Thank you for the excellent questions you sent in response to the Half-way Mark post. We will examine each of them in the coming weeks. Please continue to pray for the blog and for the ministry of Shepherd Press. Consider Psalm 78 as it connects to our current series on the Word is Your Life. O my people, hear my teaching; listen to the words of my mouth. 2 I will open my mouth in parables, I will utter hidden things, things from of old- 3 what we have heard and known, what our fathers have told us. 4 We will not hide them from their children; we will tell the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the LORD, his […]
Parenting
597 posts
He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your fathers had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD. Deuteronomy 8:3 All of us can agree that the challenges of biblical parenting can at times appear overwhelming. Sometimes the responsibilities of parenting can loom so large as to distract us from the promises of God to care for us and the promise that the Scripture provides all that is needed for life and godliness. God calls upon us to be strong and courageous as we take up the challenge of parenting. It is this vital […]
How can a young man keep his way pure? By living according to your word. I seek you with all my heart; do not let me stray from your commands. I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you. Psalm 119:9-11 Our children need to be protected by God’s word when they sleep. We know this, at least in part, because Scripture promises it will offer protection while one is sleeping. By implication, those who do not seek the protection the Scriptures offer are vulnerable to spiritual attack during sleep. The question at the end of the last post was How do children acquire this protection? The verses above, from Psalm […]
Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. Ephesians 6:1 It seems that there is actually one more post in this series of communicating the Gospel to your children. Heather, one of our readers, raised an important question about the last post. Here is her comment: You mention that "Heather has been given only one option." Is it ever appropriate to offer a choice? For instance, "Honey, you can either give the train to your brother and find another toy, or you can play with the train with him." Or should these options be explained at a point when there is “not” a squabble going on (i.e. "here are some ways you can share and act kindly […]
The wise in heart are called discerning, and pleasant words promote instruction. — Proverbs 16:21 For wisdom will enter your heart, and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul. —Proverbs 2:10 If you have been following this series of posts on communicating the Gospel to your children, you will recall that we started the practical application by looking at teenagers and then working backwards. Now we are at the age of young children and toddlers, ages 0 to 5. How do you communicate the goodness of God to these little ones? While there are several biblical themes that could be used I am focusing on two Proverbs, the ones listed at the beginning of this post. Remember the premise for […]
The wise in heart are called discerning, and pleasant words promote instruction. Proverbs 16:21 If the wisdom of God has entered your heart then you can say that God has been good to you. This pleasantness of heart should result in pleasant words from your mouth. What do I mean by pleasant words? I’m not talking about careful, manipulative words that play polite “control” games with others. No, pleasant words should illustrate the genuine joy and pleasure that results from experiencing the power of the Gospel in your life. You and I deserve the torment of hell, but through gospel grace we receive the wonderful mercy of God. This reality must be translated into the language that you speak […]
10 For wisdom will enter your heart, and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul. Proverbs 2:10 Psalm 13 is a tender reminder that God has been good to us. As parents, we long for our children to know his goodness firsthand. How does that happen? This, of course, is the big question—but the starting point is less complicated than you might think. Allow me to ask a question from Psalm 13. Do you believe that God has been good to you?
…just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many. Matthew 20:28 Fairness is an unchallenged Goliath in the army of humanism. The modern days soldiers of humanism see the “fair” treatment of humans as an inalienable right of individuals, to the exclusion of the old notion that there is a God to whom man is accountable. The Humanist Manifesto mockingly scorns such notions. (See the Humanist Manifesto.) John Dewey and other important educational thinkers and psychologists had no use for the idea of obedience to a God who is no longer needed by an enlightened culture. These humanist thinkers have dominated educational philosophy for […]
So the last will be first, and the first will be last. Matthew 20:16 The modern concept of fairness is rooted in achieving justice. Biblically, however, both fairness and justice must be defined as doing things God’s way. From a Christian perspective, the only way to be fair is to apply God’s word accurately to a given situation. Is this the same thing as making sure each child gets the same number of minutes to play with a toy, or making sure that each child has the same number of toys to play with? Not really. In the last post we looked at the parable of the workers in the vineyard to gain a biblical perspective on the concept of […]
So the last will be first, and the first will be last. Matthew 20:16 In a recent post I identified fairness as a Goliath of humanism. The Goliath metaphor represents an idea or a practice so culturally accepted that it becomes a champion of conventional wisdom, even while standing in opposition to the truth of Scripture. So this metaphor represents concepts that are seemingly unchallengeable. There are several such modern day champions which challenge biblical truth. Humanism is the modern source of these champions, though the issues they represent are as old as sin. In the days ahead we will look at several of these humanist champions, these modern-day Goliaths. Let’s begin with fairness.