Everyone needs an advocate. An advocate is someone who supports you by speaking on your behalf.

Parenting

There are many advantages to having parents to look after you.

Many children have lost one or both parents and they are often disadvantaged thereby. This shows the value of someone to look after one’s interests.

Advocacy and one’s experience of advocacy begins with parents

Parental guidance

This arises from the natural love that a parent has for their child. No-one else can have as great an interest in you as a child. Society may show you great interest when you have grown up and your talents become useful to its aims. Friends may enjoy your company but may disappear from your social circle. Marriage will introduce a new relationship, but even this can become a source of trouble and distress. Parents will

Childhood years are very important for developing the adult person, and parents are those who have the child’s best interests at heart and are best suited to cope with the adolescent years as children transition to adulthood.

Unconditional love prompts them to teach their child, defend them from danger and provide for them for free.

Those who have no parents or parental figure in their lives are severely disadvantaged. They need guidance for life itself but particularly for advocacy.

Advocacy

Advocacy is essential in life when one encounters trouble of any kind. It is a rare person who can cope with the vicissitudes of life on their own. Even the most talented need others. The best sportsmen have multiple coaches to improve them even further. The biggest businesses have the best lawyers to defend their intellecual property, their reputation, their assets, etc. They all use advocates – even as adults, and how much more as children?

For lack of parenting, children grow up without one of the God-ordained restraints upon human wickedness. There are several God-ordained restraints upon human wickedness, which makes life bearable and develops civil society. The Bible takes it further towards Christian society, although this is seen only in local pockets in various countries at present, in the current secular take-over of national and international institutions.

Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) is a term which recognizes the detrimental effect of poor, abusive or absent parenting of children.

There are many roles for parents, but one of these is advocacy for their children, and in its absence a child can suffer psychologically with detriment on its performance in school, and failure to reach its proper potential in secondary education.

We all need advocates but we not all have them.

Thankfully, the Christian Gospel provides us with the ultimate Advocate for free.

“If anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.”

The apostle John: 1Jn 2:1

You may have lawyers a-plenty and an appeal process, but this does not guarantee you justice in this world. Julian Assange is a current case in point and Harry Dunn another.

When you appear before the Judgment Seat of Christ 2Cor 5:10 – who will be your advocate there? Jesus invites you to make use of His services for free.