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Belief is Precious: Guard it!

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The belief and trust of a child is are precious things. Christian parents, please be cautious. Traditions of Santa, or Elf on a Shelf, may be fun, but in reality, they are simply delusions. Lies. If we have to foster and encourage real belief in fictitious characters to create the wonder and excitement of Christmas, I wonder do we truly know the wonder and excitement of an infinite God putting on finite flesh to fulfill a requirement we could never achieve to gain a favor with God we could never earn? Christ, born of a virgin, Emmanuel, God with us, living a perfect life to fulfill the law on our behalf, taking the full wrath and judgment of God for our sins that we could never survive, conquering death that would see us eternally defeated, and rising again to grant us life eternal with the Father which, without The righteousness of Christ, we would never know. If THAT isn’t wonder enough, then nothing ever will be. Christ alone is more than enough! This may seem dreary or hard...
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A Prayer of Appreciation

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  A Prayer of Appreciation The Refreshment of Onesiphorus May the Lord grant mercy to the household of Onesiphorus, for he often refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chains, but when he arrived in Rome he searched for me earnestly and found me— may the Lord grant him to find mercy from the Lord on that day!—and you well know all the service he rendered at Ephesus. 2 Timothy 1:16-18 We've all done it. Admit it. You know you have. You plan a time to sit down and read your Bible, and you've carved out some time specifically for that purpose. However, you also know that you have X, Y, and Z to get done today, and before you realize it...you are speeding through your Bible reading thinking more about what has to be done NEXT rather than what you're doing right NOW. It's a shame, really. When we allow ourselves to simply "go through the motions" with our Bible reading, we may end us missing out on some amazing encouragement because God gave us the Bible...includi...
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When God says, "No."

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  Expectations It is entirely possible that you have been through difficult situations in your life. Actually...Jesus promises us that we will go through difficulties. "In the world you will have tribulation," says Jesus in John 16:33. In our mad dash to get to the part of the verse that says, "But take heart; I have overcome the world," we forget to stop and pause that Jesus' statement about having trouble in this world was not just a passing phrase. It was a promise...and it is a promise that we often neglect to remember. Paul's Thorn This passage in 2 Corinthians is probably one of the most well-known, and widely preached passages within Paul's epistles. And, like many, I also derive great encouragement from being reminded that God's grace is sufficient and that when I am most dependent on God, He has the most opportunity to work by His might through me. But do we remember something very pointed about this passage? God's answer to Paul's p...
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Deck the Halls with Truth

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Parents, here is some food for thought and heads up...it might be a bit tough to chew, but I felt compelled to share: How much time, money, and energy do we spend encouraging belief in the figures below?   Even if you spend the majority of time on the figure to the far right, it is very likely that most do spend a great amount of effort on the other four (some more than others, especially around Christmas).   But let’s look at the numbers: at some point, the child will “lose the magic” or “lose the innocence” of childhood, and begin to question and doubt the figures below. If you are a professing Christian, I’m sure you would hope that the child maintains faith in the figure to the far right. However...   As the “magic” is lost, the “innocence” is outgrown, 80% of their fantastic world has just been shown to be absolute hogwash, malarkey, balderdash: B.O.LO.G.N.A. It may be tough to read, but it’s true. If time has been given to encourage belief in the four ...
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Our Amazing Christmas

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You gotta have it to give it

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  I'm currently reading a book by Cotton Mather called "A Family Well Ordered". It's not a very big book, but it's taking me some time to read through it because I keep having to stop to make notes, and now to write about something I thought needed to be shared. "Parents, if you don't first become pious (devoted to your religious beliefs) yourselves, you will do nothing to purpose to make your children so. Except you do yourselves walk in the way of the Lord, you will be very careless about bringing your children to such a walk." Cotton Mather This was such a simple statement, but it was one that still took me back. There is a wide-sweeping assumption within the church that the spiritual well-being of children is the responsibility of trained professionals with fancy degrees from prestigious schools of faith. And, if that be the mindset, then the victory is simply getting them to church! Once at church, the children are released under the care of ot...
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If the Lord lets us live...

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  Read the following: James 4:13-16 / Psalm 3:5 / Psalm 68:19 The Lord sustained me from evening until morning (Psalm 3:5). The Lord bears me up daily (Psalm 68:19). I live today only because the Lord willed it to be so (James 4:16). Think about those statements. So much of our life is pulled into just a handful of basic thoughts or pursuits: commerce, leisure, and planning for the future. It's not an exhaustive set of categories, but most of the things I do throughout the day, or thoughts that enter my mind, typically fall within one of those three. Nothing wrong with any of them. We have to buy, sell and trade to get along in this world. We go to work, trading our time and effort for money which we will then, in turn, turn around and trade for the goods we need. It's just part of life the world over. We have things we enjoy doing, and enjoying things is not wrong! It's actually encouraged throughout the Bible ( See Ecclesiastes 2:24, 3:12-13, 3:22, 5:18, 8:15, 9:7-9, and ...
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If not you...who? If not now...when?

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  Recently, my 8-year-old daughter asked me a question: "What was the first job in the Bible?" She's always been a very thoughtful girl. Always asking questions. Good questions. It took me a moment, but after years of Bible study, I have learned that when I am looking for the "first" of anything, I always go back to where any story begins: the Beginning. I remembered that in the Garden of Eden, and after God had made Adam, He placed him in the Garden "to cultivate it and keep it (Genesis 2:15)." This was the first task ever assigned to anyone. So I told her. "Cultivate" is not a common word today, so I used the phrase, "to care for," in its place. She understood what it means to care for something. She was given a puppy for her 8th birthday and was well acquainted with the tasks associated with caring for this tiny creature. She was responsible for helping to take the puppy outside so it could go potty, as well as entertaining the p...
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Forward Thinking in a Backward World

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or The Power of Perceiving the Goal Philippians 3:12-16 Before we begin looking at this short text, I want to set the scene. In verses 1-8, Paul lays out everything about his earthly life in which he could "boast in the flesh". After his list is expressed, he immediately dismisses all of his bragging rights: "But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ." Paul's earthly accomplishments are the same kinds of things in which we would be tempted to boast. A religious family A family with deep ties to the community From the right family Upstanding and esteemed by others A regular Golden Child who has done everything right Sounds pretty good, rig ht? Well, it wasn't that great to Paul because he chucked it all to the wind for the sake of Jesus Christ. In fact, more than just disregarding his accomplishments, he lowers them to such a low regard that he equates them with manure. Yes...MANURE! The word "rubbish" that Paul uses in verse...
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Improving your cast

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  Following up the blog, A Fishing Tale , here are a few tips from the book of James on improving your net casting! 1) Be Resilient! Things will be tough. Jesus promises this: "In this world, you will have trouble." But when trouble comes, we must remain resilient in those hard times o both be a source of encouragement to others, but also to benefit from persevering! James 1:2-3 2) Be Consistent! Avoid playing favorites. It will happen that you get along better with some people over others, but always be aware and mindful so you do not inadvertently show more kindness, patience, or grace to some at the disregard to others. Remember...Jesus Himself had a heart for the outcast. (James 2:1-7) 3) Be Considerate! You may not realize it, but people hear you. The temptation to speak ill of others when they are not present may be strong, but we must not fall into this trap. Words can be damaging, and we must also plant seeds of trust by avoiding to speak ill of others behind their ba...
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