I believe that sometime in the future, our children are going to ask questions like:

• “When the government was legislating the change to the definition of family, what did you do about it?”
• “When the government legislated abortion and allowed babies to be killed, what did you do about it?”
• “When homosexuality and changing gender was pushed in schools, what did you do about it?”
• “How did you stand up to these changes and prevent atrocities happening here in Australia?”
• “When innocent people were being murdered in Syria, what did you do about it?”
• “When children had to spend years behind bars in detention here in Australia, what did you do about it?“

I read now about Pol Pot and the atrocities he committed in Cambodia several decades ago and ask myself, “What did my parents do about it? What did the Australian government do about it?” It seems that ‘out of sight, out of mind’ is a principle that is used frequently throughout our lives. If we are not experiencing it ourselves, then we are not as concerned with the outcome. It may be bad and tragic what is occurring but it seems that we are too consumed with our own life to put thoughts into action and do something to try and stop terrible things happening.

In raising our children to be world changers, we need to start changing the current world around us so that the world can become a better place. We need to advocate sometimes for no change when a change will bring worse results. We need to stand up for the rights of our children, our children’s children and for all the people we don’t know in the world but who are experiencing frightful injustice and add our voice and action to help. What are we modelling to our children about how to address issues of injustice and unrighteousness? How can we expect our children to have a voice and use it if we don’t?

We are called as Christians to not just have a private relationship with God. We are called to let it transform our life and our world, to bring heaven to earth. How is allowing a kindergarten girl being shown how to dress like a boy and then being told that she can go home and tell her mum that she now wants to be a boy healthy and just? How is allowing Bill Shorten, if he wins the next election, to change Australia’s definition of marriage to be inclusive of homosexual partnerships right? If you are living in another country, then I am sure there is stuff happening there too that is not right. What are you doing about it? What are you teaching your children to do about unjust issues?

I find it easy to become consumed with my life and my family’s life and all our many activities that I sometimes don’t allow time to look at where our country is heading. I don’t allow time and energy to put into constructively helping to change the future in a positive direction, to help to stop atrocities, to stop innocent murder just because a baby is not out of the womb, to look at how I can help the millions of refugees around the world at the moment, how I can help the people coming to Australia for protection but being turned away and left hopeless.

I don’t have children who are wanting to one day be a Prime Minister and have massive say on a large scale. But we need, as parents, to look at how we can help to raise our children or other children close by, to be that future Prime Minister, to be the policy maker for Foreign Affairs for Australia, to be the Christian advocate in government places.

Will you join with me in praying into this? In praying that as parents, we will speak out. In praying that as parents we will raise our children to be policy makers and governmental authorities if that is their gifting? And to then take action.