Thoughts for Parents of Teenagers #60 – Feelings vs. Truth

Feelings vs. Truth: Teach them which should Win.

For many people, especially teenagers, “it seemed like the right thing to do” or “it just felt right” serve far too often as the guidelines for life. Do your children typically base their decisions on feelings or on truth?

Are you old enough to remember “Feelings, nothing more than feelings. Whoah, Whoah, Whoah Feelings”? We grew up in a culture encouraging feelings-driven living over outdated, black & white biblical rules for living. The world says “you deserve the best”; “make yourself happy”; “if it feels good, do it”. But God doesn’t want us to remain immature and be tossed around. He desires maturity to the fullness of Christ.

“to attain mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves” Ephesians 4:13-14 (ESV)

 

The Bible is filled with examples of people who made life-altering decisions based on emotions and lived (or died) to regret it: Samson, David, Saul, Judas). Teach these to your kids, along with your own good and bad choices from your life. Help them learn how to make good decisions and how to evaluate and learn from bad decisions.

Don’t sit by and let them make their own bad choices just so they can learn. Help them grow!

I’m praying for you!

in HIS service,

Pastor Mark