Q is for Quitting

Jeremy Walker (00:15):

And welcome back to another episode of Preschool Pioneers. I am your host, Jeremy Walker. You can follow us on our parent network, CR101 Radio, on social media such as Facebook, Twitter, Gab, and YouTube, and you can subscribe to this podcast on your preferred platform so you never miss an episode. Visit CR101radio.com for these links.

(00:43):

Well, welcome back everybody to another episode of Preschool Pioneers. We want to start this episode by answering the question why Christians should become teachers. Well, this episode is entitled, Q is For Quitting, the importance of cultivating diligence as a virtue in children and how it will help them build a better future for themselves and for others. Christians should become teachers because teaching children is about building a better future. As Christian parents and Christian teachers, we get a chance and opportunity to influence the future for Christ for the better. And what we cultivate in children is how we can expect the future to be influenced. Just like how when you influence children negatively, and if you're looking around in America today, where we are today is because of what was cultivated yesterday. And the children in the United States of America and around the world were of course influenced negatively or by indoctrination of evil.

(02:04):

That's why you see so much evil rampant around the world. Christians have failed in so many areas to do their job and because of that, what's called the culture war is being lost in many, many areas. People will bemoan the idea of government overreach, government's getting bigger and bigger and bigger, taking on too much power, influence, dominating the families. But the problem is when you lack of people who have self-control, morals and the ability to take care of themselves, well, you're going to have to have a big powerful state, a big powerful mommy government that can come in and take care of all the people that have no ability to take care of themselves. I want to start this episode with the subject matter of quitting or rather the subject matter of not quitting. The concept of diligence and why it is important not to give up and not to start something that you're not going to finish.

(03:15):

Because as a parent, you don't get the option to quit being a parent. I know a lot of people do that. They view it as an option. The first and foremost way, especially in our country today, is through the concept of murdering your child. People that have the opportunity to have children and they say, "Well, I don't want this child. I'm not ready for this child," and so they will murder their child through the use of legal abortion in the United States. You have others that give their children up for adoption. You have others who just are terrible parents, and so they just refuse to take care of their children. Right now, there's an epidemic of grandparents who are now the parents of their grandchildren. Working in childcare as I do now, you start to see a lot more of that. When I was growing up, that was never a thing.

(04:10):

You had parents and you had grandparents. You might visit your grandparents, but your grandparents were not your parents. Your parents were your parents. And it was their duty, their job to take care of you, their job to make sure you had everything that you needed. To teach you to provide for you. Now, however, parents are quitting their jobs and who is stepping in? The grandparents. Many times this is for a very good reason. Other times it's because the grandparents like seeing their children fail. That's also an epidemic in our country today as well. They don't want to see their children grow up to be parents themselves and instead they see themselves as kind of in competition with their own child to see who can be the better parent. And so they like to see their children fail as a parent so they can step in and they can be the guiding light.

(05:11):

They can have that extra trophy that says, I am better than you. This is also a terrible thing that's happening today as well. But we of course, having children have to teach our children that they don't get to quit being a child. You don't get to say, I don't want to listen to you anymore. Now, here in America today, that is not the case. What the state teaches, if you don't like your parents, if you don't think they're doing a good enough job, come to us. Tell us of their misdeeds, and if we need to, we will take them away. We'll take you child and put you into a better family, the family of the state. And of course, foster care is a terrible, terrible disease on the landscape of the United States of America. It is a horrible, horrible place for children to be. There are no abuses in the family that could even come close to being the abuses of the foster care system in the United States of America and around the world, not even close.

(06:22):

The horrors that happen in state care dwarf anything that happens or could happen inside the family. It is a terrible, terrible thing. But children have to be taught that they are children. They don't get to stop even when they're older. They don't get to stop just being a child. That parent, they don't get the opportunity to stop honoring that parent either. As teachers, if you are a teacher, you don't have the luxury of quitting and not teaching your children properly and staying a teacher. Now, you might quit your job, you might stop teaching, but if you are an actual teacher and you do not get the option to quit, to not teach your children properly. Now you might do that, you might not teach properly like they do in the government schools today, but it is not without consequence. As parents, we will have consequence, grandparents, teachers, if we do not do our jobs properly, if we do not raise and rear children and instruct them properly, we have a lot to answer for, but there aren't options in quitting.

(07:35):

See, the concept of diligence is important because right now, if you look at the most diligent people that are out there, it's usually going to be people who are not Christian in profession or persuasion. It's going to be people who are dedicated to evil, dedicated to violence. These people wake up in the morning giddy with glee, with the evil and destruction that they're going to bring upon the world. They go to bed at night and they can't even sleep because they are so excited about doing evil the following day. They are not contented. They cannot even go to sleep unless they have caused destruction during the day. It is part of their hard-wiring, their sinful natures of man. And we have to know this about ourselves as well, and children. If you've been in childcare or an educator or a parent, you'll know that one of the leading things that a child loves to do, just loves to do is to fight.

(08:45):

That's right. They love to fight. Some people like the idea that children are little, lovable, cuddly things that just want to love, love, love on everyone. Well, that's not true. It's not true at all. There are lots of different types of personality types and there are some children that are much more aggressive, much more antagonistic, and there are some that are more what we would call, lovable and huggable. But when you butt up against their desires of what they want, you say no, you don't give them their way, and you are going to see the real internal side of them. And that is somebody who wants their way at all times or else. And that's children and that's adults, and that's the leading problem in the world. Right now, we get the opportunity as parents and as teachers to influence children, as I mentioned at the beginning, for a better and brighter future.

(09:46):

You can help them to cultivate a better future for themselves. And by doing that, you can also teach them how to help others because eventually they're not going to be underneath that parent. They're not going to be underneath that teacher, and eventually they're going to be grown and responsible for themselves and they'll be instructing others. Either their children or maybe they'll be teachers, or maybe it'll just be colleagues and friends or coworkers, but your influence goes on. It does. Your character will cause ripples. It can't help but do it. It's either going to be building things up or tearing things down. As Christian parents and Christian teachers, this is a wonderful opportunity and a wonderful responsibility that comes with amazing blessings. And if you want to cultivate diligence in a child, it's not very hard to do. It is going to take consistency, but first you have to have it in yourself.

(10:47):

That's right. There are many different things that come about by teaching the virtue of diligence in a child. In the Book of Proverbs in particular, there are many, many, many instructions about the results that happen from a diligent person versus a lazy person, a person refuses to work. And a couple of them go along the lines of this. In Proverbs 10:4, it talks about how the diligent will be made rich or they're going to have more than it could possibly need. Well, what are the results of that? The results are you don't need big government, you don't need government handouts. You don't need to go to somebody and say, I need you to fix the world because it's broken because I don't have what I need. Well, you probably don't have what you need because you're lazy. A lot of people will blame the government, blame inflation, blame this and blame that.

(11:49):

Well, there is nothing new under the sun, and the world has always had the exact same problems. And in every situation you're always going to have obstacles to overcome, in every situation. In very good times, where people are more godly and righteous, and society and culture is more geared towards Christian values, then those obstacles are much smaller and much easier to get by. Kind of like the difference between under God's government, you might be only paying 10% as a tax, but under man's government you're going to be under more, 70% of your income is taxed in one way or another. And so is it harder to get by, to earn a living, to be self-sufficient under God or under man? And the answer of course is under man is much more complicated. Under God is much more simplistic. You don't have the oppression of men, but to be under God would mean to be under God's authority in government, and that's something the man does not want.

(12:55):

He prefers oppression. He prefers abuse. He is sadomasochistic in nature, where he hurts himself and he hurts others. But man does not prefer righteousness, so he prefers poverty over being diligent and being made rich. In Proverbs 12:24, it talks about how the diligent, those that have diligence, who have it as a characteristic of their nature of who they are, what makes them driven will bear rule. These are the people that are going to get promoted. Most people just want promotion because of who they are, not because of what they are or what they do. This is the leading cause of the concept of minimum wage and raising prices and all the rest because they just want more money without having to actually perform. And they don't like the idea of inequality because it might show that somebody is doing a better job than them. Well, we should be cultivating inequality.

(13:58):

Inequality in the concept of production. If you work harder and do a better job, you should get more, you should be richer, and you should have more elevation, responsibilities, a better position. If you are going to get ahead in life, diligence as part of your character is a moral necessity. In Proverbs 12:27, it talks about how the diligent respect their possessions and the possessions of others. That's right, you have Godly Christian character and you are going to take care of the things that you currently own. If you look at the lazy people in the world, the people that are on terrible levels of welfare, were completely dependent upon the government, they live in the worst places. That's right. They destroy everything around them. Everything about them is dirty. Everything about them is disgusting because they do not respect their possessions. They are lazy people. To have a clean home, you have to clean it.

(15:13):

To have a non-cluttered area, you have to actually take care of it, clean it up, and make it look nice. It takes work. It takes a lot of work to keep your home clean, to keep your clothes washed and folded and put away. It takes a lot of work to do everything. You're going to respect your children. You're going to respect your spouse, your home, your work, even your community. You're not going to be littering on the ground because you care about what belongs to you and what belongs to others. This is how you cultivate a community of people that have good Christian character. They care about themselves, they care about their possessions, and they care about the possessions of others. Do you see how the simple concept could change the world overnight? As Christian parents and teachers, we get the opportunity to teach this to our children.

(16:13):

Don't try to think in your mind that you're going to change the world by voting in November for president by filling in a block and putting somebody's name on it, and that's going to change the world. What's going to change the world is every little thing you do, everything, including voting. That also is very important as well, but you really have zero power, zero power beyond that of a bubble because all the claims that people might make and all the promises that politicians make doesn't mean they're actually going to do it. And your promises can turn into something that never took place. They could be lying to you completely. They could be hoping to get your vote and telling you what you want to hear just so you can put them into office and then they can do whatever they want. That's usually what happens.

(17:06):

Now, a lot of times God uses things even like your measly vote to do some very good things in the world. So voting is a very good thing, you should do it. But what you do on a daily basis and influencing children on a daily basis is much more important. That will change the future for the better, more than your vote. In Proverbs 13:4, it talks about the diligent being made fact. You don't need somebody to give you handouts because you have everything you need and more. By obeying God, by keeping his commandments, you are going to have not just enough, more than enough. You're not just going to be healthy, you're going to be made fat so much you're overeating because you have more than you could possibly need. Diligence does this to a person and to families. Proverbs 21:5 says, the diligent have only thoughts of plenteousness. So their character, as we were mentioning earlier, evil people, their thoughts are to do evil, to destroy, how they can destroy more and better tomorrow.

(18:25):

However, the diligent person, the person who thinks godly thoughts, their thoughts are how they can do something that will be plenteous, productive, constructive versus destructive. Their thoughts are how they can get up in the morning and they can do something that influences themselves and others for the better. It can cause it to multiply, and so this is what, if we cultivate diligence in children, it will teach them how to think in a positive manner. Don't be happy with the way you are. You can do better. Don't be happy with where your family's at. It can be better. Don't be happy with your place of work and business. You can do better. And don't be happy with your community because it can be better. And if you have diligence in your character, if the children grow up to have this, their thoughts will be a plenteousness, how they can produce, how they can be productive.

(19:32):

If you look at the world today, the vast majority of people are only destructive. They're not building anything. They have all these hatred comments and all they do is go to social media and talk about everything they hate, but nothing that they're doing is productive. Nothing they're doing is causing something to be plenteous. Nothing is constructive. They can only destroy through their hatred and through their laziness. These kinds of people can only take, and that right there is the leading cause of the concept of socialism and communism. It's a thing of lazy people who steal from people who have until there's nothing left. There are leeches who can only suck the blood out of somebody until there's no more blood to take. But children who are reared and taught by Christian parents and teachers to be diligent, that's not them. They are life givers. They give life to themselves, their family and their communities and even their nation.

(20:35):

Proverbs 22:29 talks about how a person who is diligent will stand before kings. This is another concept of the idea of elevation. You are not going to be in the gutter. If you're a diligent, hardworking, trustworthy person, you will be elevated by men and by God himself. So if you want to benefit your children, to help them build a better future for themselves, teaching them diligence in their character, well immediately be the leading cause of their success and not teaching this, allowing them to be lazy, giving them a task and not ensuring that they follow through with it. This is going to be the opposite. You are going to teach them to be leeches upon everyone around them. They will suck the life force out of everyone and everything and be nothing but destructive if they are not diligent people.

(21:37):

And of course, a very important thing, that diligence also is kind of descriptive in Proverbs 27:23 talks about how the diligent person knows the state of their flocks or their possessions, their belongings, their finances, their family. They're not neglectful people, they're mindful people. And that's an important characteristic to have because most things, as they call it, fall through the cracks. It's when you don't pay attention to something, and so it becomes in disrepair, teaching children to be mindful about what they have, their possession, the condition that it's in is kind of like owning a vehicle and never changing the oil. If you never pay attention to it and you ignore the lights, you ignore the responsibility of a car owner to change their oil or to have somebody else do it. Eventually you're going to destroy the motor. And the same thing happens in every aspect of life. If you're going to succeed in financing your finances, you're going to have to make sure you pay attention to them, what you spend, how you spend, what you spend it on.

(22:54):

Your marriage, having a spouse, a husband, a wife, and maintaining that relationship, that takes a lot of work. Maintaining your relationship with your children, that takes a lot of work. You can't just neglect your children. You can't neglect your duties, and it prosper. If you're in business, you absolutely have to pay attention to what's going on with your coworkers, with your boss, your employees, with your customers. If you don't, you won't have a business very long or a job. It's just not going to happen. But cultivating diligence is a very easy and simple thing to do, but if you don't know that it's something you need to focus on, then it's never going to happen. So that's what I'm saying here with Q is for quitting and the importance of diligence. We need to purposefully and deliberately teach our children how to work, and not to quit. We cannot be quitters and also at the same time be winners. You'll want to be a winner.

(24:00):

You want your children to be winners, then you're not going to quit in any aspect of your life. In every aspect, it must be led by the character of diligence, in everything. And so it's not going to be difficult. You can do it every day as a parent, you can do it every day as a teacher. The little things, when you ask somebody to do something, ensure that they do it. When you give them a task, make sure that they complete it and the next time, give them a harder task and let them do that, and you will build and cultivate diligence in your child and give them a better future. Well, thank you for joining me again for Preschool Pioneers. This is Jeremy saying thank you and God bless.