Tuesday, February 7, 2012
It is Ok to Be Like A Child
Yes, I did just tell you that it is ok to be like a child, but do not run way with just that thought; let me explain why. Every child has wanted to grow up; they have always wanted the next thing. Even I find that I want the next thing; I cannot wait to get my driver’s license. One thing that children are really great at, though, that somehow they always manage to lose is their willingness to just do it. You ask a child of about the age of two to go get you a cup of water, he is just going to do it no questions asked, but the older that he gets, the more he loses this. I have two nephews and two nieces. Their ages range from three weeks to seven years. I am going to go through and point out how each one is at a different stage of growing up and how this affects the way they behave and what this looks like in our walk with Christ.
Wesley is seven years old and very smart. He is to that age where learning is hard work because math is no longer 2 + 2 =4. As for reading, it is no longer “ball, dog, and cat.” He is growing up which means that learning is no longer as easy as he would like. Also, it is no longer, “I am just going to go empty the dish washer for you because you asked me to. I will empty it, though, if you tell me what I get out of doing the work for you.” Wesley is getting older. He is getting to the point that he can handle doing bigger amounts of work, but he is also to the age where more work does not sound very fun. And if you ask Wesley to do something that he thinks is kind of weird, he will ask you why you are having him do it.
You must be thinking by now, how does this tie into our walk with Christ? Some of us have been Christians ever since we were five (or around that). When you get saved at this age, you will grow in your walk with Christ. In our process of growing up, we get to the point where doing the work that God has called us to is no longer fun. We have to be bribed into doing the work; we are always looking at “what I will get out of it.” Or on the other hand, when Christ asks us to do something, we just have to ask why. Why am I going to church today? Why am I going out evangelizing with my church? Why am I obeying my mother and father? The list could go on and on. We all know that grownups do not mind answering a few whys, but after about the third time it gets really old. Have you ever thought that God might like not having all of his orders questioned? Also, when it comes to our learning being harder, look at that as a good thing. It means that God thinks we are ready to learn the next thing and do the harder work.
Abi is five years old and loves to dance. She enjoys doing her school because it is not too hard and it is still in the fun stage of coloring and cutting things out. Work is also not the most horrible thing in the world, but more often than not, she will get distracted from what she really should be doing or the job will look like it is done, but open the door to the closet and you will find surprises. One thing that does happen every once in a while is when someone other than Mommy or Daddy tells her to do something, she will give you the famous, “your not in charge of me,” even though you really are. Some of us are at the stage in our walk with Christ where we do not mind doing the stuff that God tells us to do. Going to church has not become a boring thing yet, and if someone calls on us to teach the Sunday school class, we do not mind that either. And the trials in our life have not yet gotten to the point where we feel overwhelmed by them because God is right there helping us every step of the way. But we do still have problems. When God works through other people like our mother or father, youth pastor, or a teacher, we do a horrible job responding to them. I am sorry to say that God works through other authorities than Himself and it is our job to say yes no matter what. Getting the job done all the way can be a really hard thing and sometimes it is easier to just throw everything into a closet. But doing the jobs all the way is a big deal to God. “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, so that you through His poverty might become rich. I give my opinion in this matter, for this is to your advantage, who were the first to begin a year ago not only to do this, but also to desire to do it. But now finish doing it also, so that just as there was the readiness to desire it, so there may be also the completion of it by your ability.” 2 Cor 8:9-11.
Miles is two weeks old and sleeps a lot. Now, as we all know, this child cannot do school yet or help out around the house. The only thing that he really does is bring joy and make messes. Even if Miles wanted to do something good, he cannot because his body does not know how. At this age, though, Miles is growing as fast as his little body knows how. As babies in Christ, there is not a whole lot we can do but grow. That is what all of our energy should be poured into.
Faith is two years old. I saved her for last because I want to dwell on the character that she has the most. Faith is not yet at the age where school is part of her life, but learning is something she does every minute of every day. Learning to talk and use eating utensils are not easy things, neither are they something that you only work on for a few minutes a day. This little girl is also at the stage where helping is really fun. If you ask her if she wants to help, she will say “Yahhh” and dive right in. One thing she has not learned is how to ask questions, so you will never hear her ask why we are doing what we are doing. She simply trusts that you have it under control. She may not be able to handle much yet in her life, and if you want her to do something, you do have to tell her more than once what you want her to do, but everything is very cut and dried to her. With our walk with Christ, we need to be always learning; it cannot be something that we set aside time for; it is what our life is to be about. Most people think that the only time you need to learn about Christ is when you go to church or some event like that. Well, they are wrong. Learning about God is a twenty-four/seven thing. Doing God’s will is something that is extremely fun to you now because it is not old, and doing anything with God’s people is a joy to you. Doing any thing that God asks you to do is just part of life. As far as being told more than once what God wants us to do, I am sorry if this is not a happy thought, but you can see this concept all throughout the Bible. If God wants us to do something, He will tell us more than once what He wants us to do. Everything to Faith is fun and that is the way it should be with our walk in Christ. Everything that God asks us to do is for our good and we should take joy in it.
So, as far as being like a child goes, I do not mean that you can act like a child in the body, but in spirit you can. There are four different types of kid you can be. You may not fit into just one type; you may be a mix of a few of them. The point that I am making is that children have amazing amounts of faith and trust in the people watching over them. I have also showed you how as you grow up you start to lose some of your faith in the people that are taking care of you. When you look at a new Christian, they have amazing amounts of faith in their Father, but as time passes, that faith starts to die away. Some people say that their walk with God is getting stronger, but if I start to question everything that God asks of me, I would not call that a better relationship.
It is no mistake that we are called children of God. We are to obey Him in every way with out question. We spend too much time trying to figure out what the next step should be when really what we should be doing is running towards the goal that God has given us. There is a saying that you only feel the rocks and sticks on your feet when you are walking, but when you run you do not notice them at all.
“And they were bringing children to Him so that He might touch them; but the disciples rebuked them. But when Jesus saw this, He was indignant and said to them, "Permit the children to come to Me; do not hinder them; for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.” Mark 10:13-15.
Project: Have a childlike faith. When someone that is an authority over you asks you to do something, do not ask them why you are doing it, just do it. When God asks you to do something, have faith that He will be there to take you by the hand and pull you along.
Follow-up: Well, I must say that I have not gotten 100% on this one. Maybe it is not my calling to be good at making my bed every day. Anyways, for those of you that are doing the 40 day project, I am sure that you are overjoyed to hear that 40 days are not over yet... but you only have 10days left. Yeah! Keep in there. I am sure you are doing great. And if you have not done well in your projects that does not mean that you get to stop trying. Keep at it and finish what you start.
Monday, January 9, 2012
Habits
A new year is upon us, ‘tis the season to make resolutions. All my life I have been taught that the new year is a good time to start new projects. As worthy as my goals may have been, the project never lasted very long. I always would work really hard on them for the first few days, but after that, life always went back to being the same. So for about the last four years, I have had pretty much they exact same resolutions as the year before, but every year I would say, “I am going to do it this time; I will try much harder.”
Let me ask you a question. Why are new year’s resolutions so advertised in the Christian society and the world’s society? The only reason that I could come up with was that they must be important for them to have so much emphasis. I would hope that the things that end up on your new year’s resolutions list are all to make yourself and the world better, so if you had to sum up what you are trying to do in the new year you could probably say you are trying to “do good” with your life. God thinks that doing good is a big deal because I typed “do good” into a Bible concordance and I got 29 different matches. By no means do good acts earn favor in the sight of God or necessarily make you a better Christian. If you are thinking, “then why am I even working on new year’s resolutions?” or even if you are not thinking that, I am going to tell you. We are to be like Christ. Philippians 2:1,2-- Be Like Christ; Therefore if there is any encouragement in Christ, if there is any consolation of love, if there is any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and compassion, 2 make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose.
After these two verses there is a long list of things that we are to be and not be. There is no way that we can better ourselves in the sight of God, but that does not mean that we can walk way from the plans that God has made for us, and yes, those plans include making good habits and doing good.
Some people have said that habits are what make the man. If a habit is all you need to be known as a good man, then how much better off would you be if you had habits that were built around the Lord? A very wise man said that it takes 40 days to make a habit but it only takes one to tear it down. Another wise man once said that anything that is honorable is hard to make into a habit, but anything that is bad is addicting. It is so much easier to play computer games than to do school, but we all know which one has more value.
I am sure all of you have a small list in mind of things that you would like to work on this year. If not, ask God if there is something. I for one am going to be working on the project that I have had for the last 3 years-- making good habits, yes, that is it. For a better part of my life, I have never been good at making my bed every morning or always putting away the lunch stuff that I get out, or even brushing my teeth every night. (I know that a lot of you are really grossed out right now; for the record, I only miss a night about once every month.) I have never been good at doing the small things. Some of you may have projects like mine; others of you may have really big ambitious projects and there is nothing wrong with a big goal. The point is that you have one.
I wish that I had one hard and fast rule that would grant the success of your project, but I do not. The only advice I can give you is get accountability and just do it. We always have a way of putting things off, but when you think of it, that is the time to do it. Friends will always be there to help you out, or even family will be there to make sure you feel bad when you don’t get it done. It does not really matter who you get as long as you know that they will keep you in line.
Project: Get accountability for my goals, outline what my goals look like, and do them every day no matter what.
Like always, I would very much like for you to do this project with me. It is so much more fun when you know that other people are doing it with you. If you would like for me to keep you accountable, I can do that too. What ever you need (besides money), I would like to help you out.
This project is going to be a 40 day project, just so you know.
Eccl 3:12-15 “I know that there is nothing better for them than to rejoice and to do good in one's lifetime; 13 moreover, that every man who eats and drinks sees good in all his labor--it is the gift of God. 14 I know that everything God does will remain forever; there is nothing to add to it and there is nothing to take from it, for God has so worked that men should fear Him. 15 That which is has been already and that which will be has already been, for God seeks what has passed by.”
Follow up: This is another one of those projects that is hard for me to tell you what happened. God is good though and I really do think that he is doing a good work in my life. I feel him being more active in my life.
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
Everything You Could Ever Want
Everything You Could Ever Want
I was talking with a group of girlfriends about how shallow it was to enjoy physical qualities in your husband. One girl thought me rather out of place, because I thought that it was ok to want a husband that was attractive to you. I was making a point based off of the verse John 15:7:"If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.” As easy as it was for me to make my point with this verse, that is not what I want to talk about today. Later on I was thinking about my views on the subject, and God pointed something out to me. If I am truly walking with God, then what are the desires of my heart going to be? It says here “Delight yourself in the Lord; and He will give you the desires of your heart.” Psalm 37:4. If God abides in me and I am delighting myself in Him, the only wish that I should have would be to serve him. (This is in light of the fact that I by some amazing power have been able to put my flesh to death.)
God has been knocking on the doors of my heart and asking me what I really want out of life. How do I want to serve and glorify him? Even more important, how much of my life am I willing to give over to him? What if that tall, dark, and handsome man with plenty of muscle to spare never comes along, will I still serve God with all that is within me?
Through the course of our lives we have a way of storing up things that are important to us and never letting them go. For girls, it is the love of a man. For boys, it is showing whose boss. We will go through anything to get a hold of these items and never let go. It is like walking along a beach collecting pebbles. We think that these pebbles are the most valuable thing in the world, and we are the ones that found them: they are ours and no one can take them away. Then one day a man comes walking along our beach and notices that we have something in our hand; he bends down so that he is at our eye level, and softly asks us “What is in your hand?” At first we do not want to answer him but somewhere deep down inside of us we feel that we should. The answer forces its way across our lips in half of a whisper:
“Pebbles Sir. I found them on the beach and they are mine." “What value could a hand full of pebbles be to such a young little person?” the man asks with a coaxing tone.
“ None whatsoever to you, sir, but they are of the utmost value to me, sir.” Our little voice is becoming defensive. We do not like this man asking questions.
“Somehow, my little friend, I have a feeling that these little stones are going to cause more harm then they are worth. Look at the space they already take up; there is no room in your little hand for anything else. What if some one wanted to give you something of greater value? How would you hold onto your rocks and receive the gift at the same time?” Pulling our hand away, we answer the man with our civility dying.
“My dear Sir, I am not sure I can see your point; you may not be able to see the value that these rocks, as you called them, possess for me. As far as the gift is concerned, I do not want it; no gift that you or any one else would give could ever amount to the importance of my pebbles.”
“I would not be so sure of that, my dear fellow, because you see you have not seen what is in my hand that I am ready to give to you.” The man also pulls his hand away and for just a moment we are extremely curious and our curiosity pops out of our mouth before we have time to think better of it.
“ What might you have in your hand then, dear sir, that I might want?
“ Oh no, my dear friend, not so fast. You see I can not give you what is in my hand till you open yours and let me take out each and every one of your pebbles.”
“Every last pebble? NO! You can’t, I will not let you! They are mine and you are not going to get them. I have worked hard to find them and clean them up till their smooth coat is brilliantly arrayed.” For fear of this man and what he might do we turn our whole body away so that we have to look over our shoulder to see the man. The man stands up and puts his hand in the pocket of his coat.
“ It is your loss. You see, I have more of the gift that is in my hand than I know what to do with. I wanted to simply give it way to people that I know could use it more then I.” The sad inflection that accompanied these words was so powerful that somehow we found ourselves asking another question without thinking.
“ If you do not mind me asking Sir, what is your gift?” We felt so very badly for the man that our body turned its self a little toward the man.
“ My dear fellow, if I could answer you, I would. The only thing that I can tell you is that you will never want for anything ever again. All of your deepest wishes will come true, and you will have a friends that will never leave you because of them.” The man’s face beams with hope and excitement. The power of whatever it is that he holds must be great. Our body had worked its way all the way back around so that we are fully facing the man but our hand is hiding behind our back.
“ I am just not sure; you speak of such great things, but how am I to know that they are true?”
“ Faith.” With that one word I held out my hand. The power to open it left me, though, so the man gently pried it open. I know that by no means could he have taken more care to open my hand but even with all the care in the world it still hurt. My treasures were now on display for all the world to see. With two fingers the man picked up one pebble at a time and cast it into the sea never to be found again. Every time he took one of those precious stones out of my hand I felt like I had just lost part of my life. Finally the very last pebble rest on my hand. I wanted to curl my tiny fingers around that last possession of mine but the man grabbed it before I was able to. My pain was almost unbearable; how could anything be worth this much pain? How could anyone in their right mind cause this much pain? My thoughts were nowhere near civil. All the evil things that I could possible think of a person were running around in my mind. My anger burned within me for what seemed like an eternity, but once I saw the man open his other hand my fury vanished. I almost had to close my eyes because the beauty of the gift was so overwhelming. He was right, the gift that he gave me was so much better than I could have ever imagined it was worth all the pain that it cost me; in fact, all the worries and struggles I had over my pebbles was gone now. My mind thought of nothing else but the gift that was bestowed on me. Not only did the man give me back one priceless gem for each of my pebbles, but he filled my other hand with these sparkling stones. Everything that the man had said came true. Even the part about a friend that would never leave, because the man that gave me this gift is also my friend: never, I am happy to say, to be removed.
This is not just a story that sounds good; it is our story. God has gifts for you that are beyond worth, but in our selfish being we do not accept these gifts, because we think that what we have now is just fine. We are never content until God says it is time to change, but when God comes in with his changes, we do not want them, and all of a sudden we are content again. Jim Elliot once said “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he can not lose.” Some of you might be asking your self what this looks like. For every one of you this will look different, but for me, God has asked me to lay every thing down: whether that be my free time, the music I listen to, the movies I watch, or the hope of getting married. I am by no means an authority on this matter. I have only just started this project myself, and I will tell you now that it is hard. Satan will fight you every step of the way because he knows how powerful you will be with the spirit of God dwelling in every part of your life.
Project: Go through all the things that I value in my life and ask God to take control of them. Please let me know if you decide to do this project too; I would like to lift you up in prayer before God, and if you want account ability I can do that too.
Follow Up: I really do not have any follow up for my last blog, because there was not really project, but I can tell you this: I have grown so much in the past week in my walk with the Lord that I am overwhelmed by his grace.
I was talking with a group of girlfriends about how shallow it was to enjoy physical qualities in your husband. One girl thought me rather out of place, because I thought that it was ok to want a husband that was attractive to you. I was making a point based off of the verse John 15:7:"If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.” As easy as it was for me to make my point with this verse, that is not what I want to talk about today. Later on I was thinking about my views on the subject, and God pointed something out to me. If I am truly walking with God, then what are the desires of my heart going to be? It says here “Delight yourself in the Lord; and He will give you the desires of your heart.” Psalm 37:4. If God abides in me and I am delighting myself in Him, the only wish that I should have would be to serve him. (This is in light of the fact that I by some amazing power have been able to put my flesh to death.)
God has been knocking on the doors of my heart and asking me what I really want out of life. How do I want to serve and glorify him? Even more important, how much of my life am I willing to give over to him? What if that tall, dark, and handsome man with plenty of muscle to spare never comes along, will I still serve God with all that is within me?
Through the course of our lives we have a way of storing up things that are important to us and never letting them go. For girls, it is the love of a man. For boys, it is showing whose boss. We will go through anything to get a hold of these items and never let go. It is like walking along a beach collecting pebbles. We think that these pebbles are the most valuable thing in the world, and we are the ones that found them: they are ours and no one can take them away. Then one day a man comes walking along our beach and notices that we have something in our hand; he bends down so that he is at our eye level, and softly asks us “What is in your hand?” At first we do not want to answer him but somewhere deep down inside of us we feel that we should. The answer forces its way across our lips in half of a whisper:
“Pebbles Sir. I found them on the beach and they are mine." “What value could a hand full of pebbles be to such a young little person?” the man asks with a coaxing tone.
“ None whatsoever to you, sir, but they are of the utmost value to me, sir.” Our little voice is becoming defensive. We do not like this man asking questions.
“Somehow, my little friend, I have a feeling that these little stones are going to cause more harm then they are worth. Look at the space they already take up; there is no room in your little hand for anything else. What if some one wanted to give you something of greater value? How would you hold onto your rocks and receive the gift at the same time?” Pulling our hand away, we answer the man with our civility dying.
“My dear Sir, I am not sure I can see your point; you may not be able to see the value that these rocks, as you called them, possess for me. As far as the gift is concerned, I do not want it; no gift that you or any one else would give could ever amount to the importance of my pebbles.”
“I would not be so sure of that, my dear fellow, because you see you have not seen what is in my hand that I am ready to give to you.” The man also pulls his hand away and for just a moment we are extremely curious and our curiosity pops out of our mouth before we have time to think better of it.
“ What might you have in your hand then, dear sir, that I might want?
“ Oh no, my dear friend, not so fast. You see I can not give you what is in my hand till you open yours and let me take out each and every one of your pebbles.”
“Every last pebble? NO! You can’t, I will not let you! They are mine and you are not going to get them. I have worked hard to find them and clean them up till their smooth coat is brilliantly arrayed.” For fear of this man and what he might do we turn our whole body away so that we have to look over our shoulder to see the man. The man stands up and puts his hand in the pocket of his coat.
“ It is your loss. You see, I have more of the gift that is in my hand than I know what to do with. I wanted to simply give it way to people that I know could use it more then I.” The sad inflection that accompanied these words was so powerful that somehow we found ourselves asking another question without thinking.
“ If you do not mind me asking Sir, what is your gift?” We felt so very badly for the man that our body turned its self a little toward the man.
“ My dear fellow, if I could answer you, I would. The only thing that I can tell you is that you will never want for anything ever again. All of your deepest wishes will come true, and you will have a friends that will never leave you because of them.” The man’s face beams with hope and excitement. The power of whatever it is that he holds must be great. Our body had worked its way all the way back around so that we are fully facing the man but our hand is hiding behind our back.
“ I am just not sure; you speak of such great things, but how am I to know that they are true?”
“ Faith.” With that one word I held out my hand. The power to open it left me, though, so the man gently pried it open. I know that by no means could he have taken more care to open my hand but even with all the care in the world it still hurt. My treasures were now on display for all the world to see. With two fingers the man picked up one pebble at a time and cast it into the sea never to be found again. Every time he took one of those precious stones out of my hand I felt like I had just lost part of my life. Finally the very last pebble rest on my hand. I wanted to curl my tiny fingers around that last possession of mine but the man grabbed it before I was able to. My pain was almost unbearable; how could anything be worth this much pain? How could anyone in their right mind cause this much pain? My thoughts were nowhere near civil. All the evil things that I could possible think of a person were running around in my mind. My anger burned within me for what seemed like an eternity, but once I saw the man open his other hand my fury vanished. I almost had to close my eyes because the beauty of the gift was so overwhelming. He was right, the gift that he gave me was so much better than I could have ever imagined it was worth all the pain that it cost me; in fact, all the worries and struggles I had over my pebbles was gone now. My mind thought of nothing else but the gift that was bestowed on me. Not only did the man give me back one priceless gem for each of my pebbles, but he filled my other hand with these sparkling stones. Everything that the man had said came true. Even the part about a friend that would never leave, because the man that gave me this gift is also my friend: never, I am happy to say, to be removed.
This is not just a story that sounds good; it is our story. God has gifts for you that are beyond worth, but in our selfish being we do not accept these gifts, because we think that what we have now is just fine. We are never content until God says it is time to change, but when God comes in with his changes, we do not want them, and all of a sudden we are content again. Jim Elliot once said “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he can not lose.” Some of you might be asking your self what this looks like. For every one of you this will look different, but for me, God has asked me to lay every thing down: whether that be my free time, the music I listen to, the movies I watch, or the hope of getting married. I am by no means an authority on this matter. I have only just started this project myself, and I will tell you now that it is hard. Satan will fight you every step of the way because he knows how powerful you will be with the spirit of God dwelling in every part of your life.
Project: Go through all the things that I value in my life and ask God to take control of them. Please let me know if you decide to do this project too; I would like to lift you up in prayer before God, and if you want account ability I can do that too.
Follow Up: I really do not have any follow up for my last blog, because there was not really project, but I can tell you this: I have grown so much in the past week in my walk with the Lord that I am overwhelmed by his grace.
Monday, November 7, 2011
Are Our Parents as Dumb as We Think They Are?
Warning: this blog has very strong undercurrents that our parents do know what they are talking about. If you do not agree with the rules your parents have for you, this blog may cause offense.
I have been walking through a hallway when I have overheard people of all ages complain about their parents. I have also overheard so many arguments between teens and their parents on the phone. Now, most of you may not be aware of the tone of voice you are using or even the words that you are using. I know that when I have been talking to my parents the message that I am sending through my voice and through my body are not always quite what I wanted to come. But more often than not, we want them to know how mad and frustrated we are with them. No matter what the case may be, we are still responsible for our actions and our words, and even more so because we are commanded to honor our parents at least nine times in the Bible. All of you should know this, but what is the first commandment with a promise? "Honor thy father and mother; (which is the first commandment with promise;)" Eph.6:2. We have been raised with an expectation of rewards for our good works, which is a good thing, for even God gives rewards. "For He repays man according to his work, And makes man to find a reward according to his way". Job 34:11 You would think that out of all the rewards we could possible want, a long life would be at the top of the list.
So far I have been very cut and dry. As hard as this may be for some of you to believe, I have a hard time obeying my parents too. It seems that they have a rule for everything and that they are always making new ones, and some of their rules do not even make sense. In our minds our parents’ rules are kind of like the cautions and warnings on appliances, bottles, and everything else. Almost everything we buy has cautions and warning labels on them. Some of these cautions and warning tags can be really dumb and silly in our minds. For instance. "Do not use while sleeping" on a hair dryer. "Do not eat toner" on a toner cartridge for a laser printer. "Not intended for highway use" on a 13" wheel on a wheelbarrow. "Do not recharge, put in backward, or use." on a battery. "For use by trained personnel only" on can of air freshener. "Not for weight control" on a pack of breath savers. At times I look at my parents rules in the same way that I would look at these cautions. "They’re silly; they do not apply to me because I am smart enough to not let that happen." In all honesty, I have not obeyed all the caution and warning labels that I have come across for the simple reason that I did not think it applied to me. This is just like I have not always obeyed my parents’ rules because I did not think that they applied to the situation that I was in.
My family has a rule that on Saturday night we are to stop all movie watching, internet, and activities with friends by 7:30 p.m. Now, you have to understand that this is not a hard and fast rule, but there have been many times that I have thought to myself, "who will know if I get on FaceBook really quick, or who will know if my movie does not get done till 9:00?" My parents never knew and no harm was done right?... Wrong. God knew and lots of harm was done. I just broke one of God’s ten Commandments, I just let Satan convinced me into a lie, I just compromised my standards. And this is only the beginning of the list. We all know that one sin leads to another, and each time the compromise and lies get bigger.
Why do our parents give us so many rules and guidelines to live by? Because they love us. We have all heard that one before; most of us hear it almost every day of our lives. I am sorry to tell you that this simple reason is all we need to honor and obey them.
"For whom the LORD loves He chastens, And scourges every son whom He receives." 7 If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom a father does not chasten? 8 But if you are without chastening, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons. 9 Furthermore, we have had human fathers who corrected us, and we paid them respect. Shall we not much more readily be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live? 10 For they indeed for a few days chastened us as seemed best to them, but He for our profit, that we may be partakers of His holiness. 11 Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.) Heb 12:6-11.
We are at a hard age because our moms and dads are starting to give us more liberty. But no matter how much they give us, we will always want more. This is just where we have to trust them to know what is best. I think the biggest area that I hear the most trash talk about parents is in the realm of dating. I was sitting at a table eating lunch one day when I heard this young lady complaining about how her parents were unrealistic about the way dating works. "Things are not the way they were back in their day," was one of her main points. "They just do not understand the way John and my friendship works." (Random name) After harping on these two points for a long time, she started to complain about how ridiculous some of their rules were. For instance, she said that they could only hug for five seconds, and that they could not have a text conversation past 10:00 p.m. The list was full of lots of little things like this. If our parents have to lay down rules that are this detailed, we must need it.
The last point that I want to make is that they are not trying to take the fun out of life; even though that is what it seems like at times. Why do manufacturers put warning labels on things like blow dryers that say "do not use near or in water"? Is it because they want to take the fun out of us getting electrocuted? Do you think that one day they were working with their product and found out how fun it is to get a great big electric current surge through their body that could very well kill them, and after this discovery, they wanted to keep the fun all to themselves, so they put a label on all their products saying "do not use in our near water"? Do you feel robbed that you never got to experience the thrill of getting electrocuted? Do you feel robbed that you never got to experience the thrill of going to jail for a D.U.I ? Do you feel robbed because you never had to face charges of a car accident where someone got killed because you had more people in the car than you should have? The small little rules add up into very big decisions. There is story upon story of people that broke a rule or disobeyed their parents just once and it took their life. Our parents do not want bad things to happen to us, they want us to grow up as happy as we possibly can, even if that means they have to take the fun out of life for a little while. Even the silly rules are there for a reason. "
Project: I am not sure that I really have one for this other than to ask God to help you daily. If you want accountability or prayer, please feel free to talk to me. I know that blogs seem very impersonal, but that is not what I want my blog to be like. We all have a really hard time in this area; if I had to say there is one problem that all teens struggle with I would have to say that obeying our parents would be it. The only other word of advice that I will be taking myself is, talk to them. Their not as out of touch with reality as you think they are. They love it when we ask them questions our ask their advice. Satan will tell us that they do not have time or they do not want to hear our problems, but do not give into this lie. They want to know what is going on in your mind and heart. So I guess my project for this month is to be open with my mother and father.
Follow-up: Well, getting up at 7:00 every morning was really hard for a very long time. I was not good at it and there were a lot of mornings that I kind of fell back asleep, but now that the month is over, I think that I have finely got the hang of it.
My one day of fasting went really well. I was surprised how easy it was. There were those times where I found myself standing in the kitchen looking at food. But by God’s grace, I never gave in.
The witnessing to five people did not go well at all. I thought about doing it quite a few times, but I only ever got around to it once. But I am not going to give up; I will try again this month.
I have been walking through a hallway when I have overheard people of all ages complain about their parents. I have also overheard so many arguments between teens and their parents on the phone. Now, most of you may not be aware of the tone of voice you are using or even the words that you are using. I know that when I have been talking to my parents the message that I am sending through my voice and through my body are not always quite what I wanted to come. But more often than not, we want them to know how mad and frustrated we are with them. No matter what the case may be, we are still responsible for our actions and our words, and even more so because we are commanded to honor our parents at least nine times in the Bible. All of you should know this, but what is the first commandment with a promise? "Honor thy father and mother; (which is the first commandment with promise;)" Eph.6:2. We have been raised with an expectation of rewards for our good works, which is a good thing, for even God gives rewards. "For He repays man according to his work, And makes man to find a reward according to his way". Job 34:11 You would think that out of all the rewards we could possible want, a long life would be at the top of the list.
So far I have been very cut and dry. As hard as this may be for some of you to believe, I have a hard time obeying my parents too. It seems that they have a rule for everything and that they are always making new ones, and some of their rules do not even make sense. In our minds our parents’ rules are kind of like the cautions and warnings on appliances, bottles, and everything else. Almost everything we buy has cautions and warning labels on them. Some of these cautions and warning tags can be really dumb and silly in our minds. For instance. "Do not use while sleeping" on a hair dryer. "Do not eat toner" on a toner cartridge for a laser printer. "Not intended for highway use" on a 13" wheel on a wheelbarrow. "Do not recharge, put in backward, or use." on a battery. "For use by trained personnel only" on can of air freshener. "Not for weight control" on a pack of breath savers. At times I look at my parents rules in the same way that I would look at these cautions. "They’re silly; they do not apply to me because I am smart enough to not let that happen." In all honesty, I have not obeyed all the caution and warning labels that I have come across for the simple reason that I did not think it applied to me. This is just like I have not always obeyed my parents’ rules because I did not think that they applied to the situation that I was in.
My family has a rule that on Saturday night we are to stop all movie watching, internet, and activities with friends by 7:30 p.m. Now, you have to understand that this is not a hard and fast rule, but there have been many times that I have thought to myself, "who will know if I get on FaceBook really quick, or who will know if my movie does not get done till 9:00?" My parents never knew and no harm was done right?... Wrong. God knew and lots of harm was done. I just broke one of God’s ten Commandments, I just let Satan convinced me into a lie, I just compromised my standards. And this is only the beginning of the list. We all know that one sin leads to another, and each time the compromise and lies get bigger.
Why do our parents give us so many rules and guidelines to live by? Because they love us. We have all heard that one before; most of us hear it almost every day of our lives. I am sorry to tell you that this simple reason is all we need to honor and obey them.
We are at a hard age because our moms and dads are starting to give us more liberty. But no matter how much they give us, we will always want more. This is just where we have to trust them to know what is best. I think the biggest area that I hear the most trash talk about parents is in the realm of dating. I was sitting at a table eating lunch one day when I heard this young lady complaining about how her parents were unrealistic about the way dating works. "Things are not the way they were back in their day," was one of her main points. "They just do not understand the way John and my friendship works." (Random name) After harping on these two points for a long time, she started to complain about how ridiculous some of their rules were. For instance, she said that they could only hug for five seconds, and that they could not have a text conversation past 10:00 p.m. The list was full of lots of little things like this. If our parents have to lay down rules that are this detailed, we must need it.
The last point that I want to make is that they are not trying to take the fun out of life; even though that is what it seems like at times. Why do manufacturers put warning labels on things like blow dryers that say "do not use near or in water"? Is it because they want to take the fun out of us getting electrocuted? Do you think that one day they were working with their product and found out how fun it is to get a great big electric current surge through their body that could very well kill them, and after this discovery, they wanted to keep the fun all to themselves, so they put a label on all their products saying "do not use in our near water"? Do you feel robbed that you never got to experience the thrill of getting electrocuted? Do you feel robbed that you never got to experience the thrill of going to jail for a D.U.I ? Do you feel robbed because you never had to face charges of a car accident where someone got killed because you had more people in the car than you should have? The small little rules add up into very big decisions. There is story upon story of people that broke a rule or disobeyed their parents just once and it took their life. Our parents do not want bad things to happen to us, they want us to grow up as happy as we possibly can, even if that means they have to take the fun out of life for a little while. Even the silly rules are there for a reason. "
Project: I am not sure that I really have one for this other than to ask God to help you daily. If you want accountability or prayer, please feel free to talk to me. I know that blogs seem very impersonal, but that is not what I want my blog to be like. We all have a really hard time in this area; if I had to say there is one problem that all teens struggle with I would have to say that obeying our parents would be it. The only other word of advice that I will be taking myself is, talk to them. Their not as out of touch with reality as you think they are. They love it when we ask them questions our ask their advice. Satan will tell us that they do not have time or they do not want to hear our problems, but do not give into this lie. They want to know what is going on in your mind and heart. So I guess my project for this month is to be open with my mother and father.
Follow-up: Well, getting up at 7:00 every morning was really hard for a very long time. I was not good at it and there were a lot of mornings that I kind of fell back asleep, but now that the month is over, I think that I have finely got the hang of it.
My one day of fasting went really well. I was surprised how easy it was. There were those times where I found myself standing in the kitchen looking at food. But by God’s grace, I never gave in.
The witnessing to five people did not go well at all. I thought about doing it quite a few times, but I only ever got around to it once. But I am not going to give up; I will try again this month.
Thursday, October 6, 2011
For You or For God
For You or For God
How many times have you worked out so hard that you got sick to your stomach? How many times have you gone on a diet where you were hungry all the time but you would not eat? Or what about the time you had to get up early to go to a game? All of these questions have one thing that is in common: suffering. Getting sick to our stomach, starving, and getting up early are not what we call fun. Why do we do them then?
Everyone likes it when they make it to the end of their goal; we like it even more when our goal has a reward that we can see. The questions above have another similarity-- they hold a reward. Working out till you feel like you are going to die pays off because if you keep up the hard work, you will be in good shape. Dieting has the reward of keeping us thin and in shape. Getting up early to go to a game pays of in the hope that you might win a game. All of these activities are great things. I am not saying that you should not do them. Would you suffer to the same extent for the Lord though?
I find that when it comes to jumping out of bed at 4:30 a.m. to go skiing I do not mind suffering through the tiredness, but when it comes time for me to get up at 7:00 a.m. to spend time with God I just cannot do it. I would use some of the other topics to prove my point, but it would be too embarrassing to go there. I am always ready to beat my flesh up when I can taste the outcome, but ask me to do it for the glory of God and I will often stop short. I know in my heart that it would be a good thing to go out evangelizing, but it is such hard work and it gets so hot that the whole time I’m miserable. Funny thing is that nine times out of ten it is not as bad as I thought it was going to be. Satan will only let us remember the bad times.
As much as I do not like to say this because it is so convicting for me, we will not let our flesh suffer if it is suffering for God; when it comes to things of the world we have no hesitation. If we get up early in the morning to spend time with God, evangelize till we cannot stand any more, pray and fast so that we may know his will, even if it is extremely painful and miserable, it is for a good cause, for we will have our reward in heaven. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day. 2Tim. 4:7. Some day we will get that reward that we so greatly desire.
Project: I will take one day and set it aside for fasting and praying.
1.I will take one day and set it aside for fasting and praying.
2.I will get up early every morning to spend time with God (Except for Saturdays).
3. I will talk to five people about Christ and his plan for them.
Like I said last month, you are more than welcome to join me in these projects. They are there to help me grow, but if you would like to do them too, please feel free. (Mostly I am telling you this because I do not want to do them alone.) If you do decide to take one or even all three on, please let me know so that I can be praying for you.
Follow-Up: The part that you all have been waiting for! Well, I wish that I could say this went really well....but I cannot. I can count about five times that I actually went above the call of duty. Other than that, it did not cross my mind to do a job at 110%. I will get up early every morning to spend time with God (Except for Saturdays).
How many times have you worked out so hard that you got sick to your stomach? How many times have you gone on a diet where you were hungry all the time but you would not eat? Or what about the time you had to get up early to go to a game? All of these questions have one thing that is in common: suffering. Getting sick to our stomach, starving, and getting up early are not what we call fun. Why do we do them then?
Everyone likes it when they make it to the end of their goal; we like it even more when our goal has a reward that we can see. The questions above have another similarity-- they hold a reward. Working out till you feel like you are going to die pays off because if you keep up the hard work, you will be in good shape. Dieting has the reward of keeping us thin and in shape. Getting up early to go to a game pays of in the hope that you might win a game. All of these activities are great things. I am not saying that you should not do them. Would you suffer to the same extent for the Lord though?
I find that when it comes to jumping out of bed at 4:30 a.m. to go skiing I do not mind suffering through the tiredness, but when it comes time for me to get up at 7:00 a.m. to spend time with God I just cannot do it. I would use some of the other topics to prove my point, but it would be too embarrassing to go there. I am always ready to beat my flesh up when I can taste the outcome, but ask me to do it for the glory of God and I will often stop short. I know in my heart that it would be a good thing to go out evangelizing, but it is such hard work and it gets so hot that the whole time I’m miserable. Funny thing is that nine times out of ten it is not as bad as I thought it was going to be. Satan will only let us remember the bad times.
As much as I do not like to say this because it is so convicting for me, we will not let our flesh suffer if it is suffering for God; when it comes to things of the world we have no hesitation. If we get up early in the morning to spend time with God, evangelize till we cannot stand any more, pray and fast so that we may know his will, even if it is extremely painful and miserable, it is for a good cause, for we will have our reward in heaven. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day. 2Tim. 4:7. Some day we will get that reward that we so greatly desire.
Project: I will take one day and set it aside for fasting and praying.
1.I will take one day and set it aside for fasting and praying.
2.I will get up early every morning to spend time with God (Except for Saturdays).
3. I will talk to five people about Christ and his plan for them.
Like I said last month, you are more than welcome to join me in these projects. They are there to help me grow, but if you would like to do them too, please feel free. (Mostly I am telling you this because I do not want to do them alone.) If you do decide to take one or even all three on, please let me know so that I can be praying for you.
Follow-Up: The part that you all have been waiting for! Well, I wish that I could say this went really well....but I cannot. I can count about five times that I actually went above the call of duty. Other than that, it did not cross my mind to do a job at 110%. I will get up early every morning to spend time with God (Except for Saturdays).
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
All to the Glory of God
Every day we have the power to do great things for God’s glory, even if this power lies in doing the mundane things. For teenagers, this sometimes is doing our school. For grownups, this is cleaning the house and going to work. For the longest time I have thought that these things were nothing more than mundane, insignificant things, but over this summer God has shown me something.
We can all look back on what we would say when people asked us what we wanted to be when we grew up. The people asking the question thought it more of a joke because they knew that hardly ever do people grow up to do what they said they would as children. Why is this the case? As a child I wanted to be a missionary to China. After this choice for a career wore off, I thought it would be good if I did something with more affect on the world, so I set my sights on becoming the president. There is nothing wrong in these ambitions in and of themselves. Now that I am a teenager, I am having to look at what type of job I do want to have. Maybe it would be better if I just stayed home and cooked, that way I am ready for Prince Charming. Or should I get myself a job because one never knows when prince charming might come around? If I do get a job, should I look at one that will get me lots of money so that I can be secure in my old age? It should also be a job that I like because I would not want to get bored. These are some of the first things that run through our minds when it comes to picking a job.
These are reasonable questions to ask, but there is also something missing.... In what kind of job can I most effectively serve the Lord? This question does not mean that you have to become a missionary or a pastor. God needs good lawyers, doctors, businessmen, teachers, house wives, and any thing else you can think of. The point that I am a trying to make is, "Whatever you do, do all to the glory of God." I am sorry to say, teenagers, at this point in time all of us have been called to do school.
Getting a job that gives God the most glory takes a lot of thought and is a very large process. If that was the only thing that we had to do to serve God, life would be a whole lot easier. The verse "Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God." (1Cor.10:31) makes it very clear that even the small things count. The sad thing is that seeing our task as serving God even in the small things, does not make the task any easier.
As children we do not want to do the little things like cleaning our room, being nice to our sister, and obeying our parents. We cannot see the value in these tasks. As teenagers we do not see the value in school, a menial job, or in obeying our parents. I cannot speak for grownups, because I have not reached that part of my life, but if you are a grownup and you are reading this, I am sure you can fill in the blank. All the jobs that we call little in life are in fact important, because if we never learned to do the little things, God could not trust us with the big things.
Project: Each day I will ask God to show me his will for that day. I will also put a hundred and ten percent into every job that I do.
The purpose of the projects that will follow each blog are more to help me than you. They are goals that I have laid out for myself to better my walk with God. You are invited to do them with me and to keep me accountable on the result-- good or bad. Next month when I post there will be a subparagraph that will say followup which will be the results of my project.
We can all look back on what we would say when people asked us what we wanted to be when we grew up. The people asking the question thought it more of a joke because they knew that hardly ever do people grow up to do what they said they would as children. Why is this the case? As a child I wanted to be a missionary to China. After this choice for a career wore off, I thought it would be good if I did something with more affect on the world, so I set my sights on becoming the president. There is nothing wrong in these ambitions in and of themselves. Now that I am a teenager, I am having to look at what type of job I do want to have. Maybe it would be better if I just stayed home and cooked, that way I am ready for Prince Charming. Or should I get myself a job because one never knows when prince charming might come around? If I do get a job, should I look at one that will get me lots of money so that I can be secure in my old age? It should also be a job that I like because I would not want to get bored. These are some of the first things that run through our minds when it comes to picking a job.
These are reasonable questions to ask, but there is also something missing.... In what kind of job can I most effectively serve the Lord? This question does not mean that you have to become a missionary or a pastor. God needs good lawyers, doctors, businessmen, teachers, house wives, and any thing else you can think of. The point that I am a trying to make is, "Whatever you do, do all to the glory of God." I am sorry to say, teenagers, at this point in time all of us have been called to do school.
Getting a job that gives God the most glory takes a lot of thought and is a very large process. If that was the only thing that we had to do to serve God, life would be a whole lot easier. The verse "Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God." (1Cor.10:31) makes it very clear that even the small things count. The sad thing is that seeing our task as serving God even in the small things, does not make the task any easier.
As children we do not want to do the little things like cleaning our room, being nice to our sister, and obeying our parents. We cannot see the value in these tasks. As teenagers we do not see the value in school, a menial job, or in obeying our parents. I cannot speak for grownups, because I have not reached that part of my life, but if you are a grownup and you are reading this, I am sure you can fill in the blank. All the jobs that we call little in life are in fact important, because if we never learned to do the little things, God could not trust us with the big things.
Project: Each day I will ask God to show me his will for that day. I will also put a hundred and ten percent into every job that I do.
The purpose of the projects that will follow each blog are more to help me than you. They are goals that I have laid out for myself to better my walk with God. You are invited to do them with me and to keep me accountable on the result-- good or bad. Next month when I post there will be a subparagraph that will say followup which will be the results of my project.
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