Guiding Our Children: Biblical Truths in a World of Gender Confusion
2:25
As parents, we really have two major tasks today as we try to raise godly young men and women:
- To help our kids know and even celebrate the goodness of God's design
- To walk our kids carefully through the gender confusion playing out all around us, as we covered in "Identity Redefined: Standing Against Cultural Confusion"
Here are simple truths you can communicate to your children:
- God made you a girl or a boy for His glory.
- It’s excellent and unique to be a girl or a boy.
- Dad and Mom love the fact that you are a girl or a boy.
- We can't do anything we want with our bodies, as our sinful nature tells us we can.
- We need to use our bodies in a way that glorifies God according to Scripture.
- The gospel empowers us to live the way God wants us to live as boys or girls.
- Our identity is not based in how we feel; it's based in:
- God's design; and
- The body God gave us.
There is no perfect formula for training our children to affirm the truths listed above. There is not one foolproof method that will ensure that they grow up to be godly men or women. Instead of an equation, God has created the family. The family is where children learn the goodness of God's design as their father and mother both teach this, but also live it out with real joy and conviction.
If our child is indeed dealing with a clinical diagnosis of gender dysphoria, we also must understand the depth of this mental and emotional struggle. Yet, even in these situations, the spiritual reality of God's design is still present. This is where God's grace, the giftedness of a caring Christian counselor, pastoral guidance, and the unrelenting love of parents must come into play.
Our goal is this: We want our kids to understand the Lord's plan for the sexes. We want them to know God's perfect truth. But in order for this to happen, we need God's grace to work in their lives. All this drives us to prayer. We pray that, as God works in their hearts and minds to save them, that every child will rejoice in being a boy or girl. From there, we pray that they will live as a man or a woman in adulthood to the glory of God. In cultural terms, this may feel impossible, but let us not forget what Scripture tells us: with God, all things are possible (Matthew 19:26).
If our child is indeed dealing with a clinical diagnosis of gender dysphoria, we also must understand the depth of this mental and emotional struggle. Yet, even in these situations, the spiritual reality of God's design is still present. This is where God's grace, the giftedness of a caring Christian counselor, pastoral guidance, and the unrelenting love of parents must come into play.
Our goal is this: We want our kids to understand the Lord's plan for the sexes. We want them to know God's perfect truth. But in order for this to happen, we need God's grace to work in their lives. All this drives us to prayer. We pray that, as God works in their hearts and minds to save them, that every child will rejoice in being a boy or girl. From there, we pray that they will live as a man or a woman in adulthood to the glory of God. In cultural terms, this may feel impossible, but let us not forget what Scripture tells us: with God, all things are possible (Matthew 19:26).
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Download the PDF of this blog series, "What Is a Woman According to God?"
