Do you remember what your greatest fear was when you were a kid? Maybe it still is your greatest fear today. Thirty years ago, researchers at John Hopkins University reported that the five greatest fears of grade school children at that time were:
(2) Being in a dark room.
(3) High places.
(4) Strangers.
(5) Loud noises.
As we all know, many aspects have changed over the past thirty years. However, what children are afraid of today is very disturbing. Compared to what kids were afraid of thirty years ago, today’s kids are afraid of the following:
(2) Nuclear war.
(3) Cancer.
(4) Pollution.
(5) Being mugged.
What a drastic change over this time period. I was shocked that kids in grade school even knew what some of these are; much less know enough about them to be their greatest fears. However, when we take a step back and take a look at our culture, what do we see? We see the media hounding subjects like murder, war, cancer, pollution, crimes, politics, and other similar topics. We see video games where the person playing the game has the freedom to run around streets and mug people, steal cars/possessions, kill police officers/other people, and other similar actions (Example – games like Grand Theft Auto). We see movies, TV shows, and even some video games that are characterized by topics like divorce, cheating, war, cancer, and are exceedingly gory and violent. We have also seen divorce happen so often that it has become ordinary. It is no wonder our children are afraid of these types of situations.
While it is not necessarily wrong for children to have some basic level of knowledge about these subjects, most of these should by no means be prevalent in their lives, especially during grade school. This raises the question about what we are allowing to enter into our homes, our children, and ourselves. Let’s re-familiarize ourselves with the following verses:
– Proverbs 22:6
“You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up.”
– Deuteronomy 6:7
“If it is disagreeable in your sight to serve the LORD, choose for yourselves today whom you will serve…but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.”
– Joshua 24:15
We simply cannot afford to let our households be filled with some of the sinful aspects of this world. Let’s make sure we are controlling what our families and our children are experiencing from TV, video games, music, media, etc. as well as guard what they are filling their minds and hearts with. Let’s bring more righteous and spiritual aspects into our lives and keep the sinful ones out (Romans 6:12-13).
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