In 1 Corinthians 9:19 Paul says, “I have become all things to all people so that by all possible
means I might save some.”

And as parents we very much want to save our children. We want to save them from the abuse
and manipulation of others. We want to save them from the destruction that addictions and
temptations could do in their lives. Therefore, we are tempted to hide and shelter them from
the world. When we choose to keep our children under a bubble and they are finally able to
take their first steps in the depraved and crooked world around them a couple things happen.
Some young adults taste the allure of the wildness of the world and dive head first into
exploring all the enticements the world has to offer and get sucked under. They haven’t been
weaned or taught to have the filtering and discernment responsibilities they needed and so
they are like a child who first tastes sugar. They just can’t get enough. We may lose them for a
time and they will likely come back, but having trained them could have saved them from a lot
of grief and regret.

Some young adults simply paralyze in the face of so many choices and such darkness. They
scream, cover their ears and run back into their corner of the bubble never intending to leave
the house again. They become ineffective as missionaries and never impact the world around
them because they know they aren’t ready or capable to face the challenges so they just give
up and wait out their lives in fear.

When we slowly help our children see what God is doing to change people’s lives though His
love and compassion things can be different. If we let them be in the world and train them to
not be of it, they will want to make a difference and be a light in the darkness.

We can’t save our children, that is God’s work, but we can prepare their hearts and minds to
accept His love, mission and purpose for them. We can protect them from the enticements and
lure of the world if we teach them what it looks like and how to overcome and have an affect
on it!

My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They
are not of the world, even as I am not of it. John 17:15-16

What ways are you training and preparing your child to make and impact on this world?