10 Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
11 Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.
12 Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.
Brandon and I have always planned on homeschooling our boys. But they're only 2 and 3 years old and I haven't begun to stress about what that really means for my sanity yet. So when I write about our homeschooling experience in 2 to 3 more years I may be singing a different tune. Lord willin' and a whole lot of prayer I believe, will make it an amazing journey though. For now, our oldest is in a pre-school program that meets twice a week, for a total of 3 hours. He is getting used to the idea of school and how to sit still and pay attention, as well as learning and making friends. His teacher is a family friend and there are only 8 other 3 and 4 year olds in his class. Next year, our youngest will join him. We feel like this is a safe environment and have been so happy with his experience thus far.
One of the biggest reasons we had decided not to send them to public school was the fear of what they would be exposed to and how they would be treated. Some may consider sheltering their children a bad thing, they may believe that learning from the school of hard knocks is just a way of life. But we disagree. Sheltering our boys is our job as parents. Teaching them about Christ is our number 1 priority and if it doesn't line up with the Word of God, then they don't need to see it, hear it, read it, say it, or know it. I want my boys to be so saturated in Jesus Christ that when a mosquito bites them, it flies away singing "There's power in the blood!"
I realize that this is an unpopular opinion, that there are those that believe homeschooling is archaic, that my boys will have the social skills of cavemen and be uneducated rednecks. And I hate to tell them that I have 2 of the most rough and tumble, wild and rowdy boys around and I don't really expect them to walk upright or do more than grunt until the Holy Ghost gets ahold of them. I'm kidding of course. Well, kind of. But if this were true and my choices were to have knuckle dragging, club wielding, one grunt for "no", two grunts for "yes" sons and sons that had been exposed to foul language, sex, violence, false doctrine, immorality, and bullying all by the time they finished kindergarten, can you guess which sons I'd choose?
The fact of the matter is that the world is and always has been hostile to Christians. We are cautioned and reminded that we are not of the world, only in the world. I want my boys to be rooted and grounded in their faith before I send them out on their own into a world that hates them simply because they serve Christ as Master and Savior.
To be truthful and 100% honest, it is our fear of persecution that has lead us to a homeschooling decision. To persecute only means to pursue with harassing or oppressive treatment, especially because of religion, race, or beliefs; harass persistently, to annoy or trouble persistently. We have probably all faced that at one time or another in our spiritual lives, either by Satan or people we know at work, at school, or perhaps like Brandon and I, by relatives. And of course where you were in your relationship with the Father at the time of your persecution, greatly influenced the outcome. And it is this that we worry about as parents. Our boys have not accepted Christ as their Savior yet. They are under the age of accountability and thus innocent. It is now, while their innocence remains that we fill their lives with Jesus, so that when the Holy Ghost does beckon them, they will want to accept Him. Because if faced with spiritual persecution by their peers or adults in positions of authority before they have accepted Christ into their hearts, the damage could be spiritually fatal.
The persecution I have faced as a Christian is trivial compared to what the apostles suffered, those who were martyred for their beliefs in Christ, and what Christ Himself suffered for you and I. But I could be self-righteous and boastful and tell you that I could withstand being tortured, beaten, burned alive, beheaded or crucified for Christ's sake. I could. But I'd be lying. I can truthfully say though, that I want with all that I am to be able to if ever faced with that situation. I want to be able to withstand, having done ALL to stand for my Savior. And I know that to do that I must continue to grow spiritually. I must read and study and worship and praise my God continually in preparation of a day such as that.
And I must prepare my boys. And I must let nothing stand in the way of that. God has blessed our family with the ability for me to be a stay at home Momma and I believe I need to take advantage of that and use my time to instill godly principles in my children. I know well that not every family is in the same set of circumstances that we are. This post is not meant to belittle any family that sends their children to public schools. But it is meant to say that we must prepare our children for the persecution they will face in the world for their beliefs. We have to teach our children what it means to be unashamed of our Savior. We have to teach them with our words and with our actions. One without the other is not enough because in a world such as we live in, persecution is inevitable.
2 Timothy 3:12
Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.
I pray to God that it never happens, but were it to, I want my boys to stand mightily as Stephen did.
Acts 7:55-56
55 But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up stedfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God,
56 And said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God.
He kept his eyes on God and His Son and he met them in Their Kingdom.
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