Everyone fights those nagging little voices of condemnation that speak to their own minds. It’s part of the human condition.
It’s that voice in your head that repeats things like: “I am so worthless. I am such a failure. I am not worthy of anything…” We all experience this.
Parents, you have to know that your kids are going to struggle with those same issues. In fact, they probably already do, even the younger ones.
But for Christians, there is a powerful way to deal with those lies, and it’s based on the truths God has shared with us in His word.
There is a passage from the book of Hebrews 10 that shows how the truth found there is able to help you and your kids deal with the condemning thoughts and voices that threaten to hold you back from living with confidence as God intends.
Hebrews 10:19-23 says:
“Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Holy Places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that He opened for us through the curtain, that is, through His flesh, and since we have such a great Priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.”
It’s a heavy passage with a ton of background. Basically, the overall theme for the Book of Hebrews is this: Jesus is better! He is better than the Law. He is better than the angels. He is better than the religious leaders. All this because He is God.
So, when the author references the Holy Places – the Holy of Holies where God resides – he tells us that because we have put our faith in Jesus and because of what He did for us, we can come before God. In the days of the temple, only a priest could pass beyond the curtain and into the Holy of Holies, but thanks to Jesus, we can all approach God on our own.
So, since the curtain has been opened to us, and since we have Jesus, Himself – the Son of God – as our personal High Priest, as our advocate, as our sacrifice to atone for our sins, and as the forgiver of our sins.
Therefore, when we hear those accusatory voices in our head, or even when we actually blow it, we still have Jesus as our advocate, interceding for us to the Father, saying, “This guy… this gal… is covered by my blood and made pure.”
According to the passage in Hebrews, this truth gives us the confidence to stand firmly with and because of Jesus.
Now, those condemning voices are typically one of two things: 1) old tapes you have playing in your head rooted in the way you were raised, past failures, or from you own fleshly way of dealing with life; or 2) the voice of the enemy (Satan) who hopes to distract you from your true calling, which is to glorify and magnify God.
No matter what the root of this voice is, one way to defeat it is to take the truth from Hebrews 10:19-23 and apply it to your life right then and there.
So, when it comes to parenting, and since you know that they have the same struggle you do with this, you need to begin to have discussions regarding how to fight oppressive, condemning thoughts with the truth of God’s Word. Talk about it openly so that they see that they are not alone. Help them memorize scripture so that they will be well-armed in the battle over their thought life.