MAX ON LIFE

122. The world today - people and certainly the media - encourages our children to be self-indulgent. I don't think all this self-preoccupation will help them grow into mature adults. Am I off base here?

Taught at an early age, self-indulgence becomes a way of life. Every beat of a child's heart becomes "me-me, me-me, me-me, me-me".

Television does not present the best methods:

• Kids who get every gadget and goody they want
• Kids who, in thirty minutes, solve all their problems
• Kids who get laughs with their sassy comeback to stupid adults

Television dangles the fruit in front of our kids and says, "Doesn't this way of life look good? Indulge yourself".

But self-indulgence is a problem facing not only our children but humankind. In fact, self-indulgence got us into this mess. "Go ahead, Eve. Eat that fruit. It looks so good. Indulge yourself."

Television only promotes what the world already thinks. So how do yo teach your children well? Give them new models.

Other kids - Make sure they hang out with other kids who don't "have it all" or whose parents don't rush out and buy the latest thing.

Parents - Are they learning self-indulgence from you? Do your schedule and your own priorities take precedence over them? Do you have more toys than they do?

Jesus - Feed them a consistent message of Jesus Christ, focusing on his humility and his self-sacrifice. "Jesus .... was given a position a little lower than the angels" (Heb 2:9). Jesus chose servanthood, and he is the King! Can't we do the same?

Kids need to get turned on to new models of self-sacrifice to realize that life is not one big TV show and the plots don't always center on them.

By: Max Lucado