Saturday, March 22, 2014

Your Kids Aren't Yours

I've been thinking a lot about children and being a parent recently, and the more I think about it, the more incredible the whole thing really is. Not just the miracle of life, but the whole reality of whose children they really are. And the reality of it is your kids aren't really yours.

I've had the privilege to do a baby dedication. In the preparation I talked with a pastor friend and he told me that he always mentions that this is not the parent's child, but God's. This is God's son, this is God's daughter, and He has lovingly placed them into your home. Your kids aren't really yours, their God's.

Think about that, God takes His children, and entrusts them to someone else to raise! Can you imagine doing that? After your child is born you go find a couple and you give them your baby to raise. How many parents are willing to do this? (Notice I said baby, not teenager) My guess is not many. Why would you entrust the life of your child to someone else? Why would you put their future, and eternity on the line like that?

I'm not looking down on adoptions here. I understand there are circumstances that people find themselves in, and adoption is a far better option than abortion. Please do not read that into what I am saying. My point is not to say you've messed up by giving up your children, because the reality of it is that in giving them up like that you demonstrated the greatest act of love. You gave them life, and then gave them a chance at living it.

The point of what I'm saying is your children aren't really yours, but God's. He has entrusted you with His most precious possession, and given you the responsibility to point His children back to their true Father. If this was the mindset of every parent how much better would the world be? If we stopped looking at our children as ours and rather began to see them as God's? Each little boy is God's mighty warrior that needs to be trained to join the fight for His Kingdom. Each little girl is God's princess, that needs to see her captivating beauty and unveil it. Each child is God's and needs mom and dad to set their little feet on the path of righteousness that leads to Him.

The reality of it is, God has given you His child to raise. You won't be a perfect parent, you can't be, only He can. But if you will love them, protect them, teach them about their true Father, and help them to follow Him, you will have done all that He asks you to do.

And when it comes to helping them follow, I think the most important thing for a child to learn, or a parent for that matter, is this: "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight. Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and turn away from evil. It will be healing to your body and refreshment to your bones" (Proverbs 3.5-8).

Teach them to fully trust in God, and not to lean on their own limited knowledge. Teach them to turn to God first and always, and as they do He will make their paths straight. Teach them to be humble and to reverently fear God. Teach them to pursue righteousness and flee from evil. In this they will find peace, and so will you. Children learn best by imitation. If they see you living out Proverbs 3.5-8, it will be that much easier for them to learn to do it too.

Your children aren't really yours, they are God's. Raise them right on His behalf. You will be held accountable for how you raise His children. Do all that you can to teach them to love God, and help them to follow.

"I have been young and now I am old, yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken or his descendants begging bread."

To God alone be the Glory!

Peace be with you

Wednesday, March 19, 2014

How God Works

Recently I had the opportunity to witness a miracle. And for about a week I've been thinking about how God works. There are two ways, miraculously and naturally.

God created the world to function with certain rules and laws. There is a way things work, because that is how they were created to work. When God works miraculously is where God makes a temporary exception to the natural order of things to show that He is working. In a miracle we see God's power at work, doing what normally doesn't happen.

The cancer patient who goes in for a screening, and the doctor's come in to say, "We don't know how, but your cancer is gone" has experienced a miracle. My doctor told me, "Bad things don't go away", and so for cancer to just disappear from someone is a miracle. And sometimes God decides to bless people with miracles.

But I think far more often, God works naturally. There is a way to the world, and God created it to work that way. Doctors go to school to learn about the body and medicine. They learn ways to make the body healthy and functional. But I don't want to take any credit away from God, and so I'm going to say that is God working too. It is God working naturally. He is allowing something to work the way that He created it to work.

A person is sick and goes to the doctor. He prescribes some medicine, the patient takes it as prescribed, and they get better. God was at work allowing the medicine to work. God was working naturally, but God was still at work.

God is always at work. Sometimes He does a miracle, something that has no other explanation except God. Sometimes He works with something natural, but may we never take credit away from God. They day we stop acknowledging His work in our lives, miraculous or natural, is they day we say we don't need God's help.

And to clarify, sometimes in the case of an illness, God doesn't allow healing naturally or miraculously. Sometimes death is the result. But even in death God is still at work. In the case of a sick believer God has brought permanent healing. He has welcomed them into His presence for eternity, with no more pain or sickness. For those left behind we can see God at work here as well. We can see His grace and comfort. We can see someone face death with confidence, knowing they are going to see the face of Christ.

God is always at work. May we never take credit away from Him, and always give Him the glory for how He decides to act.

"I have been young and now I am old, yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken or his descendants begging bread."

To God alone be the Glory!

Peace be with you

Monday, March 10, 2014

More Abundantly Beyond

This post has been on my mind for a while, and I finally have a moment to sit and write it out. About a year ago I began a part time job. My wife and I had been thrown out of a rough ministry assignment, and abandoned by people we thought genuinely cared about us. I had been unemployed for several months and finally got hired at Home Depot. I was working in the Garden Department for the first couple months there so it wasn't that bad. The pay was lousy, and the hours weren't always the greatest, but I had a job that allowed me to be outside and learn about things I actually wanted to know about.

I survived the first cuts from temp to part time, and actually got moved to a slightly better position in that it came with a set schedule, and a raise (or so I was told). But I began to get really restless. Already I had been there longer than I wanted, and I was getting discouraged. Life was changing, and I wasn't making enough to be able to support my family, and my hours were beginning to be cut. I learned that at the end of the year they let most of the part time people go, and then begin the cycle all over again, that way they avoid giving raises.

I wasn't worried, but I was getting desperate for something better. I began to pray, and I told God, "I just want a forty hour a week job that allows me to provide for my family." Enter Ephesians 3.20-21, "Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen."

I had met a guy through our Life Group at church and he helped me begin the process of seeking a new job with the company he worked for. When I applied I thought I was simply applying to a job that would give me forty hours Monday-Friday and as a bonus help me get my Master's completed. And then I got to work the first day. As I sat in orientation I began to watch God go above and beyond.

What I'm about to say isn't meant to be bragging, but a testimony of praise that is long overdue.

My new job gives me a set schedule Monday-Friday and salary pay that is more than double what I made at Home Depot. I don't have to clock in or out. My wife and I get Medical, Dental, and Vision coverage at no premium, and they also give great life insurance to me at no cost. After I work 1,000 hours in a year they pay into a retirement account for me, and they also give cash profit sharing bonuses at the end of the year. And on top of all of that, they will pay for 100% of my schooling, books included, no matter what my field of study is.

I didn't know that jobs like this existed, and therefore had no way of even asking God for something like this. My prayer was simply for a forty hour work week that allowed me to make enough to provide for my family. God did that, but He did so much more than I ever thought possible. And for that I'm writing this post to give Him the glory He deserves.

I'm not doing what I want to be doing with my life, but I have found contentment in the moment. God is providing for my needs, and He is paving my way back into full time ministry, and even providing for retirement now. I don't know what comes next, but He's starting to give me a vision for that, and during this time of preparation I'll be seeking His guidance for that, with the hope and expectation of it being far greater than I can imagine.

That is how God works when we trust Him. He is able to do it, but if we never give Him the chance we get stuck because we limit Him. Pray big, but pray with the right motives, and watch God take care of you in ways you never thought possible. And when He does, give Him the glory.

"I have been young and now I am old, yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken or his descendants begging bread."

To God alone be the Glory!

Peace be with you

Tuesday, March 4, 2014

Fat Tuesday

Tomorrow is Ash Wednesday, the day that marks the beginning of Lent. It is a time of fasting to be more focused on Christ as we prepare to celebrate the resurrection. Growing up as a Protestant, I never celebrated Lent. I honestly didn't know really what it was until college, and during that time I did engage in the season. But all of that begins tomorrow. Which makes today Fat Tuesday.

Today is a day to indulge and live it up, or sin it up as I've heard it said before. You do everything you can't do for the next 40 days, so you have one last hoorah before you have to behave. It makes the next forty days seem like a bit of a religious ritual that is done out of obligation. And yet as I've thought about it today, I wonder how many of us live our lives like it's Fat Tuesday.

Think about it. How many people live like they have all the time in the world? Or how many live with the intention of turning to Jesus later? I was out with my wife on Valentine's Day and I overheard a conversation between our server and the people sitting next to us. He was telling them that he was young, and now was the time for enjoying life, he'd worry about religion later. I've met a lot of people like that over the years.

I've also met a lot of people who live life like Lent is obligatory. The do things because they are supposed to in order to make God happy so they can get to Heaven. But it isn't heart felt and it misses the point dramatically.

And then there are those who live Lent everyday. Their lives are committed to fully serving and glorifying God. They have sacrificed things so that they can grow closer to Him. They have given up things so that they can become more like Christ. Their focus is on celebrating with the resurrected Lord, and they live like it every day.

Which category do you fall into? Is your life Fat Tuesday, full of indulgence and living it up as much as you can before you have to clean up? Just a heads up, life isn't predictable. It doesn't have a visual clock that declares Ash Wednesday is here it's time to behave. We don't know when it's going to end.

Is your life the obligatory Lent? Do you do things because you're supposed to, because it's what's expected? Do you realize the joy you're missing out on? Or the blessings? God has incredible things to show you and you are unable to see them because of the half-hearted attitude you go through life with.

Are you living Lent? Is your life spent focused fully on God and looking forward to the resurrection daily? Look at all that God has shown you. Look at how you've changed and grown. It's because of how you've chosen to live your life.

Now, which one do you want to be? Tomorrow begins the season of Lent. It can be a time of growth for you if you choose to invest yourself in it. It can be a time of growing closer to God than you ever have before, and a time of learning to trust Him in ways you didn't know where possible. It can be if you're willing to live it. And it can be the start of a whole new life. It doesn't end at Easter, but continues until we participate in the resurrection.

How do you want to live? Time is short, and you don't know when it's going to run out. Fat Tuesday or Lent, you decide.

"I have been young and now I am old, yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken or his descendants begging bread."

To God alone be the Glory!

Peace be with you