Living Vicariously

Have you ever told your child or have your parents ever told you that as long as you have a good spirit, the love of Jesus Christ, and a good paying job, then you will be happy? That you need to have a lot of money in order to be happy in your life? How many times have you heard someone say, "You need a good job and make a lot of money in order to be happy!" or "No you can't major in that field because it will not make you enough money!"? It seems as though some parents these days are teaching their kids the "Prosperity Gospel". The prosperity gospel is a distorted version of the true gospel. It teaches people that to be healthy, wealthy, and happy is what God wants for every single one of his children. The illusion that we need to be wealthy to be happy seems to have seeped into the minds of almost everyone you encounter. It is true that God wants the best for every human being, whether they are one of His children or not. However, not everyone is going to end up wealthy. Wealthy people will, at times, think they do not need to rely on God because they have a lot of money. Not necessarily poor people, but people with less money will most likely be more reliant on God. Material prosperity is not everything. 

Part of the prosperity gospel also comes from parents trying to make their kids the center of their world. The parent might even try to make the child succeed in order for the parent to be satisfied. This sort of behavior might stem from the parents wanting their child to have a successful life so that they can live vicariously through their child. Parents need to not put that much pressure on children.  Children are not responsible for making their parents satisfied with their own lives. It is possible that some kids will end up hating their parents if they are forced to excel in something in which they find no joy. I'm sure parents want the best for their kids, but there is no need to keep pushing them to be the best at everything. Children should be loved by their parents, but not be the absolute center of their parents world. 

Numerous parents want to shield their kids from the evil things in the world and from bad experiences. This is understandable because parents do not want any harm to come tho their children. However, parents need to let their kids experience hard times. How many times in the Bible did God let people go through trials in order to strengthen their faith in Him? How will kids mature and have their faith strengthened if they are not able to experience life? God wants us to have the strongest relationship with Him that we can have and we can't have that unless the hardships of life force us to turn to God for help. 

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