Why I Could Care Less About College

By Matthew Clark | 8:05 AM on June 14, 2014

The opinions expressed by contributors are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of RedState.com.

This Fathers Day weekend, as I consider the future for my three boys, I wanted to share something that’s been weighing on my heart recently.

The number one responsibility of fathers (and mothers alike) is raising the next generation. We only get a few short years to impact the lives of our children before the woes of the world come crashing upon them.

So, in that vain, I’d like to share a post that my wife Megan (who is the real writer in the family) penned recently:

There’s a huge problem within the church right now. Correction, there are a lot of problems in the church right now. But the one I’m going to talk about has to do with the warfare over our children.

Parents line up in spades to arm their children with piano skills, soccer teams, Ivy League feeder preschools, and designer jeans. The obsession to prepare their child for the best future possible is the blinding force behind sign-ups, deadlines, waiting lists, and stress.

But the wrong “future” is given the emphasis in this current clash of culture and the church. We do everything to secure a “Best and Brightest” standing for our children and fail to train, prepare, arm, and engage in a very real war being fought for the eternity of these little souls.

There is an enemy working in the distractions and chaos. His purpose is to steal, kill, and destroy. In case you didn’t pick up on the severity of his mission … Steal, Kill, and Destroy.

Steal – our little one’s innocence, passion, childlike faith, trust, sure footing, joy, peace, contentment, purity, excitement, happiness, their future, their eternity.

Kill – their relationships with parents and family, with God, their dreams, hopes, happiness, trust, lives.

Destroy – body, mind, soul, courage, boldness, instruction, knowledge, faith, life.

It’s time we, the Church, stop acting like the only thing we have to prepare our kids for is Grad School, and start arming them with the weapons to fight a very real enemy out to own their eternity. We’re their protectors, the stewards of these souls God handcrafted in secret.

There’s nothing wrong to give our children the best chance at this life on Earth. But if we fail to also fight even more so for their eternal life in the Kingdom of God what good did Latin in Pre-K accomplish?

Stop worrying about which colleges you want to line your kid up for and start laying foundations in a defensive strategy the enemy can’t penetrate.

In the coming weeks I’ll be writing about some practical ways to arm these young hearts and minds and fight against the one seeking to steal, kill, and destroy.