Helping Children Evaluate Themselves by Tedd & Margy Tripp Proverbs 9 will help our children evaluate themselves, “Whoever corrects a mocker invites insult; whoever rebukes a wicked man incurs abuse. Do not rebuke a mocker or he will hate you; rebuke a wise man and he will love you. Instruct a wise man and he will be wiser still; teach a righteous man and he will add to his learning” (Prov. 9:7–9). We used this passage to help our children evaluate their responses to parental authority. I would draw a stick figure of myself. I would ask, “What four words in this passage describe the communication of the parent?” They would search the passage and discover these four words, “Correct, […]
Monthly Archives: January 2015
20 posts
Parents, it is your choice. You can be your child’s adversary or you can be his refuge. Someone might be thinking, “Wait a minute, my teenager is the adversary, not me. And if he wants refuge, then he needs to start acting like he wants that!” As a father of five children, I hear you. But stay with me. Teenage life can be challenging. The impact of a Godless culture, education that is rooted in pragmatism, sexual immorality being peddled as tolerance and bodies morphing into young adults is a lot to face. Add to this the struggles of their own sins and the teenage years can be troubling ones. Parents, here is what must not be missed; the Christian […]
Many in western culture are obsessed with tomorrow. People assume that tomorrow will come. There is a comfort that comes from thinking that tomorrow is another day. The problem is that there is no guarantee that tomorrow will come for you, for your children, for your country, for your planet. Your well-being for today and the arrival of tomorrow is connected to the purpose and plan of God. Here is what Jesus says: Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to your life? Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest? (Luke 12:25-26) Notice Jesus says we are unable to do a very little thing like adding an hour to […]
Don’t lose perspective! There is only one source of good. There is only One who is worthy of praise! Praise the Lord God, the God of Israel, who alone does such wonderful things. Praise his glorious name forever! Let the whole earth be filled with his glory. Amen and amen! Psalm 72:18-19
Too often we cover our backsides with intentions. We intend to love, so we tend to ignore the impact of our actions. For example: “I am so sorry I got angry with you. It is just that I love you so much and I know that what you did will be bad for you. I just needed to get your attention right away.” Hint, your child is not buying this. A decision was made to replace love with anger. But, you may protest, that was not my intention! However, intentions are not safe guides unless they are informed by Scripture. This is why the Bible does not define love by a state of mind or by intent. Love is defined […]
Parents, when your children sin and they are not respectful to you, how do you want to respond? If you make the matter primarily a personal offense against yourself and respond in anger and frustration, you will do what any ordinary parent might do. You might get angry at them. You might just let your children know how painful this is for you. You might yell. You might walk around in silent pain. You might tell your kids they have gone too far this time. All these responses would be ordinary and totally understandable. In this way you would associate God with the ordinary actions of ordinary people. When you give in to anger, resentment or self-pity at your children’s […]
The Danger of Being a Fool by Tedd Tripp The alternative to teaching our children biblical hierarchy is to allow them to be autonomous self-directed people. The Bible has a term for such a person: the fool. “The fool says in his heart, ‘There is no God’” (Ps. 14:1). The fool says, “I will be my own self-directed person; no one will tell me what to do. I will do what I want to do, when I want to do it. I will be ruled by nothing other than my own whim.” This is not freedom; it is foolishness. To live in God’s world as though there is no God is the height of folly. A later chapter will be […]
Social networking is a big part of modern life. It is necessary to ask what biblical principles intersect with 21st century electronic information transfer. You have to admit it is a stretch to think of Paul texting Timothy to bring him the parchments so that he can post them on his blog. Social networking was virtually unknown a decade ago. Yes, email allowed us to correspond quickly, but as a form of communication it was not much different than regular mail. Today our lives, as well as our children’s lives, are dominated by Internet-enabled communities. Emoticons form a modern shorthand that allows for an instant transmission of moods, thoughts and plans across cities, states and continents. People write on electronic […]
2015 will be a challenging year for you and your family. Belief in the Bible is seen as extremism. Belief in the necessity of a relationship with Christ is seen as intolerance. Belief in a biblical view of marriage is seen as hatred. This is the focus of our culture,, our government, our educational system. More than ever God’s people need discernment. Here is one definition of discernment: Discernment is seeing the difference between good and bad – or good and best – so I know what to do to please God. (from Get Wisdom! by Ruth Younts) Here is a prayer for discernment to teach to your children and to yourself. Dear Lord, sin makes me so foolish and […]
What hope does a country have that has no fear of God? The first option is to repent of her sins before the Lord of heaven and earth. There is no Plan B. Unrepentant sin leads to arrogance and self-importance. Ancient Nineveh was considered an important city. It was large and proud. And like today, obeying God was an outdated joke. The city was evil. Jonah’s message was simple, “In forty days, Nineveh will be overthrown.” When the King of Nineveh was confronted by God’s prophet, he did something extraordinary – he repented! He rose from his throne, took off his royal robes, covered himself with sackcloth and sat down in the dust. Then he issued a proclamation: By the […]