Raising spiritually wise kids means encouraging discernment not just obedience

Jenny Sanders shows why Christian parents must equip their children and young people to test every “word from God” against scripture and use healthy critical thinking

“God’s told me I’m going to marry you,” said a man to me many years ago – a man who is not now my husband!

I was nineteen years old; he was a student from a Bible college on a placement at the Christian guest house where I was working the summer season before returning to studies.

I was secure enough in God to know that this wasn’t a path I needed to pursue

I could have felt intimidated; I could have felt pressurised. I could have exited in a state of distress; I could have taken offence; I could have mocked his (probably) good intentions; I could have dismissed his vulnerability with a cutting verbal sideswipe or, I could have submitted to the ‘word from God’, in which case my life would look very different now! I remember being surprised, but I knew God hadn’t spoken to me about it! Fortunately, I was secure enough in God to know that this wasn’t a path I needed to pursue; I hope I was able to let him down gently without destroying him.

What the incident vividly illustrates is that authentic relationship with God and weighing ‘words’ that are presented to us – even those couched in spiritual language – is crucially important.

Are we teaching our children the discernment needed so that they ……