Monthly Archives: November 2012

19 posts

Don’t Treat Your Teenagers as Their Sins Deserve

    Stay with me on this! Psalm 103 says that God does not treat us as our sins deserve. We have previously established that it is not good to treat your young children as their sins deserve. Instead, you are to graciously point them to bow to the authority of the King of the Universe.  Also we have established that middle children should trained in the development of godly character instead of simply having their behavior corrected.  So, this leaves us with teenagers. Are they the only ones who are to be treated as their sins deserve or does God have something different for them as well?   Problems often arise with teenagers because the biblical objectives of the […]

The Meek War Horse

In biblical times horses who were being trained for war had to have an essential quality before they could be used in combat. The great power of a war horse needed to be submissive to the authority of its rider.  This quality of power under authority was called meekness. Being meek is not weak!  Thus, Get Wisdom! defines meekness this way: Meekness is being willing to give up my rights in order to put others first. Meekness waits for God to bring about justice.

Thought for the Lord’s Day

Psalm 100 says that we are enter into the presence of God with thanksgiving and praise. If we lived with an appropriate understanding of the mercy of God this command would be no problem for us to joyfully obey. Yet, often we find ourselves asking “do I feel thankful”. This type of response means that you seeing your world through the lens of your circumstances. This means that you have a distorted view of reality and a diminished appreciation for the grace of God. To be thankful we must first view our circumstances throughout the lens of the glory of God expressed in his word! Thankfulness is not ultimately dependent upon the actions of others. Thankfulness is based upon the […]

The Middle Years – What are Your Concerns?

The underlying theme of these recent posts is not treating your children as their sins deserve. With regard to the middle years, what does this look like in everyday life? Parent, if your focus is primarily about how your child behaves, you have little option but to treat him as you think his sins deserve. But, as Tedd Tripp has pointed out, the goal for these middle years is the development of godly character. During this time you are training your children to love and honor God when you are not around to supervise them. You are preparing them for the teenage years and beyond. If you are primarily correcting behavior you are wasting valuable time! I have copied an […]

Encouraging Your Children to Remember Christmas

Encouraging Your Children to Remember Christmas An encouragement to remember Christmas may seem like something that is not really needed. After all, who forgets Christmas, especially children? Well, it is true that few forget about December 25th and it’s associated collection of wrapped treasures. But sometimes the real “why” of Christmas gets lost amidst the busy holiday schedule. Some families attempt to make up for this by reading the Christmas story from Luke on Christmas Eve. However, with the excitement of Christmas morning just a few hours away the familiar bible verses can become part of the blur of the Christmas holiday festivities. The “why” of Christmas is important. The sovereign King of the universe came to earth in human […]

Today There is an Election – Tomorrow Let There be Thanksgiving!

Today there is the flurry and fury of an election that many think will control our country for the next four years. Today there is uncertainty and turmoil about who will win.  But tomorrow, the efforts of man will be largely over and most likely we will know who will be the next President of the United States. Tomorrow we can focus on God’s control, control that was never in doubt. Nothing will happen today that will stop the people of God from obeying God. Tomorrow, God’s people can follow the direction of our brother Paul about how to respond to the person who is elected today. We are to be thankful for that person and pray for him. No […]

The Middle Years & Weapons Training

The middle years of 5 to 12 are years of transition. One aspect of this transition is preparing for war. Parent, you are the active combatant as you protect your 5 year old. But when he turns 12 he must be ready to fight spiritual battles without always having your oversight. We are often shocked at seeing young children carrying weapons and being in the middle of gun battles in other parts of the world. But this uncomfortable picture is much more fitting for our children than we care to admit. Developing character in your children is preparing them for a war that is real and even more deadly than the ones we cringe at seeing on the nightly news. […]

Thought for the Lord’s Day

    How special is God to you this day? Do your thoughts of God mirror those of David in Psalm 63? Would your children say that you view God as David does in this psalm? These words of David teach us just how deeply we should value the privilege of knowing God. May we all long for God each day, for surely we live in a dry and weary land.   O God, you are my God,    earnestly I seek you;my soul thirsts for you,    my body longs for you,in a dry and weary land    where there is no water.  I have seen you in the sanctuary    and beheld your power and your glory. Because your love is better than life,    my lips will glorify […]