God, I Give You Permission To Change My Life
Asking God to change your life is a dangerous request. Don't imagine that He will change your life to accommodate your thinking. It won't happen that way...rather He changes your thinking to accommodate your life. It's not a bad thing to have happen, but if you're thinking your circumstances will change...think again. Your thinking about your circumstances will change. The upside is that you will eventually be more productive and find more peace. Those were the desired results so I can't complain. Just my thoughts for today.
The Fear of The Lord is the Beginning of Knowledge
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. Here's the progression....I am scared of God punishing me (fear of the Lord), I study the Bible to understand how I can avoid that punishment (the beginning of knowledge) and as I study I learn how awesome and great His love for us is. This has been a cool topic to discuss with the kids. I actually encountered several schools of thought on this idea over the past couple of weeks. I'll share them with you.
1. God IS powerful but He is more about love. If we just absorb the love of God everything else will take care of itself. You won't want to sin anymore. You'll just be so full of love you'll want to do what God wants all the time.
2. God IS love, but He is powerful. He doesn't like our sin and it makes Him very angry and we don't want to make God angry do we? So be good and follow the rules or you'll make God mad.
3. If we just pound the Word of God into their hearts and minds we'll win them over. We need to drive Jesus into them so they won't stray into sin.
The sad thing is, we've subscribed to all of these schools of thought at one time or another. We've tried to teach our kids to love love love so they would be good. We've tried to make them fear so they would be good. We've tried to lecture and drill and pound the Word of God into them so they'll be good. None of these methods have worked for us. We are seeing kids who are growing up with these methods and some of them are starting to harden their hearts toward God. My husband and I don't want that for our children. Thus, we study God's Word to find His answers to our questions.
What we're learning is this:For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart (Hebrews 4:12). God's Word can change the children's hearts. We must not be afraid to give it to them. I've been guilty of watering down the Bible so the kids aren't overwhelmed by it, but am I not accusing God of being to much for them? Am I showing a lack of trust for God's ability to reach them where they are? Am I not demonstrating to them that God's Word is irrelevant in their lives? I really have to wonder. As we put the word of God in front of them (quite literally, it's on a white board in front of them as they eat breakfast), we have to trust that God will reveal Himself to them. As He shows up in their lives, we are here to pastor and guide them. It's been cool to watch happen. We're having some awesome conversations. Romans 2:4b points out that God's kindness is meant to bring us to repentance. God's kindness is meant to bring us to repentance! Not our lecturing, threatening, hammering, scolding, or yelling. God's kindness. It has nothing to do with me or my husband. It will have everything to do with God. I trust He'll be faithful to my children, and we open our home and our lives to allow Him that freedom.
1. God IS powerful but He is more about love. If we just absorb the love of God everything else will take care of itself. You won't want to sin anymore. You'll just be so full of love you'll want to do what God wants all the time.
2. God IS love, but He is powerful. He doesn't like our sin and it makes Him very angry and we don't want to make God angry do we? So be good and follow the rules or you'll make God mad.
3. If we just pound the Word of God into their hearts and minds we'll win them over. We need to drive Jesus into them so they won't stray into sin.
The sad thing is, we've subscribed to all of these schools of thought at one time or another. We've tried to teach our kids to love love love so they would be good. We've tried to make them fear so they would be good. We've tried to lecture and drill and pound the Word of God into them so they'll be good. None of these methods have worked for us. We are seeing kids who are growing up with these methods and some of them are starting to harden their hearts toward God. My husband and I don't want that for our children. Thus, we study God's Word to find His answers to our questions.
What we're learning is this:For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart (Hebrews 4:12). God's Word can change the children's hearts. We must not be afraid to give it to them. I've been guilty of watering down the Bible so the kids aren't overwhelmed by it, but am I not accusing God of being to much for them? Am I showing a lack of trust for God's ability to reach them where they are? Am I not demonstrating to them that God's Word is irrelevant in their lives? I really have to wonder. As we put the word of God in front of them (quite literally, it's on a white board in front of them as they eat breakfast), we have to trust that God will reveal Himself to them. As He shows up in their lives, we are here to pastor and guide them. It's been cool to watch happen. We're having some awesome conversations. Romans 2:4b points out that God's kindness is meant to bring us to repentance. God's kindness is meant to bring us to repentance! Not our lecturing, threatening, hammering, scolding, or yelling. God's kindness. It has nothing to do with me or my husband. It will have everything to do with God. I trust He'll be faithful to my children, and we open our home and our lives to allow Him that freedom.
Ummm Yeah...About This Parenting Thing
So, okay. As we continue to pursue Godly parenting we find ourselves asking...What does that mean?! How do we start?! We've been praying and reading the Bible in a desperate attempt to find the right answers. As I type that sentence I realize I have just admitted our ignorance. Isn't that where our search should have started and not ended. I'm going to attempt to chronicle this journey. I hope it will be helpful to my kids someday. They'll be the ones to tell us whether God worked through us as parents or worked in spite of us. I sure hope it's that through us option.
FIRST PARENTING CONCEPT - KIDS ARE PRONE TO BE A WRECK AND THEY NEED GOD
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline. Proverbs 1:7
I was listening to a speaker who explained the fear of the Lord very appropriately and his idea on the subject has put a multitude of things into perspective for me. Angie summary is...God is big and good and holy and perfect. Adam and Eve were created. Adam and Eve mess up God's world. Humankind continues to mess up God's world and even goes so far as to kill His son. We are not perfect. Put us next to each other and you've got the true God of the universe and us messed up humans. I don't know about you but I'm a little nervous about how He feels about me if I keep messing up His world. I'm a wreck. Honestly I'm prone to be a wreck and if I'm really honest, when I'm ignoring God, I like being a wreck. I need God to help me stop.
Why would my kids be any different? It's so easy to push them out and see this fragile little human being who is so dependent on you for everything and believe they are innocent and without sin. But any parent who has ever told a two year old no and watched that child blatantly ignore said parent knows...they are not innocent and without sin. SO the first concept I've had to accept is that my children are prone to be a wreck. My husband seems to accept this truth more quickly than I do. As a mother, I don't want to believe it. That's my little baby. But if I am going to raise Godly children I must accept that they are in need of God's love and forgiveness just as I am. They are born with the desire to do wrong. Our response to this concept has been to pray that God would give them an awareness of Him, that God would help us to LOVINGLY show them how prone to sin they are and how much they need Him to be a part of their lives. If the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, then we want to cultivate in them the fear of the Lord. We aren't sure what this will look like, but we're having some interesting conversations. I'll keep you posted.
FIRST PARENTING CONCEPT - KIDS ARE PRONE TO BE A WRECK AND THEY NEED GOD
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline. Proverbs 1:7
I was listening to a speaker who explained the fear of the Lord very appropriately and his idea on the subject has put a multitude of things into perspective for me. Angie summary is...God is big and good and holy and perfect. Adam and Eve were created. Adam and Eve mess up God's world. Humankind continues to mess up God's world and even goes so far as to kill His son. We are not perfect. Put us next to each other and you've got the true God of the universe and us messed up humans. I don't know about you but I'm a little nervous about how He feels about me if I keep messing up His world. I'm a wreck. Honestly I'm prone to be a wreck and if I'm really honest, when I'm ignoring God, I like being a wreck. I need God to help me stop.
Why would my kids be any different? It's so easy to push them out and see this fragile little human being who is so dependent on you for everything and believe they are innocent and without sin. But any parent who has ever told a two year old no and watched that child blatantly ignore said parent knows...they are not innocent and without sin. SO the first concept I've had to accept is that my children are prone to be a wreck. My husband seems to accept this truth more quickly than I do. As a mother, I don't want to believe it. That's my little baby. But if I am going to raise Godly children I must accept that they are in need of God's love and forgiveness just as I am. They are born with the desire to do wrong. Our response to this concept has been to pray that God would give them an awareness of Him, that God would help us to LOVINGLY show them how prone to sin they are and how much they need Him to be a part of their lives. If the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, then we want to cultivate in them the fear of the Lord. We aren't sure what this will look like, but we're having some interesting conversations. I'll keep you posted.