Take a moment with me and think of a gift that God has given one of your children, or given you. Maybe they can play an instrument, draw, sing, dance, act or play a sport better than most. You are doing what you can to help them develop their gift. I can assume that you are taking them to lessons/practices, encouraging them and possibly even signing them up for a camp or other exciting opportunity. We are doing the same and excited to see how God is going to use these gifts in our children to glorify Him.
Please take another moment and imagine that your child now has been granted the opportunity to spend a day with the expert in their field. Our oldest daughter would love to spend a day learning from Misty May, our next daughter from Yo-Yo Ma, while our youngest daughter would faint at the possibility to work with Gabby Douglas. I am sure you get the idea. Your child has the chance to spend a day with the expert.
You mark the calendar, you save the fee and you are ready for the special day. Your child meets the expert, spends some time with them and shows them what they can do. How do you think you and/or your child might react if the expert, after watching/listening to your child, simply looked at your child and said "that is great?" "That is great, you are doing just fine. There really is no reason for you to strive to get better."
I know that I would be disappointed. I would be frustrated that we had come to the event expecting to learn, improve, grow....and nothing happened. I might even think it was a waste of our time. Why? Because I know that there is always something to learn. I know that we can always get better at a craft or activity we are working at, we wanted to become more like the expert. There is truly always something that we can learn.
I want to switch gears now. Let us stop thinking of a tangible talent or gift, and now begin to consider our faith. What if instead of focusing on the talent, we looked a little closer at our relationship with Christ. Is our faith something that we are looking to develop and grow?
What if I tell you that you are invited to spend time with an expert in the faith field? This expert has agreed to meet with you and help you improve your faith walk. Would you mark your calendar? Would you be anxious with anticipation? Well, you HAVE been invited! Christ is the expert and He is available to meet with you each and everyday!
In conversations I have been having lately, it seems to me that many of us are looking at our quiet time with a negative slant. We think it is time we could use for something more important. I encourage you to look at it more like you are Hanging with the Expert. It is true that Christ loves you just as you are, but it is also true that He loves you too much to leave you that way. He like any expert will help you to see which areas of you life might need a little adjusting. He can help open your eyes to areas of your heart that need to be softened, or areas of sin that need to be cut out. What a privilege for us to be able to meet daily with such a loving and all knowing Savior! Your faith is a gift, and I pray that you will be excited about meeting with Him and developing your gift.
Enjoy your time hanging with the expert, He truly loves you too much to leave you exactly how you are!
Monday, April 21, 2014
Tuesday, April 15, 2014
God's Not Dead
There is a movie currently showing in the US entitled "God's Not Dead." It is a very interesting movie based on a challenge on a college campus. The professor declares that "God IS dead," and requires everyone in the class to make the same declaration. One student however is not willing to make such a declaration. He is a Christian and refuses to go along with this professor's demands. The professor than challenges him to prove that God exists, a challenge which the student reluctantly accepts. Along with this main storyline, there are several smaller story lines all dealing with how different people in the community are walking or not walking in faith.
As I was watching the film I put myself in each character's shoes. How would I have responded if my boyfriend would have said that? Would I have had the courage to stand up to my father? Would I have been willing to stand up in front of my class and discuss my faith? I would like to think that I would have handled all of those situations with nothing but renewed strength in Jesus, but I am really not sure.
I have also been thinking about how I might react to someone declaring that God IS dead. How do I KNOW that God is NOT dead? How do I pass this knowledge onto my children, so that they know that God is not dead?
How do I KNOW that God is NOT dead? Well, that is an easy one. God has been active in my life for as long as I can remember. I truly believe that He allowed unpredictable things to happen which caused us to leave two hours later than we were suppose to.....thus missing a multi car, multi death accident on the very road we would be driving. I have no doubt that He breathed life and health into our young child that was born not breathing and with no pulse. After ten minutes of medical personnel trying to get her to breathe on her own, she did and has no side affects whatsoever. The addition of our last two children can only be explained by a wonderful working of God's Hand. There have been so many challenges, roadblocks, roads never traveled before and legal situations that they should never have entered our doors. However, God made a way and they are here. They are part of our everyday, they are part of our family and they are part of our life. God has filled my life with many more situations like these, it is simply amazing! I am amazed by the love, mercy and grace God shows me and our family every single day!
Those are great experiences, but are they enough to help my children or others to believe that God is alive and well? I don't think so. My faith is very important to me, but that doesn't automatically transfer to others. If we are completely honest with ourselves, the Holy Spirit is the one who develops faith in a person. Anyone can read the Bible, but if the Holy Spirit isn't guiding them, they are simply reading words on a page. Anyone can go to church, but if the Holy Spirit isn't opening their heart and mind, they are just listening to random speeches and music. I need to admit that although I have great influence over our children and their faith, I have no control.
Our number one goal as a family, is to have our children come to saving faith in Jesus Christ, to know Him as their Savior, Redeemer and Friend. Since I have no real control over their faith development, I try to provide as many opportunities as possible for the Holy Spirit to work in their lives. Part of the plan includes attending Worship regularly, praying daily, having family devotions, and serving others. We also encourage our children to have personal devotion time by providing them resources, asking questions and modeling the importance of this time. I know other families that utilize Christian summer camps, Christian music concerts, Christian magazines for children, Vacation Bible Schools, Awana clubs and youth groups. There are many great resources available for you and your family to help your child and others around you grow in their faith and KNOW that God is NOT dead, I think the key is consistency and being completely open on how God is working in your life everyday. God IS alive and well and working in your life on a daily basis, all you need to do is let others see His work in you.
As I was watching the film I put myself in each character's shoes. How would I have responded if my boyfriend would have said that? Would I have had the courage to stand up to my father? Would I have been willing to stand up in front of my class and discuss my faith? I would like to think that I would have handled all of those situations with nothing but renewed strength in Jesus, but I am really not sure.
I have also been thinking about how I might react to someone declaring that God IS dead. How do I KNOW that God is NOT dead? How do I pass this knowledge onto my children, so that they know that God is not dead?
How do I KNOW that God is NOT dead? Well, that is an easy one. God has been active in my life for as long as I can remember. I truly believe that He allowed unpredictable things to happen which caused us to leave two hours later than we were suppose to.....thus missing a multi car, multi death accident on the very road we would be driving. I have no doubt that He breathed life and health into our young child that was born not breathing and with no pulse. After ten minutes of medical personnel trying to get her to breathe on her own, she did and has no side affects whatsoever. The addition of our last two children can only be explained by a wonderful working of God's Hand. There have been so many challenges, roadblocks, roads never traveled before and legal situations that they should never have entered our doors. However, God made a way and they are here. They are part of our everyday, they are part of our family and they are part of our life. God has filled my life with many more situations like these, it is simply amazing! I am amazed by the love, mercy and grace God shows me and our family every single day!
Those are great experiences, but are they enough to help my children or others to believe that God is alive and well? I don't think so. My faith is very important to me, but that doesn't automatically transfer to others. If we are completely honest with ourselves, the Holy Spirit is the one who develops faith in a person. Anyone can read the Bible, but if the Holy Spirit isn't guiding them, they are simply reading words on a page. Anyone can go to church, but if the Holy Spirit isn't opening their heart and mind, they are just listening to random speeches and music. I need to admit that although I have great influence over our children and their faith, I have no control.
Our number one goal as a family, is to have our children come to saving faith in Jesus Christ, to know Him as their Savior, Redeemer and Friend. Since I have no real control over their faith development, I try to provide as many opportunities as possible for the Holy Spirit to work in their lives. Part of the plan includes attending Worship regularly, praying daily, having family devotions, and serving others. We also encourage our children to have personal devotion time by providing them resources, asking questions and modeling the importance of this time. I know other families that utilize Christian summer camps, Christian music concerts, Christian magazines for children, Vacation Bible Schools, Awana clubs and youth groups. There are many great resources available for you and your family to help your child and others around you grow in their faith and KNOW that God is NOT dead, I think the key is consistency and being completely open on how God is working in your life everyday. God IS alive and well and working in your life on a daily basis, all you need to do is let others see His work in you.
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