Suppose for a moment that you lived as many Christians do on this planet. Suppose you lived in an area that was in a constant state of warfare. This is would be the warfare of the guerrillas, or of the tribal dispute, or of ethnic hatred. In each of these types of warfare, Christians are often acceptable targets. In this war-torn area you would still have your children. For families living in one of these media-neglected war zones, going outside to play is an act of reckless endangerment. You realize that the instructions you must give your children are instructions of life and death. If your kids fail to follow your directions to the letter they may pay the […]
Daily Archives: February 28, 2013
3 posts
The easiest way to distinguish what is genuine from its pretender is to become intimately familiar with the genuine article. Therefore, if we want to distinguish biblical instruction from its pretender, we must be intimately and passionately committed to biblical instruction. This is the kind of instruction that Tedd Tripp calls formative instruction in his book, “Instructing a Child’s Heart.” In it’s truest sense instruction means to teach children about God and his ways so that they are challenged to long for a deepening relationship with God. (see Deuteronomy 6:5-7 & Ephesians 6:4) A careful reading of these two passages leads to this conclusion. In Deuteronomy, the emphasis is on the parents and teachers being deeply in love with God so […]
All’s well that ends well is one of those proverbial threads that form the tapestry of conventional wisdom. In this case the tapestry is threadbare in spots. This thought leads to the idea it doesn’t matter how we get our children to obey as long as they obey. This thinking may well achieve its purpose today, but create serious problems in the years ahead. Specifically I am talking about the distinction between instruction and manipulation when raising children to live for God. In it’s truest sense instruction means to teach children about God and his ways so that they are challenged to long for a deepening relationship with God. (see Deuteronomy 6:5-7 & Ephesians 6:4) Manipulation cares not the for […]