The very first sermon I ever preached was from Romans 12:1-2 and it was the Sunday before New Years. I couldn’t wait to share that God had a better plan for the rest of your life than you had for the past. Romans 12:2 tells us to “renew our minds” continuously, and I reminded the people that garbage from the world was not renewal. Only God’s Word was health food for the brain that would renew us. While I hope my preaching has become stronger, I am sure that the message I preached is timeless. Only surrounding ourselves, filling ourselves and immersing ourselves in the things and people of God leads to healthy growth.
Merry Christmas
As I prepare a message for this week, I am caught up anew in the amazing grace, love and patience of our God. I was reflecting on gifts. The giver and the purpose are so often lost when we talk about gifts. We want to know immediately, “What did I get?” We really would be wise to reflect more on the giver and the meaning behind what we receive. What does this gift say about the person who gave it to me? How do they feel about me? How blessed am I not only to receieve this gift, but to have received it from a person who is part of my life!
And this thought led me to reflect on God. As David Crowder puts it, “OH, How He loves us.” Can you imagine how He feels when He watches us open His gift again and again? He continues to shower us with His love and His grace, His forgiveness and His guidance. He watches us grow (like our own children) and appreciates that each year we ask for different gifts, and recieve them differently, because we are growing in Him! It is a scene replayed in each Christian home and heart each day, and God is the author and the true gift giver (James 1:17).
So this Christmas, let’s think about the GIVER. Who gave us the gift in our hands? What do they mean to me? Who gave me the gift in my heart? What does HE mean to me? THAT is the reason for this season.
LOVE YOU ALL … Merry Christmas
Pastor Jeff
Happy Father’s Day, Part 2
Yesterday’s devotion we were studying the biblical parenting points found in 1 Corinthians 4:14-21 (see 6-15-2011 post; titled Happy Father’s Day, Part 1). Affirm Your love…. Avoid Shaming Your Child…, Give Warnings….,Establish Your Authority….. Press the Gospel in Deep….
1 Corinthians 4:12-21 [ESV]; “I do not write these things to make you ashamed , but to admonish you as my beloved children. For though you have countless guides in Christ, you do not have many fathers. For I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel. I urge you then, be imitators of me. That is why I sent you Timothy, my beloved and faithful child in the Lord, to remind you of my ways in Christ, as I teach them everywhere in every church. Some are arrogant, as though I were not coming to you. But I will come to you soon, if the Lord wills, and I will find out not the talk of these arrogant people but their power. For the Kingdom of God does not consist in talk but in power. What do you wish? Shall I come to you with a rod, or with love in a spirit of gentleness.
Urge Your Children to Imitate You: Paul was not a shy or afraid to encourage the Corinthians to be imitators of him. Later in the same letter (1 Corinthians 11:1), Paul would expand on this thought as he encouraged the Corinthians to “be imitators of me, AS I AM CHRIST.” Paul did not want followers of himself or mini Pauls, but Paul himself was imitating Christ Jesus, and was a tangible, visible example for the people he would oversee and the world who was watching him. Paul was not exalting himself, he was merely stating that he purposefully led his life in such a way that others could see Jesus in him, and others could imitate him in following Christ.
As parents, this must be our goal as well. We must lead lives worth of imitating and then encourage our kids to do just that. Kids will learn what they live. If a father insists that his child does not lie, than turns around and cheats on his taxes, his child will not learn from his fathers words, but will in fact learn from his fathers actions. Setting an example includes two distinct aspects. One, we must aspire to live a godly life worthy of following. We have to set the tone and example for our families. In order to do this, we must rely on the power of the Holy Spirit, our best efforts will never measure up if we are not in reliance on God has our strength. We can not present our lives as our own work, this will produce a self-righteousness.
Secondly, we must accept that, we are still in our flesh, we are not yet perfect. We all make mistakes, and it is important that we be willing to admit those mistakes to our children. We should not be under any delusion that our kids think we are perfect in the first place. After about age 7 , that phase is long gone. The important issue here is how we handle our mistakes (sin). We model for them honesty, transparency, and taking our short comings, failures to Jesus. We allow them to watch a merciful Father, deal with us, grow us and mold us into the very image of Jesus. In doing so we also give our kids a chance to learn from our mistakes and, hopefully avoid them.
Make it a Team Effort: Paul wrote, “That is why I sent you Timothy, my beloved and faithful child in the Lord, to remind you of my ways in Christ, as I teach them everywhere in every church.” Paul had people whom he knew where trustworthy followers of Jesus to assist him, and reinforce his teachings. Likewise, as parents we should get others adults involved in the lives of our children who will reinforce what we are already teaching them.
Stay Involved: Paul ”I will come to you soon.” As parents, we must intentionally stay involved in the lives of our children. Some parents, especially Dads, faced with daunting to do list, lack of understanding and an increasing sense of failure in parenting simply decide (consciously or unconsciously) to check out of their children’s lives. I see this particularly true as kids grow older and move into the teen years. This is the worst thing you could possibly do both to yourself and to your kids.
We must stay involved; know what they like, what they don’t like, who their friends are, what kind of music they are listening to, who they are in contact with on facebook, who they are texting. In fact, I believe it important for us as parents to stay as current and up to date as we can. Learn the lingo, learn to text and understand the texting vernacular. Find out what the slang of the day is (warning; as a parent of teen agers, know it don’t use it, you will only embarass yourself) Believe it or not our kids want us to be involved in their lives. You have every right and responsiblity to be intrusive.
Give Choices: “What do you wish?”…Paul asks the Corinthians. He gave them choices. As parents, we should do the same with our children. In small things and big things we should present our kids with choices and let them decide (when appropriate of course). More importantly though, we must equip them to live with the consequences of their choices. Part of being leaders in life and our homes is the ability to make a choice and deal with the consequences thereof. If we do not allow our children to practice that skill when they are young, they will be ill-equipped to handle choice as and adult.
Customize Your Approach: “Shall I come to you with a rod, or with love in a spirit of gentleness?” Some who read that letter needed Paul to come with a spirit of love and likely reacted to Paul’s correction positively in order to ensure that he would come in gentleness. Others, no doubt, needed the stern rod of correction before they were willing to submit to his authority. In a similar way, we need to tailor our approach to correction and discipleship for each of our individual children. They are each unique creations of God, and it is naive to think that correction and discipleship is a one-size-fits-all. Furthermore,children change over time and not checking out of their lives as we discussed earlier, we can know them and customize our approach not only for each child but also for the same child based on their age and maturity level. In order to accomplish this we need to become students of our children, watch them, talk to them, spend time with them.
As we move toward Father’s Day, let’s all examine our own lives, our relationship with our kids. Which of these areas do we excel? What are areas we need to work on? How can we be the parents God has ordained us to be? Go to God in prayer, He is the ultimate father, and his desire is that you and your family be all you were called to be in Christ Jesus. Happy Father’s Day!
Happy Father’s Day! Part 1
1 Corinthians 4:14-21 [ESV] ” I do not write these to make you ashamed, but to admonish you as my beloved children. For though you have countless guides in Christ, you do not have many fathers. For I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel. I urge you, to be imitators of me. That is why I sent you Timothy, my beloved and faithful child in the Lord, to remind you of my ways in Christ, as I teach them everywhere in every church. Some are arrogant, as though I were not coming to you. But I will come to you soon, if the Lord wills, and I will find out not the talk of these arrogant people but their power. For the Kingdom of God does not consist in talk but in power. What do you wish? Shall I come to you with a rod, or with love in a spirit of gentleness?
With Father’s Day fast approaching, I thought this portion of the Word would be a great place to study for dad’s, and mom’s alike. Within 1 Corinthians 4:14-21, we can see 10 distinct points of parenting our children.
In this portion of the Word, Paul is correcting the wayward church in Corinth, and continues through the entire letter of 1 Corinthians. However, viewed in the light of Paul’s statement that, “I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel” we can see a biblical model of what fatherly confrontation, correction and discipleship should look like.
AFFIRM YOUR LOVE: Paul writes that the purpose of this portion was to admonish his readers “as beloved children.” Correction or guidance that we give to our children needs to be done from a position of, and rooted in, unconditional love. We must be careful to not correct out of anger or a selfish desire that our kids would act a certain way to make our lives easy. Biblical correction is not to simple change behavior, but to disciple our kids to become more like Jesus. This needs to be our main pursuit in parenting our children, and it begins with our children knowing they are loved – not because of what they have or haven’t done, but because they are our kids.
Our children’s realization of our love for them is not something that just happens. We must be intentional and work at it to make certain that your kids know that you love them. Show them we love them by word and deed. If your kids do not know and accept that you love them unconditionally, then any effort on our part to correct them will be met with suspicion and ultimately failure. Unconditional love is not based on our kids performance or abilities, or even a feeling, but rather a CHOICE to demonstrate love in both good and bad times.
AVOID SHAMING YOUR CHILDREN: ”I do not write these things to make you ashamed…” Paul did not wish to shame the Corinthians, but to help them see that they were living in a way contrary to God’s will. Likewise, shame has no place in biblical correction as a parent. Our goal as parents when it comes to correcting our children is to lead them into a life consistent with God’s will for them. Shame is fear based. “There is no fear in love.” 1 John 4:18a. Accordingly, shame should not play any part in correction which must be based in love. Shame used as a way to correct is in the end ineffective, although we may see short-term behavioral changes, there will be no long-lasting internal transformation.
GIVE WARNINGS: “to admonish” means to “reprove gently, yet earnestly” or “to counsel against something to be avoided” or “to remind of something forgotten or disregarded, as an obligation or responsibility.” Paul was not writing to bring down the hammer, but to warn the Corinthians of what would happen if they continued in the current course of action of behavior.
As parents, we must do the same thing by warning, or admonishing. The idea of admonishing or warning or to alert our children of the consequences of their actions. To the extent that those consequences flow naturally from the action in question, our role as parents is to alert our kids of those inevitable consequences. Obviously, one of our roles as parents is also to impose consequences were needed, and we should warn our kinds that they are coming as well. Any consequences which we impose should be made clear before the action and must be followed through on. Warning serves to help steer our kids in the right direction. Think of God and the Israelites.
ESTABLISH YOUR AUTHORITY: Paul reminds the Corinthians that “though you have countless guides in Christ, you do not have many fathers..” and used this to establish his authority to correct the recipients of his letter. When it comes to parenting, our authority comes directly from God. He has given us the stewardship over, and responsibility for, his children. With that responsibility, he has given parents authority over their children. Exodus 20:12. As parents, it is beneficial to help our kids understand God has given us both authority over them, and responsibility for them. As agents of God, we must exercise that authority consistent with God’s will. By explaining to our kids that we are acting under the authority of God, we also set an example for them of submitting to our authority. When we step outside the authority and will of God in parenting, we ultimately teach our kids that they should defy authority as well. We establish our authority based on the Word of God, but we must also demonstrate our adherence to God’s Word in other aspects of our life. We can not, do one thing and demand a different behavior from our children. We can not tell our children that they must submit to our authority because it is given by God on the one hand, and on the other disregard God’s authority in our own lives.
PRESS THE GOSPEL IN DEEP: Paul became a father “through the gospel,” and as earthly parents, one of the principal goal in our life should be to also fill the role of spiritual parents in our children’s lives “though the Gospel.” In order to do this, the gospel must be the center point in our lives and our families. We have to strive to make Jesus central in our own life first, and then the overflow of that relationship will permeate our home, and ultimately directly affect our children’s life. We must teach them, and demonstrate for them, that the Bible holds the answers and guidance for all of lives questions and struggles. We must make our choices based on God’s Word, and show them how to do the same.
Do to the length of this passage, I have divided it into two parts. So tomorrow we will continue with 5 more points from 1 Corinthians 4:14-21; Urge Your Children to Imitate You…, Make it a Team Effort…., Stay Involved……, Give Them Choices….., Customize Your Approach…
HAPPY FATHER’S DAY!
What’s in a Name?
When my husband and I were choosing names for our children, before they were born took months. We went through several different names before we would settle on the name that would forever mark our child. It was a big deal, it needed to sound right, but more importantly we wanted it to represent something to each child.
Names in Bible times meant so much more to people other than the way they would sound or what the trend of names would be for that year. A name carry tremendous important and spoke of something deeper than just how to get someones attention when called in a crowd. In Genesis 17, we see that God gave new names to Abram and Sarai (Genesis 17:4,5,15,16) He was changing things in their lives, and He wanted to give them new names to declare what He was doing in and through them. Abram and Sarai knew well the importance of names. When He gave them new names, He was beginning to speak of “nonexistent things” as though they already existed. Romans 4:17..as it is written, “I have made you the father of many nations”… in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist. The name change indicated to Abram and Sarai that God was beginning to fulfill His promise when He said to Abram:” “Look toward the heavens and count the stars – if you are able to number them. Then He said to him, So shall you descendants be. (Genesis 15:5)
So what’s in a name? A lot more than many of us realize. Think about Sarai, for instance. She was a barren woman; in biblical societies , so much of a woman’s worth depended on her ability to bear children. (PLEASE remember this was the cultural view, not God’s). She was an old woman, and biologically she had no hope of ever being able to conceive and deliver a baby. I can imagine that her condition plagued her mind, altered her confidence, and could make her feel less than the other woman around her. Sarai was noted and known as a barren woman, BUT God is about to change her name and therefore change her identity and declare what HE is about to do, and bring glory to HIS NAME!
Sarah means “princess.” So when Abraham (father of multitudes) or anyone else called Sarai by her new name, Sarah, there was a new image, identity being spoken. They were calling her beautiful and valuable , a king’s daughter – and they were speaking forth the fact that Sarah was a mother, even though she not yet had children.
continuing with this idea through the New Testament and to even our own lives today, I encourage you to remember the significance of a name when you speak the name of JESUS. Remember, His is not just a name; it is a word loaded with meaning and is life giving. It declares His character, it proclaims all that JESUS is, and all JESUS had done, and all JESUS will do.
Acts 4:9-12 if we are being examined today concerning a good deed done to a crippled man, by what means this man has been healed, let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead – by HIM this man is standing before you well. This JESUS is the stone that was rejected by you, the builder, which has become the cornerstone. And there is salvation in NO ONE ELSE, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we MUST be saved! JESUS
Set Apart!
2 Timothy 2: 20-21 Now in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver but also of wood and clay, some for honorable use, some for dishonorable. Therefore if anyone cleanse himself from what is dishonorable, he will be a vessel for honorable use, SET APART as HOLY, USEFUL to the master of the house, ready for every good work.
God’s Word gives us instructions to be vessels consecrated and ready for our Master’s use. These verses (2Tim. 2:20-21) make it clear that to be consecrated is to be set apart for a special purpose.
To God, we are precious treasures. In His great plan, we are vessels to be set aside for special use. God wants to show His glory through us. He wants to use us to bring others to Himself. We are Jesus’ representatives, Jesus’ ambassadors, a people set apart for Jesus’s use. God makes His appeal to the world through us. 2 Corinthians 5:20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.
The word consecrate is very similar to the word dedicate; it means to give, to offer to another, or to set aside for a special use. If I say that a room in my house is dedicated to prayer, I mean that I want that particular room used primarily for the purpose of prayer and not for other things.
I have a special platter that I use for severing only at Thanksgiving. My family knows that this platter is something special to our holiday. My child expect it to be there, and to be used to displace the turkey at dinner time. If I would use this platter for any other reason than what it was set apart to be used for, my family would throw a fit. It is special, its function in our home is to hold and serve us at Thanksgiving. When my family see this platter it represents something , they handle it differently, not as they would the other 4 platters in my cabinet. They recognize it is set apart for a certain use, and it is treated and handled as such. This is the way God views us; we are not meant for the world’s purposes, but for God’s will. We are in this world, yet Jesus tells us we are not “of” this world. (John 15:19) This world and its ways and methods should not own and dictate our behavior or purpose. But, we should allow the fact that we were bought with a great price, redeemed from a kingdom of darkness, and set ourselves apart for our Lord and Master Jesus Christ, to dictate our decisions and actions.
Even after we dedicate ourselves to God, and His purpose for us, we should regularly rededicate ourselves, reminding ourselves of our true purpose. Romans 12:1 (amp)I appeal to you therefore brethren, and beg of you in view of all the mercies of God, to make a decisive dedication of your bodies (presenting your members and facilities) as a living sacrifice, holy (devoted, consecrated) and well pleasing to God which is your reasonable (rational, intelligent) service and spiritual worship.
It is not too much for God to ask us to dedicate every facet of our being to Him. In fact, that is actually our worship and spiritual service. In the Old Testament, under the law, God required animal sacrifices. He no longer wants dead sacrifices; He wants us offering ourselves as “living sacrifices” unto Him for His purpose and use. Consecrate yourself to God and set apart your life daily, be ready for any good work!
Crying out for Jesus
Read Romans 8:18-25
When was the last time when you took a moment and enjoyed God’s creation? When was the last time you sat in the midst of all He created and drank it, allowing His majesty and glory to resonate with your heart and soul? Right now as I am typing this I am sitting somewhere in the Smokey’s surrounded by mountains, trees, and creeks that are all crying out glory to Jesus. Have you ever sat and listened to creation. The birds singing glorious songs to Jesus, the water rolling across the rocks with the rushing sound of worship, the wind blowing through the trees that proclaim Jesus’ wondrous works, and the silence that screams louder praise than any words ever could. I am marveled right now by God. When was the last time He marveled you outside of doing something for you. Like has He moved you in such a mighty way by just being Him, or does it take some great sermon, or worship song or, significant moment in your life to stir your affections for Him? Does His bigness overwhelm you? Does His desire to draw you, woo you, and love you cause you to weep? Do the deepest and darkest parts of your heart long for Him? Does your soul desire to cling to Him? When was the last time you mingled in His presence? We get so consumed with our circumstances and situations hoping and expecting God to change them when what should really consume us is His presence no matter the circumstance. I love how Paul correlates sufferings and creation in Romans 8. “For I consider that the sufferings of the present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God.” What Paul wants us to relish in is that our sufferings, situations, and circumstances are not worth comparing to the glory that is to be revealed. Then he says look at creation. Look at how it is crying out for its Creator. When you look at the vastness of God’s creation and how it is crying out for Jesus then your sufferings are not even comparable. Your sufferings lose significance because of the Glory of Jesus. Maybe what we need more of is less business and more of watching creation at work glorying God. Maybe what we need is less noise and more of the silence of creation groaning for Jesus. Maybe what we need is less of ourselves and more of basking in all of the things of Jesus. Maybe what we should learn from creation is that our sorrow, joy, happiness, pleasure, crying, longing, difficulties, and love are all ingredients of worship to the glory of God by the grace and mercy over flowing from the cross of Jesus Christ.
Idolatry vs. Jesus
Read Daniel 3:1-12 and Luke 18:18 – 30
I think most people would believe that we have many cultural idols and that though these idols do not look like statues of gold and silver they are still very tangible. If we were to construct a brief list of idols they would be as follows: relationships, money, popularity, materialism, knowledge, sports, sex, etc. If we were to be honest we would admit that there are times when we put the chasing after one of these idols before chasing after God. My desire is that the Church would continually turn from any form of idolatry and run whole-heartedly after Jesus.
My issue is what we focus on most frequently; what I call surface idols. They are idols that are on the surface, noticeable, and tangible. In reality there are deeply rooted idols in the deepest darks of our hearts that get pleasure by chasing after these surface idols. These idols are not as tangible and are harder to admit to. They are rarely addressed because we focus only on the surface and right actions. Not enough focus is placed on our hearts being rooted in the things of Jesus or in one of these deeper idols.
In Luke 18 Jesus addresses the rich man who wanted to have eternal life. This man claims that he has kept all the commandments since his youth. In terms of right actions he is already better than probably all of us! Jesus doesn’t look at him and say, “You liar! You did this and this and broke that one”. Jesus recognizes that he has held these commandments. However, Jesus also looks directly past these right behaviors and seeks the heart. Jesus points out what his heart is completely entangled with.
I have listed below what I think are these deep idols that cause our heart to be desperately sick and wicked:
Power
Control
Approval/Acceptance
Comfort/Pleasure
Let’s use money as an example. We would all admit that money can be an idol. However, this idol works out differently in each one of our hearts. For some seeking after and having money causes their heart to be content and satisfied because it presents for them POWER, STATUS, and PRESTIGE. So the root idol here is the chasing after and satisfying your heart’s idol of Power. For others chasing after money could satisfy their need or idol of comfort, for some it is control and manipulation, while for others it could be approval or acceptance. The problem with not dealing with the root issue is that when you go to church and they ask you to lay down your idols you stop pursing money and replace it with serving the church for the same satisfaction of Power, Control, Approval, or Comfort. Most people cannot resist their deep idol so they never fully understand the fullness of Christ. Your actions will eventually display your heart. For a while we are good at using actions to cover up our heart, but the heart will eventually leak through. Resisting the idols and running to Jesus will reveal where your heart really is. Why is this so difficult?
First, it is hard to resist. Our sinful nature, our sick heart, our fallen mind, and our degenerate culture cause us to gravitate naturally towards false, temporary idols that always leave us unsatisfied. Second, it is hard, risky, and dangerous to take that first step and give your heart fully to Jesus. Even though our heart was created for Jesus, even though He desires us, died for us, rose for us, and is drawing us, it is always a risk to give our heart. Jesus is the One your heart was created for and the One who will bring ultimate fulfillment and satisfaction, but knowing that doesn’t make it easier. In fact it seems to me that we have fooled people into thinking it is easier. Paul says, “Work out your salvation with fear and trembling.” Jesus says, “ I will send you out sheep among wolves.” This doesn’t seem easier. For Paul saying ”no” to the idol was saying “yes” to Jesus, no matter the danger and risk that was at hand.
It’s amazing to me that we as Christians share Jesus as just the escape from Hell and the ticket into Heaven, but for Shadrach, Meshach, and Abendego Jesus meant defeating Hell and knowing ultimate satisfaction in Him. Are you running after Jesus or running from Hell? I worry that for most Christians today their hearts have been given to an idol that they have named Jesus. The reason why Christians are not living intentionally, hearing the voice of the Holy Spirit, and pointing to Jesus is because Jesus doesn’t really have their heart. If you haven’t’ come to the realization of your deep idols that cause your heart to be wicked then you can easily fool yourself into the fact that you are serving Jesus, but really you are serving your idol.
I have watched many people give their lives to Christ in order to have power and prestige. I have seen people confess Jesus in order to fulfill their idol of control and manipulation. I have seen people to confess Jesus in order to get approval from others. I have seen people confess Jesus because it is comfortable. Do you see how we can take even Jesus and make Him the means of satisfying our true idol. Jesus was meant to be our only and ultimate satisfaction. Are you using Him today to satisfy your idol?
To wrap up I would like to show how we can walk on dangerous ground sometimes in church and cause people to love their idol and not Jesus. Nebuchadnezzar used both a positive and negative reinforcement to press people into bowing down to the god he created. Nebuchadnezzar used music to stir people into bowing down, to make the bowing down more interesting and involving. And he used the frightening threat of the fiery furnace to persuade people to bow down. How often as evangelical Christians do we use the two methods to press people to emotionally engage Jesus? We use music in church to create a stirring that causes people to emotionally think that they are okay without really addressing their deep rooted idol that only the Grace and Truth of Christ can penetrate and heal. We have used the scare tactic of Hell to cause people to make a profession of faith without addressing their idol. I am not saying that those means can’t be used. They can. I am saying that they cannot be the only means to pressing people to Jesus. The Cross of Christ, the grace and mercy which flow as the changing agent of one’s heart and mind needs nothing added to it. It is such a great and unbelievable offer that if you do not want it there is nothing that can entice you or frighten you into wanting it, because it is all encompassing in unexplainable GRACE and MERCY. The Grace and Mercy of Jesus Christ through the Cross and Resurrection of Christ needs no defending! Needs no adding to! It is all sufficient! If you have not come to realize that you are a hedonistic Christian (Christ being the ultimate satisfaction of your heart soul and mind and Christ being the root of your joy) then you have to ask yourself, ”Do I really love Him? Have I really seen how horrible I am in comparison to how great and incredible His Grace and Mercy are?”
What is enough?
Deuteronomy 6:6-9 These commandments that I gave you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the door frames of your houses and on your gates.
Do you ever fear that your children will rebel against God because you made them go to youth group, children’s church, Sunday morning service? We all know people who say that they had religion crammed down their throats when they were young. Please take a moment and reread the above verse. What does it say? How much of God and His Word should we expose our children to – a little, or a lot? To me it sounds like more than a lot. We are supposed to totally engulf them in God’s Word. Our homes should be an environment where God is talked about and demonstrated, when we get up, when we eat, when we go for walks, when we are running around crazy, when we lie down. In other words, the things of God should be a constant topic of conversation, and action.
Stop and think about it for a second. How many of the people you’ve heard say that the Bible was crammed down their throats, when actually they had religion crammed down their throat? Some of the people I know are bitter not at the Bible, but bitter towards having to attend lifeless and rote services, extensive hypocrisy they saw in church, and the home. Hopefully that is not what we are exposing our children to. If we examine ourselves and our families and homes, and find that we are simply attending church, applying rules, and participating in heartless worship we should STOP! That was the type of meaningless religion Jesus opposed, and turns our children off.
Others who say the Bible was crammed down their throats many just be blaming God for their own rebellion against Him. It’s like when someone gets caught speeding and they blame the “stupid law” or the “cop” who doesn’t have anything better to do. The real problem is not the with the law or the police; the problem is with the lawbreakers. In the same way, when someone is rebelling against God it may be easier to blame their upbringing rather than admitting they have an issue with God.
Some times, especially when they are older, struggle with a child who doesn’t want to go to church or youth. Our goal and heart as moms and dads is that they grow up to be all God has called them to be, to be faithful to their God from cradle to grave. When we get the resistant from our children to attend or read their Bookmarks for the week, or pray, and we ask ourselves, “What is enough? What is too much?” I have come to realize as a parent, that I really don’t know what I’m doing; which causes a reliance on the Truth of God’s Word. I know I can trust Him. I know He is the better parent, and I can read where He tells me that HE (not religion) should be in every aspect of my and my children daily life.
The real issue here is not typically over involvement in church, or too much Bible talk, it’s usually hypocrisy in our own lives that leaves a bad taste in the mouth of our kids. It is sobering to think that our own Christian example as parents could be the very thing that makes our children bitter toward God.
Is is better to over-educate or under-educate a student? Is it better to over-train or under-train a soldier? Is it better to over-expose or under-expose our kids to God? In each of these cases, more is better! Greater exposure to the things of God should only result in a greater love toward God, and should better equip our kids for life. Don’t worry that you may push them away from God. I want to focus on ways to excite my children about Jesus. I want them to see a life that is totally engulfed in a life devoted to Jesus! That type of life exposes kids to the truth of God’s love, mercy. grace, and the fact that following God’ s plan for our lives is exciting and yes, fun! (I didn’t say easy!) Don’t worry about giving them too much, GOD; worry about not giving them enough!
What Are You Submitted To?
What are you submitted to? For a good part of my life I was totally submitted to my career. I was that awesome employee that every boss wanted 10 more just like me. However, many days when I got home after working late I had little to no energy for my family. I didn’t even realize it at the time but I was submitted to my career and God and family had taken a back seat. Needless to say, this was not pleasing to God so in my desire to grow my relationship with Him, He changed my career in order for me to get my priorities in order.
All of us are submitted to something or someone. Whether we are aware of it or not, we all serve something. As Christians, God calls us to surrender ourselves to Him, totally and completely. God wants all of you. James 4:7 Submit yourself, then, to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Come near to God and He will come near to you.
So what does a submitted life look like? Recently, I asked a group of women and they had some great answers: “reading your Word everyday”, “daily prayer”, “serving others”, “loving people”. All of these are great answers but the truth is no two people are identical so no two walks with Christ will look identical. We are all sinners and fall short of the glory of God. God sees us as individuals and He sees our weakness and loves us anyway. For me an amazing example of a submitted life was my Grandmother Adams. She was so kind to everyone, she had 13 children and over 50 grandchildren and yet always had time to stop and share God with whomever was in her house that day. She read this big black bible that was always on her end table next to her favorite chair and she prayed sometimes what seemed like off and on all day. It was her gentle spirit and the unexplainable peace that covered her which informed everyone without a word who she was submitted to. This lady had a very hard life and yet she was satisfied, full of joy and peace.
I guess my point here is “Come near to God and He will come near to you”. It is never to late to come near to God. Make God the one thing in your life that you are submitted to. God has a mission for YOU, a plan for YOU and a purpose for YOU. Are you living it? WHY NOT?
