Living Vicariously Through Our Kids: Idolatry

When our son was born, I automatically wanted him to have everything that I never had while growing up. For example, I always wanted a “Sit-n-Spin”. If you don’t know, a Sit-n-Spin is a toy that has a round base on which you sit cross-legged, and hold onto a post in the middle, that you pull on, to make yourself spin round and round until you throw up or pass out (which ever comes first). I remember seeing the commercials that always seemed to make it look fun and exciting. So, every year I would ask for one, and every year I wouldn’t get one. But when Will came along, the first present I wanted to buy him was, you guessed it, a Sit-n-Spin! But not just any one would do. I went out and bought him the most expensive model with flashing lights and music that blares from the speakers in the center of the column as you… sit, and spin.

The first question I thought about when I started writing this was: Can we buy our children too many things? Obviously, yes we can. But let’s strip away the bark and look into the heart of why we overly buy too many things for our kids. Especially the ones that we may have wanted growing up (like my illusive Sit-n-Spin).

The last time I did this was when I bought Will a train set because, you guessed it, I wanted one when I was little. So, I’m at Toys r’ Us and I see the Geotrax stuff. I immediately flash back in time and remember how I always wanted a train set and didn’t get one. My logical mind maps out what I should do by adding up the facts:

I always wanted one, therefore I needed one but did not get it, so obviously I was deprived, my parents were bad people for not buying it, I will not have my son deprived of anything, I will be a good parent, therefore, I will buy him the train set, and all the other bells and whistles that go with it, and he will love me forever.

So, I take it home, he plays with it for five minutes, and it ends up in the yard sale six months later for $5.

Now, step outside of the box for a sec and look at this scenario with spiritual eyes and here’s what you will see:

It is my desire to please my son in the way that I think he should be pleased. So, I bring him an offering that I think will satisfy him because I think it would have satisfied me in childhood. It pleases him for a while, but then he is off to play with something else, and I feel dejected. So, off I go into a vicious cycle of searching for the next big thing that will make him happy.

Does this appear to be an act of empty and unfulfilling worship? Am I paying homage to an idol I have created, only to find that it can never give back like only God can? Sadly, I know that’s what I’ve done.

When parents do what I've described, they have turned there children into an idol. But it doesn’t just have to be toys. It can be sports, friends, dances, or anything else that you obsess over that puts your child ahead of God. Anything… period. Our God created us to bring Him pleasure through worshipping Him. Now sure, we are supposed to please our family members, but He never intended us to worship them. We are supposed to be worshipping Him and bringing honor to Him through being a servant to our family. Buying stuff to please people, especially our own kids, is an empty form of idol worship and is counter to what God desires us to be doing.

Do I do this? Yes, and I know I will in the future because Christmas is coming up. But, at least now I’ve cleaned the sleep out of my spiritual eyes so that I can be more aware of the fact that even our kids can be idols. And before I forget, my parents were and are awesome people that gave me everything I needed growing up. It’s pretty obvious that they knew what they were doing by not buying me that Sit-n-Spin, or the nice train set. If they had been like me, and bought me a bunch of stuff, I wouldn’t have learned this lesson and written it down today. Thanks mom and dad.