Hot Potato

It is better to make decisions on facts/truth than on feelings.

How a person feels has been elevated in many ways to be the critical criteria to making good decisions, yet the truth is this can be a very damaging criteria and can lead to very bad decisions. For example, if one follows their feelings in only eating comfort food, eventually it will catch up to them and they will suffer discomfort that will come from health issues. On the other hand, if one will eat their vegetables even though they are not as pleasurable as ice cream, they will reap the benefit of being healthy. OK, so far it’s probably not hard to disagree with me. But here is where it might sound a bit more like a Hot Potato issue:

Should children choose their gender based on the way they feel? This is a very real topic being tossed around today. First, let me say all feelings are valid. You feel what you feel. The point I want to make is that feelings are not the best criteria for making decisions. Feelings are to be understood and then brought into conformity with fact/truth. We know eating ice cream feels better than eating vegetables but the undeniable truth is that vegetables are better for you. So you wrestle your feelings and do what is best in spite of your feeling, and then the reward of feeling good comes. This lesson need to be taught to young people who are dealing with all kinds of feelings as they are growing up. Feelings that come from peer pressure, exposure, and bio chemical – all need to be held up against the facts and truth that come from the One who created us. Here is a clip from a Dec.1/2020 Focus on the Family Newsletter:

Prioritize honoring God above pleasing people.

Honoring God out of reverence for who He is and from gratitude for His saving grace is an appropriate heart response toward our Creator. However, others around us may care very little or even ridicule this kind of living from our faith. When people close to us aim to pull us away from this devotion, boundaries are necessary. Loving God results in loving others, but dishonoring God inevitably leads to dishonoring others as well. This is important to remember as we protect our children and teach them to guard their hearts and minds.

So much of the reasoning behind the LGBTQ movement is based on people’s feelings and experiences. Their legitimate pain calls out for compassion and support, touching our hearts, as it should. But when we elevate people’s stories, feelings, preferences, and experiences above scriptural truth, we have built a house of cards instead of a foundation for life. Those who create their own principles of sexuality are not models to follow. Only God’s perfectly designed plan, as communicated in His Word, should be the standard to which we aim.

 Well-meaning Christian parents may fall into the trap of thinking that it’s loving to acquiesce to their child’s gender struggle without considering the more important responsibility of shepherding their eternal souls. But putting your acceptance of your children’s preferences and behavior above their relationship with God doesn’t truly help them. As Edmund Burke wrote, “Whatever disunites man from God, also disunites man from man.”

 Encouraging your children to honor God and lean on Him as their gracious Helper is the most loving thing you can do as their earthly parent and, hopefully, as their eternal brother or sister in Christ. Staying compassionately connected to the heart of your child does not require distancing from the heart and plan of God.

Parents/guardians, your job is not always easy, but when we teach our kids to filter their feelings through truth we do what is best for them. Just like eating right, it might not always be what feels the best, yet the outcome is always best. Stay close to your kids and teach them the truth that comes from God’s word.

In Christ,
Steve