"Get Down From There!"

I have been thinking a lot about what it means to have someone up on a pedestal. For example, I always had my Mom up on a pedestal. I truly thought that if anyone could be without sin, it had to be her! But, come to find out: even moms sin! You would think that by my having been a mom for almost 20 years now, that I'd have figured this out much sooner. Seems I am a bit of a slow learner.

Idolize.

That is what the dictionary says that 'put on a pedestal' means.

Idolize?

I have been blessed with many wonderful remarks, comments, words of encouragement when it comes to my children throughout my 2 decades as a mother. They have been needed and often times, they would be given to me when I was feeling as if my role as mother was too difficult to bear. The timing would always be sweet. However, I know that they aren't perfect. Every bright eyed, cute, and smiley one of them are sinners. Sinners. So, when one of them fell off the pedestal, it hurt. Bad. Sure, they have all fallen off before, but the pedestal wasn't as high. I suppose with each passing year and each growing accomplishment, the bricks on those pedestals kept getting stacked on and they were bound to fall.

"Watch out!
You don't belong up there!
You are going to get HURT!
Get down from there this very instant!"

Why did I wait so long to notice how dangerous the pedestal was? Why hadn't I had my eyes open to how high it had grown?

I'll tell you why. Because I liked the pretty pedestal. It set my child high up top! Everyone could look up to him/her. They could esteem to be like him/her, or have a child like him/her, and it was of course a reflection of what a wonderful and godly mother I was/am, right? Wrong. So wrong.

It was a reflection of my foolishness.

Idolize.

Yep. I see it now. I was allowing others, including myself, to idolize the image my child was portraying through his/her good grades, good manners, good everything. Except their heart. The heart is the true reclection of who they are.

Jeremiah 17:9 reminds us that: "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick."


I could see that my child's heart was sick. As a mother you have a certain intuition. The Holy Spirit. And, as my child continued to have sinful setbacks, I was heartsick myself. My friend reminded me that part of the reason it was so hard for me to deal with this was that my child had been put up on a pedestal and when he/she fell, no one could believe it. "What? No, not sweet little so-and-so! He/she is soooo great! I want my son/daughter to be just like him/her when they grow up!"

So, I write this blog post to remind myself and in hopes it can help one of you from making the same mistake... don't let anyone put your child up on that pedestal. It is really dangerous! They can get really, really hurt! Tell them to 'get down from there'! Being on that pedestal can have them start to see themselves as little idols to other moms and dads and then see themselves as more than they are. Oh, that I would have taken the time to cautiously help my child down from that pedestal that he/she had been stuck on for so long. That I would have had eyes open to remind my child that the only one deserving of praise and worship is God himself.

We need to constantly and consistently be pointing our children back to their need for a savior. Why? Because they are sinners in need of redemption! Yes, even the sweetest, smartest, most well mannered child is in need of a savior, WE ALL ARE.

So, next time someone tries to put one of my children on a pedestal, I would swiftly take my child's hand and keep them right next to me. Feet firmly planted on solid foundation. The foundation that is Christ and God's Word . I will take that moment as an opportunity to remind them that they are NOT righteous, not even one of them...

"What shall we conclude then? Are we any better? Not at all! We have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under sin. As it is written:

“There is no one righteous, not even one;
there is no one who understands,
no one who seeks God.
All have turned away,
they have together become worthless;
there is no one who does good,
not even one.”
Romans 3:9-12

I will take a humble child that recognizes his/her place in the kingdom of God over a child that is seemingly perfect in the world's eyes.

"The fear of the Lord is instruction in wisdom; and before honor comes humility."
Proverbs 15:33

I have shared this verse over and over with my child this year. I pray it pierces his/her heart to its very core and that my child also remembers that it doesn't need to end there. There is hope for all of us! If you continue to read on through chapter 3 of Romans it says:

"But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement,i through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished— he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.

Where, then, is boasting? It is excluded. On what principle? On that of observing the law? No, but on that of faith. For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law."


I will continue to be encouraged by the kind words that others will share with me about my children when they do something worth praising, but I will also be more aware of when the praising is taking away from what should be glory given to our King of Kings! I will be sure to point them and my child to the reason I even have reason to boast! Jesus!