WHEN YOUR CHILD WALKS AWAY
Truth Two — There is almost always something deeper going on When a person walks away from their faith, it is rarely a matter of pure intellectual doubt. It is rarely careful theological reconsideration alone. It is almost always tied to something underneath — disillusionment, disappointment, or desire. Romans 1 gives us the framework. People exchange the truth of God for a lie. We drift from what we know to be true about God to something else — and the drift almost always has an emotional or volitional engine. “They exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator.” — Romans 1:25 In conversations with parents whose children have struggled with doubt, three words come back again and again: Pain God did not give them something they wanted, and they felt the loss. Maybe they prayed for something specific as a child and it did not come. Maybe they thought they saw God do a miracle, and then the miracle did not unfold the way they wanted. That pain begins to raise questions. I have watched mature believers struggle with their faith after a great loss. It is not hard to see how a middle schooler, a high schooler, or a college student can do the same. Influence Others think differently. Why can’t I? That is peer pressure. And sometimes we can bear some weight here: in our attempt to protect our child from every kind of sin, our legalism may have failed to prepare them for a world that was going to confront them whether they looked for it or not. Desire Underneath pain and influence sits desire. They want something Scripture says they cannot have. Pain, influence, and desire combine into a justification: maybe this isn’t true after all.
“Your child is not just thinking differently. They are worshiping differently.”
Word of Life Fellowship • 4
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