A Generation of Ease

Numbers 32:17
“But we ourselves will go ready armed before the children of Israel, until we have brought them unto their place: and our little ones shall dwell in the fenced cities because of the inhabitants of the land.”

The two and a half tribes of Israel that wanted to stay on the wilderness side of Jordan made a great mistake. They approached Moses and came to an agreement that the men would go fight and conquer the Promised Land, but their children would stay at home until they returned. The problem with this idea is that they raised a generation who wanted to live the easy life. They raised a generation who would not learn how to work through struggles and wanted everything handed to them.

We are beginning to see the result of a generation who were like the children of these tribes who didn’t want their children to have to go over the Jordan. We seem to live in a day when young adults want everything handed to them without any struggle. They don’t want to see battles. They want honor handed to them without building anything. They have no commitment to a cause. All of this has happened because of parents who gave their children everything instead of making them work and fight to obtain. Let me give you several thoughts about the importance of not allowing your children to be a generation of ease.

First, children need to learn to struggle. Your children don’t need everything handed to them. There is something about a young person struggling to get what they have that causes them to appreciate what they’ve obtained. Struggling reveals the weakness of an individual. Struggle builds the stamina of a child to help them achieve in life. Removing struggle from a child’s life is removing the very tool that builds determination to overcome the obstacles on the way to success.

Second, children need to work for what they get. Nothing should ever be handed to children. My parents were very good to me because they taught me that I needed to work to obtain. My parents never helped me purchase a car; instead, they taught me to get a job and save money to purchase a car. My friend, if you purchase everything for your children when they are young, they will continue to run to you when they are older for things they want instead of finding a way to save their money and purchase it themselves. By giving your children money without working, you are making yourself a money tree who they will run to for everything they want in life. You will do your children a great favor by teaching them that if they want something, they need to work for it.

Third, struggle produces a vision and a cause. One of the reasons we have a generation that seems to be directionless and without a cause is because they didn’t have to struggle when they were younger. There is no need to dream, and there is no purpose to have a cause if everything is going to be handed to you. You are destroying the future of your children if you allow them to live a life of ease. My friend, life is not easy. Living a life of achievement is attained through struggle, hardships, vision, hard work and a cause. A generation of ease produces an entitled, visionless, and causeless generation, which always results in death.

Let me encourage you not to give your children everything. I know it’s not easy to see your children struggle, but you are building a great future for your children if you allow them to learn how to work through life’s struggles.

Author: Allen Domelle