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 […]
Monthly Archives: May 2013
35 posts
God, thank you for making repentance possible by sending Jesus to live and die in my place. Thank you that my sin doesn’t separate me from your love. But still, sometimes it is hard to repent, especially when I am stubborn and angry and I just want my own way. Please give me a repentant heart and help me to love you more. In Jesus name, Amen. Ruth Younts in Get Wisdom! Beautiful prayer for children. I find that it fits my own heart more than I would like to admit. The prayer strips away my clever defenses for my sin. Something to be said for child-like faith!
Confidence comes from not trusting yourself. That is not a popular thought but it is a true one. Having confidence in what you have been taught is different than trusting yourself. Your children, by God’s grace, have much too unlearn. A quick look at Galatians 5:19-21 should settle this issue. Proverbs 3:5&6 is a familiar passage that warns against trusting yourself and your own understanding. Verse six links trusting God with acknowledging God in every thing you do. Here are the verses: Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. The depth of the word […]
We all talk about what we are going to do tomorrow, or this weekend or next year. We talk about plans for our kids’ college. We provide music lessons, sports practices, and vocational training. We have college funds and plan for things we want them to have as adults. We provide school to prepare them for the road ahead. We encourage them to be healthy. All of this is good and necessary, with one condition. Do we also tell our kids that all that we are planning for has no more substance than the morning mist? Or do we give them the impression that we know what is going to happen tomorrow or the day after? Do we earnestly tell […]
This was a difficult post to write. The content is unpleasant. But if we love God and love our children we have no choice but to become salt and light to a dark nation. America has become obsessed with the pursuit of sexual lust. Our nation risks the death of teenagers in order to be rid God’s design for sex. If you have doubts about this, note today’s headlines. One popular news site today posted these two headline links in consecutive order: 1. FDA Approves Morning-After Pill For Over-the-Counter sales Age 15 and Up 2. Doctor: Gonorrhea super bug worse than Aids On the one hand the FDA has just approved a drug that will encourage sexual activity among teenagers. […]