In the Word

Recently I’ve been thinking of our nation and why things are going the way they are and immediately I am reminded that in the Scriptures all of our fears find comfort.

  Psalm 16:11 “You will show me the path of life; in your presence is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.” 

  Proverbs 4:18 “But the path of the just is like the shining sun, That shines ever brighter unto the perfect day.”

  Also read Psalm 27.

  In God’s Word we find answers to what we face today.  He is aware of our trials.  Join with me to pray regularly for revival ~in our hearts, in our churches and in our nation.

Winning and Losing:  Is your team winning?

  We’ve all faced the disappointment of being on or cheering for a team that loses consistently.

  Recently while reading Matthew 18, I was drawn to wonder if God in His unconditional love for us uses winning or losing in competitions to draw us to qualities He wants us to have.  Humility would be one of those qualities.  I can see both winning and losing in a competition being a good schoolroom for humility.  Think about this and discuss it with your competitive students.

Creation

Throughout this year (and hopefully for years to come) we are looking at the impact that the Genesis account of creation must have on our study of academics and the arts.

  If Christians are willing to accept a diluted version of Creation then the God of Creation can be diluted.  Since the appearance of the evil one, many schemes have been used to render God less than sovereign – omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent.  We must be alert to these schemes.

  Presently we are looking at what ideas and questions we will want to add to our Christian textbooks to encourage our students to be alert to the value of accepting Genesis’ account of creation.

  Some general questions to ask about any study:

1. Do I think of ideas as belonging to me or to a particular author?  OR do I recognize that God creates ideas?
2. Do I see the academic disciplines interrelating because they have the same foundation and builder?

You’ve heard (and made) statements like:  *“There’s nothing wrong with that.” * Seems good to me.” * “ I think we can do that.” * “If it’s OK with him, it’s OK with me.” * “They wouldn’t give permission if it weren’t OK.”

But for today I would like to challenge you to consider:

We can’t just do what seems right.  We must base our actions on something totally trustworthy.  That something is the WORD of GOD.  In the Word, God has clearly shown us how to be united with the Father through Christ.  The Holy Spirit then teaches us through God’s Word. This is an accurate, definite, foolproof plan for getting answers as daily we face dilemmas.

Reminders

1. Record your own history by:                                                                                                             Occasionally writing into your journal or diary. 
   Making copies of letters that your send to friends and keeping the copies in a scrapbook or folder.
   Occasionally printing e-mails to friends and keeping them in a folder.  Make sure any of these are dated.
2. Keep focused on how you train and discipline your children.  Continue to focus on training and discipline as long as they live under your roof.  Keep your focus clearly on the goal – to make disciples.  Look for my paper coming out that discusses dilemmas in everyday life with a Biblical response.
3. The design of the family was God’s plan.  Now we have the opportunity to teach our children the wisdom of God in creating this plan.  Perhaps you will want to make periodic studies of what the Bible says about FAMILY.  As you train your children help them to see the protection that family rules give them.  Also, because we are in a family we get to practice generosity, loving in unloving circumstances and taking responsibility willingly.  Many other character-developing opportunities arise because we are a family. As your children get older they can see how the church operates as a body (family).  Because they have seen how to handle unfairness and other difficult circumstances at home they are equipped to be a fruitful part of the body, the church.

[note:  originally published in the November 2009 Family Heritage Developer]