Graduates, Parents; Danger Ahead
Congratulations are in order today. Your home has reached a milestone, and you are to be praised for years of plodding toward this goal. In my mind, my own graduation was only a few weeks ago and you, like me, will look back on this time and wonder, “Where did the time go?” As exciting as this time in your life is, it is also the beginning of a season of great danger. For the graduate, they can feel that they have finally reached adulthood and can now make their own decisions about life, and the way they choose to live it. I get that. But this period of excitement, entering into the unknown, will offer many paths that will take you to destinations of sorrow and disappointment if you choose them. Out from the umbrella of home, youth begin to hear the voices of the world, the flesh and devil calling. Their faith will be challenged a thousand times over. Temptations will come fast and furious as they walk around on campus away from the restraints of mom and dad. But there will also be the path that leads to blessings and happiness. It takes a wise, discerning person to know the difference and to choose it.
Not only is it a dangerous time for the young graduate, it is also a very dangerous time for the parents. How so? Over the decades I have observed this scenario many times over. A family is dedicated to the Lord and has been for years. Parents knew the importance of having their kids in church, participating in the children’s and youth activities. They led the way with their own attendance. Mom and dad were always ready to help. They wanted their kids to see their dedication to Christ. Time marched on and then graduation day arrived. Everyone is excited. Weeks later the emotion fades. The graduate has gone off to college or away from the home and the parents breathe a sigh of relief. “We have finally made it. We can coast from now on because our job is over.” Before long, the commitment once held is a thing of the past and dedication to Christ and their church have gone by the wayside. Why? They fell during a dangerous time. Now they are a shell of their former dedicated self and their walk as a Christian is sporadic at best.
Hebrews 3 tells the story of ancient Israel as they left the slavery of Egypt. I’ll only comment on three verses, but the whole chapter is sobering because all of us could go that way. It all began so well. God had raised up Moses. The Lord used the ten plagues to crush Pharaoh who finally said to Moses, “Take those Hebrews and go.” Estimates up to two million people have been given concerning the number that left Egypt. But what began so well ended so tragically. Of all the hundreds of thousands of adults that left Egypt only two entered the Promised Land after forty years of wandering in the wilderness. Only two! Joshua and Caleb. Why was this? The multitude allowed their hearts to be hardened. The writer of Hebrews warns us to not be like those in that day of provocation. The awful sin of unbelief raced through the camp of Israel causing the anger of God to be kindled against them. I offer three things from our passage today. My prayer is that both graduates and parents will pay close attention.
1. Protect your Heart. 3:12. “Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God.” The passage is written to those who professed to know Christ, those who would call themselves Christians. The writer is charging us to guard our hearts because there is always the chance that the sin of unbelief will sprout. What is the result of this unbelief? Our verse says, “in departing from the living God.” Departing means to “apostatize.” Does apostasy happen quickly? Not usually. It didn’t during the wilderness experience of Israel. Other sins preceded the apostasy. Grumbling, quarrelling, disobedience, contempt for instruction, and irreverence for God and His ways. These are all sins seen in ancient Israel’s camp. When we allow unbelief to fester, these are the fruits and the last and most damning is apostasy. That is a dangerous time. Hebrews 10:31 says, “it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”
2. Help Each Other. 3:13. “But exhort one another daily, while it is called Today; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.” Exhort means to “admonish, urge, encourage.” We are to do this for each other daily. Christians are to perform this duty toward other Christians every day. Staying with the theme of today’s blog, we parents are to constantly encourage, urge, admonish our children in the ways of the Lord. The children, even adult children, are to admonish, to exhort their parents to keep on serving the Lord even after they themselves have left the nest. Isolation is dangerous. Alone, unaccountable is no way for the Christian to live. We all need one another because sin is deceitful, and unbelief abounds.
3. Persevere. 3:14. “For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast until the end.” God being my helper, I plan to finish my race like I started. A newborn Christian is a beautiful sight to behold. There is a freshness, an innocence, and a belief that anything is possible with the Lord. Those raw emotions wane over time, but the excitement of being a Christian should never wane. The belief we had at salvation, “the beginning,” needs to be the same we have right now all the way to the end. To persevere simply means to be steadfast. I’ll just keep on. My prayer for us is to simply finish like we started.
My graduation warning has been delivered to you, graduates and to you, parents. Danger is just around the corner. I beg you to be aware. It is a sad thing when promising testimonies and lives are wrecked all because the danger wasn’t recognized, and unbelief was birthed in the heart. Ephesians 5:15, “See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise.”