Daily Archives: May 6, 2013

3 posts

The Gospel and Self-control

Self-control is not about changing behavior. Self-control is the good yield of the Holy Spirit’s work producing his fruit. Self-control is the ability to say no to my wrong desires and yes to what God wants me to do. Prayer for Self-Control: Father, please help me to say no to sin and yes to obedience and pleasing you. I really want to do whatever you want me to do, but it’s too hard by myself. I need your help all the time to say “yes” to you. Please help me. In Jesus’ name, Amen. from Get Wisdom! by Ruth Younts Notice that biblically, self-control is not a behavior issue, as in “get control of yourself.” Rather, it is an issue […]

Teaching your children to behave is not the gospel!

How compelling is the gospel to your children, to you? My concern is that intentionally presenting the gospel is not an everyday consideration for most Christian parents. In contrast, what often is presented each day is how well do children perform or behave.  This is easy to do with the rush of busy schedules.  However, when life is about behavior then the gospel is absent! The gospel is not about behaving properly. As this pertains to adults, we have no trouble applying this truth. Someone who has lived a selfish life, has been full of pride, has committed any number of sins, and finally reaches out to the good news of the gospel, is not told to wait until his […]

Children Thrive on Hope

Children are just like their parents, they require hope to thrive. Perhaps the greatest enemy of hope is performance. Performance is also the great enemy of the gospel. To take this progression one additional step; performance is the great enemy of your children. This statement appears to raise a contradiction. If children are to obey their parents, how can we not talk about performance? This is exactly the right question! The answer may surprise you. To be distinctly biblical, obedience must be connected to hope, not to performance. Too often, the message children receive about obedience is this: “Obey or face the consequences.” This should not be the theme of biblical obedience. Ephesians 6:1-3 is a wonderful passage to encourage children […]