Transcript
Well, I'm talking about the fact that I hate parenting and there's a third thing that I hate about this that I think you should hate, too. It is that you're parenting sinners. It's such a sad thing that the biggest struggle of our children is inside of them, not outside of them; that they come into the world with something deeply amiss, deeply broken inside of them. And maybe the way to say it is this - that every child who comes into the world believes two very dangerous, very destructive lies.
The Lie of Autonomy
First is the lie of autonomy. Autonomy says, "I'm an independent human being, I have the right to live my life the way I want to." Parents, that struggle over what to eat, that struggle over what to wear, that struggle over when to go to bed is not about those issues. That's a child struggling for autonomy. That's a child saying, "You will not rule me. I will rule my own life." Everybody created by God is created to live under rule.
There's a second lie that children believe. It's the lie of self-sufficiency. Self-sufficiency says, "I have everything I need inside of myself to be what I'm supposed to be and to do what I'm supposed to do." You see that little child, little Johnny, has realized he's got laces on his shoes and he's fumbling trying to tie his laces. He knows nothing about tying laces. He could fumble for a thousand years and never get a lace. But you reach down to help him and he slaps away your hand because he wants to believe he's self-sufficient.
There's only one self-sufficient Being in the entire universe. It's God. It's sad that I parent children who believe lies that if they continue to believe have the power to destroy their lives. That makes me mad. It makes me sad and it should you, too.
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