involved in activities and sports and building relationships and getting exercise and finding what they are good at in life. So why is it that sports are more important than going to church with the family and being able to participate in the youth groups that take place during the week or the weekend?

We belong to a church that believes in infant baptism and our Monkey’s are 6 and 3 and we still have not had them baptized (no criticism over what I am about to say please). We could get them baptized at any time. I just need to call up the church and set a date and time. Jack in the Box always asks me when we are going to do it and I just shrug my shoulders. It isn’t that I don’t believe in it. It isn’t that I want to wait until they can make their own choices. I have finally come to the conclusion that I have put it off because of Jack in the Box’s heart and that is wrong because baptism is about the relationship between Father and child. The problem though is that so many of us as adults base our relationship with the Father on our own relationship with our father and their involvement in our lives and the church. Jack in the Box isn’t really involved in church. He goes on Sundays maybe, if we are lucky 6 times a year. Now there are times when he is working and he can’t go but there are also those times when he chooses not to go and there are times he chooses to go to other activities on a Sunday morning instead (organized sport thing). This really bothers me. You want us to baptize the Monkey’s but you really don’t want to be involved with church. (and let me say I am praying over this because they need to be baptized)

So getting back to being involved I am struggling with the fact that Jack in the Box and 90% of the people out there put more importance on sports than church and church family and having that relationship with other believers. Are we not supposed to set ourselves apart from non-believers? Wouldn’t choosing youth group over sports be a way to do that?

I do believe that we are losing a lot our children to other things because we say it is okay. We allow them to participate in activities that take away from church relationships, a relationship with God and youth groups. This does not mean I believe they should not be involved in sports but I think we need to find sports who are willing to work with us on days they practice and play games.

For the community that I reside in I am really shocked that most programs do not take into consideration Wednesday night programs and Sunday programs. Our community is very religious (not that I agree with that term) but in this area it is. And I am especially disappointed in one group whose states, “Our mission is to put Christian principles into practice through programs that build a healthy spirit, mind, and body for all.”. How is it possible to be putting Christian principles into practice if you are making it impossible for children to participate with their Christian communities?

What do you convey as important to your Monkey’s? Do you require them to put God and the relationship with Him before anything else? Or do you allow them to put other things before Him and their relationship with other Christians? 

This really has been a huge struggle for me. I want my Monkey’s to be involved in sports if they want to but I think they need to build their relationship with God and others Christians. God should always come first in your life and I want my Monkey’s to start making that choice at a young age because I truly believe it makes all the difference in their lives. And the only way this is going to happen is if we are showing them that God needs to come first, that we pursue God and our relationship with Him, that we attend church and we attend Bible study and we are involved as volunteers and whatever else God is calling us to do (If you love me, keep my commands. John 14:15). 

I want to follow the Lord and what He has planned for us. Maybe that means that I stand up to my husband and make a statement that our children will not participate in sports on Wednesdays and Sundays. It may cause a huge rift in our marriage but I believe that God is more important that sports. I really believe that allowing my children to fall into the mentality that it is okay to be missing church and missing youth groups and missing that opportunity to create a good relationship with God is the wrong thing to do. I want my children to be set apart, I want others to see their Christian values and I want them to be Jesus with skin on and in order to do that there will be sacrifices that need to be made.

I wonder if there is a Christian sports group out there that doesn’t have practice on Wednesdays or games on Sundays? Hmmmm

Comments