children pharisees

My wonderful husband sent me this article about parenting from the Children's Pastor over at John MacArthur's Grace Community Church. It closely relates to my post about Shepherding a Child's Heart. This article, by Kurt Gebhards, exposes the danger of raising a "pharisee" by failing to focus on the heart as "the wellspring of life" and the root of all human action. I found it beneficial to read the warning signs of a child pharisee, and the corrective measures that these parents of pharisees need to take. Here is a snippit of the article:

"It is the sad testimony of church history that the works and expressions of sacrificial love and devotion of one generation of Christians can quickly turn into legalistic rules and regulations for the next. The convictions of the first generation become the caprice of the second. It is sad and shameful how quickly the Object of wonder and worship of a generation can become the boredom and betrayal of the next. Hypocrisy is an imminent and evident threat to the church of Jesus Christ.

Churched children are seldom given to outright defiance of authority; they are much more susceptible to the poison of Pharisaism. Hypocrisy in the heart is much more difficult to spot than disobedient behavior."

We must be thoughtful, intentional, and Scripturally guided if we are to breed G0d-fearing children. We cannot conform to any culturally praised parenting styles if they condone behavior correction as opposed to heart correction. If we are not careful, we may raise those to whom Christ would say, "‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’" (Matthew 7:23)