Thought of the Day

Free Life Insurance!
Guaranteed Satisfaction
John 3:15 – 18

I think we will all agree that we are in a day and age when insurance is a necessity. We have to have house insurance, liability insurance, car insurance, medical insurance and the list just keeps going. I recently heard a commercial about life insurance. They asked, “What will you leave your family when you die?” They continued by saying that a death in the family usually puts the survivors in a bind and that is what life insurance is all about. Life insurance is for the surviving family. I often think of the life insurance policy on my wife and me both. Is it enough? Should I get more? All too often we think about how good of shape we leave our family when we leave. It’s a last gift from us to them, I suppose. One time I heard a life insurance man make a comment about a policy that made me think. He said, “The policy isn’t for the dead, but for the living.” When you pay so much for insurance, you think well how can I afford it or how do I benefit from it?
When we buy a car, we usually want the best protection that money can buy on it. We get the insurance for it, a warranty insurance policy for it, and if we could get one, a gas insurance policy on it, so if our gas gets stolen we can get the gas replaced. I say that laughingly, but there is something I would like for us to think about. What insurance policy is there that benefits the person who dies? So here is an idea; life insurance that dead people can benefit from. Guess what? It’s already there! It’s called everlasting or eternal life! And on top of all this, IT’S FREE! It doesn’t cost you anything and it has satisfaction guaranteed, too. Our Father in heaven made a way for us all. It came through the death, burial and resurrection of HIS ONLY BEGOTTEN SON JESUS CHRIST. Jesus said, “That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” (John 3: 15 – 18 KJV).
This is a no risk policy that cost you absolutely nothing, nadda, zip; nothing at all, well except the fact that you must become a new creation in Christ. The policy includes, but is not limited to, contentment, peace, happiness, and above all, it insures the person who accepts this policy the absolute freedom from ever having to go to hell when they die. It also insures that these emotions, though not limited, are for eternity. Now you may ask, ‘Why do I need this?’ It’s simple; because ALL, including you and me, have sinned and come short of the glory of God, (Roman 3:23). Because of this sin we have eternal damnation ahead for all, including you and me. Paul wrote, “For the wages of sin is death ;”(Romans 6:23), and this death is not just a physical death either. The writer of Hebrews said, “And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment,” (Heb 9:27 KJV). It’s guaranteed that you and I will eventually die from this old body. Our bodies are dying simply because of the sin in our lives. If a person could actually see how they looked in a mirror because of sin, well, none of us would look at ourselves. Even the pretty girls and handsome guys are not exempt from this death. Of course, most people live like they will never die, but that’s another subject. The death that Paul is talking about is the spiritual death; eternal separation from God, FOREVER. There will be no partying there; you will not see friends, have nice visits, or anything like that. There will only be weeping and gnashing of teeth, (Matthew 24:51), where the worm dieth not and the fire is not quenched, (Mark 9:44 – 48). Paul continues in Romans 6:23 by saying, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our LORD. It’s a gift for the taking, and did I say, IT’S FREE!?!?
We need to understand that hell was not created for men, women, boys or girls, but for Satan and his angels. However, when we reject the free gift of eternal life or the insurance policy, of God, and die in our sin, that sin cannot enter into the kingdom of God. If you still don’t understand this need, let’s review. We’ve established that we, you and I and everyone else included, are condemned to hell for sin in our lives. If we die without accepting Jesus Christ as our Savior, then we will be separated from HIM forever. Jesus paid that debt for us though. That’s right, you and I put Jesus on the cross to die in our place. However, He rose again on the third day, and now sits at the right hand of the Father in heaven, waiting to come get those who have this insurance policy that HE paid for. You cannot earn this policy, like it was a coupon at a grocery store, for the good works that you might do on this earth. There are no brownie points! “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast,” (Ephesians 2:8 – 9). It’s a free gift for the asking, but it is not just handed to you because you think you are not a bad person. Did I mention that it is FREE?
Daniel was shown something that backs everything up. He was shown things that would happen in the last days of this earth, and he was told. “And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt,” (Dan 12:2 KJV). This eternal life insurance has been around since the beginning of time, and something that eventually will not be offered again. The Lord deals with people for a while and eventually does not talk to those who continually reject what HE is offering them, for FREE. It will be for a limited time, up to HIS discretion. There may come a time that you want to seek God and not find Him as Esau did. “For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears,” (Heb 12:17 KJV). It is time for man to seek God. Isaiah addressed that when he said, “Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near: Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon, (Isaiah 55: 6 – 1 KJV).
So, it is decision time. What are we going to do with this FREE offer? It is a no–brainer for those who really want eternal life. Jesus is the only way to the Father. HE said, “I am the way, the Truth and the Life: No man can come unto the Father, but by ME, (John 14:6 KJV).” Here’s you chance: what will it be; Eternal life or eternal death? His will is simple: (John 6:40 KJV) “And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day.” This is a life insurance policy that nobody should turn down.

Thought of the Day

Forgetting Humility
Thinking Highly of Ourselves
Romans 12:3

My wife and I just love watching animated movies. On Saturday we watched the movie, ‘Cars,’ again. In fact I probably like this movie to a point that would give kids a run for their money. I can remember my boys getting hung on movies when they were little. They would watch them over and over again until their mom or I would say enough. Amazingly enough you will find things in movies that will catch your attention and make you think. This movie is about a race car that thinks he is the very best, and no rookie could do what he was doing. He has fired several crew chiefs and lost his racing team, because he considers himself a one man show. He doesn’t think that the cars and sponsors in the background had helped make him who he is. He is sponsored by old rusty cars that he is not thrilled about, and is working for a new sponsor whose driver is retiring. In fact, the retiring car told him that he was a good race car, but that he was ‘stupid.’ He began telling him what he needed to do, but he got wrapped up in his dream of this retiring race car’s sponsor and didn’t listen to the experienced car’s advice. As the movie goes on, he gets lost and finds himself in a lone lost town named Radiator Springs, in Carburetor County, on Route 66. Except for a classy looking sports car, he finds himself surrounded by a rusty old wrecker and some older model cars while he serves a sentence handed down to him, by a judge, who turns out to be an older racing car legend, who was basically put to the side in racing after having a wreck. Lightening McQueen was having to fix a road that he tore up, so they hooked him up to an old asphalt machine named, “Bessie” and he endured some rough times trying to fix the road while focusing on the big race and himself. He wasn’t getting the picture, but that would change in time.
Paul told the people of Rome, “For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think: but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith,” (Romans 12:3). Lightening McQueen, the car, was full of pride; or as my Grandmother would say about people like that, “He’s full of himself.”
There are people in this world that believe they are the best at what they do. I find that people that think they are okay, but do know what’s going on, are usually the best at what they do; and they don’t usually toot their own horn. Pride is the downfall of all men. Solomon wrote that the Lord hates pride, (Proverbs 6:16 – 17). Most men have to be brought down hard from pride, with humility. James wrote in James 4:6 KJV, “But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.”
As I watched this movie, I laughed at Mater, the rusty old wrecker, but I found that there was humility in him. He enjoyed the simple parts of life, and loved other cars for who they were. There is a lesson there too. We are told that we are to love one another. We remember how Jesus answered the lawyer in Matthew 22:35 – 40. Jesus said unto him, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” I know that this seems hard to do, but very often the reasons we find it hard to love our neighbors is because of our own prideful self-centered egos. We ask ourselves, ‘what would other people think?” This is the same kind of attitude that Lightening McQueen, the car had. Doc, the old racing car asked him, “When was the last time you thought of anybody beside yourself?” He couldn’t answer that question, because he was being humiliated.
God has a way of making his children humble. Humiliation hurts us most of the time. The reason it hurts is because we are use to seeing things done our way and not God’s way. Sure, we say we love the Lord and we follow HIS leadership, but truth is, most of the time we have to make ourselves a convenient time for HIM. In this movie there was a car, named Sally, who takes Lightening McQueen for a drive. They stop at this old run down spot that used to be a hotel and she explained how she wished she could have seen it in its day. Stickers, as she called him, was having a hard time understanding, so she started explaining what had happened to her. She was a big time lawyer in LA, who got tired of the big life and took a drive. She broke down and Doc fixed her up in this little town. She said she was taking a drive and fell in love. McQueen asked, “Were you rich?” She answered with, “That was a different life.” He then asked, “Did you fall in love with a Corvette?” She then took him over to this cliff and showed him the scenery and told him, “I fell in love with this, and decided to stay.”
Sally had given up her high priced life, which was no doubt full of pride, and traded it in for the humility of a little town that she was trying to help rebuild. A humble life is for the taking of those who seek Christ in their lives. It starts off with salvation, which means a person has to put his/her pride to the side and admit that God is right and they are wrong; that he/she is definitely lost without Christ. Then they must believe that Jesus is the Son of God, and repent. They must then believe He died on the cross for their sin and was buried and arose again on the third day, according to the scriptures. They must confess HIM before man. Paul said, “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation,” (Rom 10:9 – 10 KJV). Salvation is only the start of seeking Christ, and it is available to all people; backgrounds don’t matter. Christians must seek humility in their lives on a continuous basis. We must not live our lives in the past any longer. Remember that all the old things are passed away and our lives have changed through Jesus Christ, 2 Corinthians 5:17. Humility allows us to quit living our lives like we did before we met Christ, and causes us to start seeking the positive things that Christ has provided for us. This, then, gives us the opportunity to praise HIM for what HE has done for us, and helps us lead people in the direction of Christ.
As the story goes in this movie, Sticker learns a great deal. He finishes his sentence of rebuilding the road and then he starts helping the other cars in this community, by buying things from them, and acknowledging them. He is later rushed off to the race without saying good bye to Mater, the tow truck. As he is about to get out of his haul truck, he starts trying to focus upon himself again, but humility has hit him so hard that he could not get his mind where it needed to be. When he does start the race, he goes fast, but starts losing focus. Suddenly, all of his friends show up to the race. Doc Hudson becomes his crew chief and the rest of the cars, except for the three or four back in Radiator Springs, become his crew. He has the chance to win the race, but sees the car, which is going to retire, knocked out of the race by another car which was just like he used to be. Stickers stopped, didn’t win the race, and in humility goes back to the other car and pushes him to the finish line. In the end, he really is the winner.
His humility made him real friends. He also had the opportunity to go to the big racing sponsor, but after his lesson of humility, he decided to stick with the old rusty cars that gave him his break. He had seen the light of what it was supposed to be all about. In our prideful ways, we think we acquire friends only to find out in the long run that they aren’t friends at all. Humility usually gives us tons of friends. Through humility we can gain a friend that is closer than a brother and HE never turns HIS back on us. HIS NAME IS JESUS CHRIST. We gain HIM through salvation.
This man, for one, has learned that life is full on peaks and valleys. A friend of mine, who resigned the church he was pastoring recently, told me, “I believe that the mountains are overrated. When we are on the top of the mountain we only have self to look at. That’s where pride is. It’s in the valleys that we remember where we’ve been and who we depend on, because it’s then that we have to look up.” This is a very truthful saying. So the moral of this lesson is simple. Let us take the advice that James once said, and Peter reiterated in 1 Peter 5:5, “be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble.”

Thought of the Day

God’s Images
Have Men Forgotten Who They Are?
1 Timothy 3:7


I went into Life Way Christian book store yesterday with the idea of finding another CD of a choir that I just love to hear sing. They didn’t have any CD’s that I was interested in, so I decided to start looking at other things, such as Bibles, books and other stuff. As a minister, I could spend hours in a store like that, because I just like it. I’m a person who likes watching other people too. I have sat in malls before waiting on the lady of the house to finish shopping for whatever she is buying, and I have really been amazed at the things I see other people do. Sometimes I wonder if we aren’t like robots. Every family is unique in their own way, but we are basically all the same. It makes me look at what God has done with even greater amazement.
In 1Timothy 3:7, Paul wrote that in the last days men would be, “Ever learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.” When thinking about people in general I have a tendency to wonder what it was like in the beginning. When was the beginning? Scientist and Bible scholars alike have their opinions, and I’m not arguing when the beginning started, because right now, it really doesn’t matter. Today, there are people trying to second and third guess a God that exist and today they try to put a disclaimer on the fact HE even exists, and HE didn’t create them. It seems like the smarter man becomes, the dumber he is. We loose sight of truth. Despite what some people are trying to prove or disprove, my Bible tells me, ‘In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by HIM; and without HIM was not any thing made that was made,’ (John 1:1 – 3). In the book of Genesis we find that man was created from the dust of the earth, chapter 1:26. Not only was man made, he was made in the image of God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. This is proved when the Lord said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness:” That is why people look the same. Sure HE made different races, and some of us weigh more than others, but we are made just like God, by HIM. Isn’t that exciting?
There is something much more exciting though. Despite all of our wicked ways, HE has made a way for us all to go to heaven. HE died on the cross in our place. That’s right; our place. People in general do not deserve the blessings God has given us much less the salvation from our sins HE offers us. Many people in America say that they believe HE exists, but few there are that accept HIS FREE GIFT. People in general think they can live the way they want to, and never pay attention to God or accept HIS free gift, and when they die from this life that some man will preach them into heaven. After all, how many funerals have you ever heard preached that a person died and went to hell? Most of the time a person is lifted up on this earth as a good person, and people are shown the qualities that person may have had during their lives. Still, many forget that you cannot get to the Father, but only through Jesus Christ. He said, “I am the way, I am the truth, and I am the life.” He is the only way to heaven. And still, we do not deserve this gift.
We need to remember that our bodies will return to the dust from which it came. As a great teacher I had in seminary said, “We are a cup of dirt, with a little water to hold us together.” So, the next time you think you look good, remember; YOU’RE DIRT. Funny, huh? Where is this leading too? Let’s remember that even when we think we are getting by with something; somebody knows. HE knows our every thought, every saying, every action, and our every movement. In John 2:24 – 25, the scriptures says, “But Jesus did not commit HIMSELF to them, because HE knew all men and need not that any should testify of man: for HE knew what was in man.”
A person can tell a whole church, their friends, and their family that they know Jesus, but does Jesus know that person? Yes, HE knows every person, but if you read this chapter, you find that many believed in HIS actions, but they did not accept HIM for who HE is. John wrote, “HE was in the world, and the world was made by HIM, and the world knew HIM not,” (John 1:10). There will be a time that men will find out whether or not Jesus really knows them. HE will say, (Mat 7:23 KJV) “I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.” The people who accept HIM now, can hear, “Well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy Lord,” (Matthew 25:23).
Unfortunately, people ignore God, even folks who accept HIM as their Savior. The things of the world drag us down to the point of not paying attention to the things of God. Of course, some of it is selfishness on our part too. We work our hours, play our hours and then we think Sundays are our sleeping day, and again, God doesn’t fit into our time; what a shame. It’s time for us to quit being like the disciples were when Jesus asked them to pray while HE did in the garden. Both times HE found them asleep, and I’m afraid HE would find many Christians asleep if HE came back today. So, if this fits you, ‘wake up!’ We have a God that loved us enough to die on the cross for us, and now we should seek HIM. If you look around you will see HIS image everywhere. Some of the images know HIM and some don’t, but they should all remind us of HIM and what we should do for HIM. Man can continue to try to disprove the points made in God’s Word, but I choose to believe it. You may ask, “WHY?” It’s simple: IT’S THE TRUTH, AND I BELIEVE IT.

Thought of the Day

Liberal Christianity
No Labor with Full Benefits
Psalm 116:12

Last night our men had a brotherhood meeting at the church. Our pastor brought a lesson on “The True Christian Attitude.” He gave us some good points and talked about how we should be working harder to please the Lord. So, as I was working this morning it was pouring down rain, I had a thought. The cold front that was predicted came through with a vengeance. Oh, well, it’s not quiet that cold, yet, but after 3 days in the 70’s with beautiful sunny skies, it makes it seem like a vengeance anyway. As I was in the middle of finishing my well test the thought came to me about the benefit of having a job. It’s no secret to anyone who knows me that I do not want to work on Sundays, and in March we start 7 days a week. I enjoy teaching my class and the occasional opportunity to preach, and I’d much rather be with family in church. The question that came to me is this; if the Lord paid us to work for HIM, would we still have a job, now? In our thought for today I am reminded of what the Psalmist asked, in (Psalms 116:12 KJV). “What shall I render unto the Lord for all HIS benefits toward me?”
If you were offered a job, and the company told you that they were going to start you off at a wage that will afford you anything and everything you would every need and give you insurance at no cost, how long would it take you to say yes? The first thing that most people would want to know is what type of job it was, and how many hours a week it would require. However, the money and benefits would cause most people to jump on the job, but for the fun of it, this job also allows you freedom to do what you want, but you needed to do this job every opportunity you had. I bet you can see where this is going, can’t you?
Fact is, the money and luxuries that would be available to all of us would show us just how greedy we are; and this should make all of us ashamed. Granted we all want the perfect job, but guess what? That’s life. I don’t have the desire to work a secular job on Sundays at all, but for now that is what I have. I’m praying God will open a door to pastor the church HE has for me, but that opportunity hasn’t opened yet. However, we do have a job to do, and if we examined our lives we would see that we have benefits, freedoms, and all of our needs taken care of, pretty much. Do we earn this by doing our job?
We live our lives for the one letter word, ‘I’. God usually isn’t right where HE needs to be in our lives. When things seem to be going good for us we are happy go lucky, but when the first stone in the road comes and the road seems to get bumpier as we go down it, we then ask the LORD, ‘What’s going on? HELP ME!’ If He doesn’t answer fast enough, in our opinion, and then we start paying attention to those things of the LORD that we were totally ignoring during the good times, huh?
In today’s world if you don’t do what you were hired to do, you usually become unemployed pretty quick. The Lord hasn’t hired us to do anything either. Yet, HE has required us to be busy. We need to remember that Jesus has paid our sin dept by dying on the cross and HE offers us salvation by grace. So our dept of sin was paid for. However, we are often guilty of taking HIS grace for granted. We live for self and not for Christ. There is nobody who can really and truly prove that statement wrong either. We are not faithful to Christ whatsoever. I can hear people now saying, ‘Wait a minute! I go to church…’ Shame on us for saying we are faithful just because we go to church. I’m not saying that we shouldn’t go to church, because we need too! That is not all we have to do to be faithful to HIM though.
Paul wrote, “Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful,” (1 Corinthians 4:2). What are we suppose to be faithful at? The word stewards means manager. His children are supposed to manage HIS kingdom business down on this earth. How is this done? We do this by being obedient to HIM and what HE has told us to do. We are to be faithful in a number of things; going to church, studying our Bible, praying, witnessing, making disciples who make disciples, etc., and there are scriptures throughout HIS Word that backs these up. However, it doesn’t stop there. We are to be faithful to HIM! Personal question; Are you faithful to HIM?
Many people who profess HIM as their Savior trade HIM in for their lusts and desires to fit into this world. We ignore the scriptures that tell us to be separate from the world, to abstain from all appearance of evil, and not to have fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but to reprove them, and we do things like Elvis Presley used to sing, “Our Way.” The scriptures for all of these are 2 Corinthians 6:17, I Corinthians 5:15; 1 Thessalonians 5:22, and Ephesians 5:11. I left out the fact that you can’t love the world and God too; that’s found in 1 John 2:15. What about the change that Christ brings into your life, (2 Corinthians 5:15 – 21)? You can say you’ve been saved and pretend all you want too, but if there was no change in your life, then you by all accounts were not saved. That’s what the Bible teaches and I believe it.
People don’t like to hear messages on servitude, but being faithful to HIM and serving HIM is what life is all about. Truth is, if we started serving God as hard as we have served this rotten world and the sin in it, then our lives would be more dedicated to God. We need to be FAITHFUL TO HIM! HE is ALL that matters! It’s not me, you or anyone else that matters, but it is HIM. Until a child of God decides to be faithful to HIM, that child will never be satisfied in their lives, because this world offers no permanent satisfaction; it is all temporary. God’s satisfaction lasts for an eternity.
We want to quote Matthew 28:18 – 20, which tells us to ‘go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world,” but does our lives show these verses in our actions, and do we do it? There is a misconception that it is only the pastors, deacons, and teachers who are responsible for spreading the gospel. We need to understand that it is every child of God’s responsibility to lead people to Christ. This is our job. Jesus told the disciples and others who watched HIM ascend into heaven, “ye shall be witnesses unto me, (Acts 1:8). Talking the talk is easy to do, but walking your talk is very hard, if you aren’t faithful to HIM. So, with this thought in mind, let me ask the question again, in a different way. If everything you have in life now depended upon how you served God and were faithful to HIM, meaning you could loose it all; would you still have it now?
Unfortunately we do get involved in things that bring us away from Christ and HE suddenly gets dimmer and dimmer in our lives. He still offers grace and peace to those who return to HIM, but at one point in our lives we must really see how important it is to be faithful to HIM. It’s not a game. We have a job, and we have been paid more than enough to do it. HIS love is enough. So, would you be fired today by God because of your performance for HIM? Unfortunately most of us would be unemployed. Thank God for HIS bountiful and wonderful grace.
Finally, Paul said it best about our work for God when he said, “For we are labourers together with God: ye are God's husbandry, ye are God's building. According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise masterbuilder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon. For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is. If any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire,” (1 Corinthians 3:9 – 15).
This should cause us to render the question, “What shall I render unto the Lord for all HIS benefits toward me?”

Thought of the Day

Serving God and Loving Him
A Commitment to Obeying
Honoring Your Parents
Exodus 20:12

The fifth Commandment turns to rules for living in the world, so to speak. The first four Commandments deal with what God requires in serving Him, and of course, we know that we could speak for days and not cover everything that it really takes to totally serve Him. The fifth Commandment goes directly to the point of what a child should do in his life concerning his/her parents. “Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.”
If there is anything in this world that really gets neglected is that many parents or most of us do not enforce the fact, with their children, that they are required, of God, to honor them with obedience. Is this totally the children’s fault? We can all say that each person, even children, have the right to make decisions. Many will make choices that are not good in their lives, but usually wrong choices are made because parents drop the ball. We can find scripture throughout God’s Word that tells us how to raise a child. What happened to the generation of kids that new that obeying and honoring your Mom, Dad, Grandparents, and adults in general was an understood thing? That generation still exists today. That generation of kids is parents or grandparents today. We knew when Mom or Dad told us to do something that there was no arguing about it. We just did it! As a teenager, my mother had strict rules for me. I was not allowed to go to the skating rink, which was only a half a mile away from me until I turned 16. There wasn’t anything wrong with skating, in my mind, but when Mom said no, she meant it. My mother required so much respect from my brother and I that if we thought a smart thought, we were slapped before we knew how to say the thought. What’s wrong with this picture?
Many so-called scholars would tell us that discipline and spanking kids is emotional and physical abuse to children. However, the scripture tells us to “Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it” (Proverbs 22:6 KJV). The key to this whole statement is the world ‘train’. The scripture also tells us, “Withhold not correction from the child: for if thou beatest him with the rod, he shall not die. Thou shalt beat him with the rod, and shalt deliver his soul from hell, (Proverbs 23:13 – 14 KJV). How does a parent train his/her child to honor them with obedience? Solomon goes into great detail with showing parents how to train their children. The key to raising obedient children is discipline, and God is very big on it. He told us, through Solomon, the writer of Proverbs, that a very good tool to train a child with is using the rod when it is necessary. In fact He tells us if we do not discipline or children by spanking that that we do not love our children. “He that spareth his rod hateth his son: but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes (Proverbs 13:24 KJV).” Parents should also own up to the fact that we teach our kids to disrespect us and not obey us, by our actions toward God. OUR ACTIONS SPEAK LOUDER THAN WORDS. If we, as adults, cannot obey God, then why do we think our children will be obedient to us? Raising a child is not an easy thing to do. In fact, I can remember when my mom would tell me, just before I took a good swat with the belt. ‘This is hurting me more that it is you.’ I did not understand that fact until I gave my own child a good spanking. Children, now, are just as we were when we were kids. They have the same ideas we had by seeing just how much they can to get by with. Just as all of us parents were, they also were conceived in sin.
Kids do not take responsibility for their actions today, because they are trained to be that way by their parents. We are quicker to take up for them and defend them than we are to hold them accountable. When a child is an infant, the mom and dad are so proud. I dare say that it may take a couple of weeks to finally soak in that the child is a responsibility, but it takes years to find out that they are big responsibilities. My laughing joke is that the only bad thing about babies, besides the dirty diapers, is eventually they grow into a hormonal maniac called a teenager. Remember when you mom would say, “One day you will pay for your raising with children of your own?” I’m not trying to say that children are not a blessing from God, because they are, without any reservations. God puts these children in our lives so we can “bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord” (Eph 6:4 KJV). They are God’s children given to us to raise the way HE wants them to be. Unfortunately, many of us fail this great test.
So, how do we raise them to be obedient and respectful to parents and adults in general? We do this by being obedient ourselves; to God. Parents cannot tell children, “Do what I say and not what I do.” This simply does not work. If we do not have discipline in our lives, how can we expect our children to obey? The writer of Hebrews, which I believe is Paul, talks about the Lord disciplining HIS children. Paul writes, “For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons. Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live,” (Hebrews 12:6 – 9KJV)?
Any teen or young child that reads this might think they have excuses for the way they live, but they don’t. I know that I have drastically failed my kids in parts of their lives, just as many parents feel they have done also. However, the fact still remains that they have to make choices just as we did when we were their age, but we can teach them the difference between right and wrong by showing them how to be obedient and how to be held accountable. The Lord holds HIS children accountable, just as we need to hold our children accountable.
Children need to be taught that for every action, there is a reaction in anything that is done. This applies to everyone; adults and kids. Rejecting Christ guarantees a person who dies with that action, an eternity in hell. Kids can be lead toward Christ with discipline in their lives. Solomon said, “Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child; but the rod of correction shall drive it far from him,” (Proverbs 22:15), and then he gives another answer by saying, “The rod and reproof give wisdom: but a child left to himself bringeth his mother to shame,” (Proverbs 29:15 KJV). These answers are a full proof plan on how to get a child headed in the right direction in their lives.
Honoring our parents is a never ending thing. We should always honor them; even when they make mistakes. Marriage or leaving home to live your own life does mean we have the right to disrespect our parents. Obeying our parents is the right thing to do, in the sight of God. How do we honor them? We honor them by obeying them as we obey God. Being obedient to God is a way to be closer to God. That’s what the Ten Commandments are written by God for. They teach us how to become closer to God with obedience in our lives. Remember; The Ten Commandments are laws with purpose.

Thought of the Day - 02/04/08

Cleaning Up Our Lives
A life’s Chore
2 Corinthians 7:1

This past weekend, Becky and I spent all day Saturday cleaning up the house. We both work so much that we just allow things to keep going until we finally say enough. I had already started on my mess, which took all day to relocate, while she started in probably the cleanest room in the house. However, as she worked toward my location, she slowed down too. Even though she accomplished more than I did, I was reminded of how filthiness slows us down in our lives too. Thinking about that, I was reminded of what Paul told the church at Corinth in 2 Corinthians 7:1. He said, “Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.”
Life, in general, has a tendency to drag a person down. Christians are no different. A statement that David made about ‘the wicked prospering,’ shows us how much we desire to be like the world. We can’t seem to separate ourselves from it, can we? Amazing enough, we should know that we are obligated to live for Christ. He gives us direction in our lives, through HIS Word, but at times we choose our own roads in life too. I can’t count on my hand the number of times I went my own way, thinking, ‘I know this is wrong, but…’ Sin is sin, no matter how much man tries to totem pole them. In God’s eyes, no one sin is greater than another, except for the sin of blaspheming the Holy Ghost. That is an unpardonable sin.
If we study up on the church at Corinth, we find that this particular church had many issues. I think that many of the issues that they had where based upon the fact that maybe they weren’t growing spiritually like all Christians should. Paul laid out a grand example of how Christians should live in Roman 12: 1 – 2. Paul begged the Christians at Rome to surrender their lives to the Christian duties. He said, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.”
This particular passage is often preached in many churches simply because it directs us with an authority that stands out more to some people. However, we need to examine the directions that Paul is stating in this passage too. Paul said to present your bodies a living sacrifice. This means that we should strive to live for the Lord with all we have. We need to discipline our lives to where HE can been seen. It’s all supposed to be about HIM anyway, right? It will be about HIM, whether we try to make it about HIM or not. The part of Romans 12 that catches one’s eye after the charge in verses 1 and 2 is verse 3. “For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he out to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.’
For a person to be able to clean up the filth in his life, he must first humble himself and allow God to show him how dirty he is. Obviously the people in Rome, just like the people in Corinth, had what is called an ‘I’ problem or ‘me’ problem. ‘Look at me, I’m so important!’ Most people have a big problem admitting that they are wrong. Why? The answer to this is easier than we think; nobody wants to admit that they are sinners. The reason for this is simple; we have an inferiority complex, to some extent. If we don’t fit into a certain group of people, we don’t feel needed or wanted. Nobody wants to admit that they are bad. We can’t believe that God would actually allow somebody to go to hell when they die, simply because they don’t accept HIM as their Savior, by repenting of their sins and asking HIM to be LORD of their lives. After all, where’s the justice in that, huh?
We all need to realize that hell was created for the devil and his angels; not for man. If a person chooses to live his life for himself and rejects God, then they put themselves into hell at death. It’s not God’s fault! He paid every person’s way into heaven by allowing HIS ONLY BEGOTTEN SON to die on the cross for us. It’s not HIS fault if a person doesn’t choose to pick up their paid ticket. There are people who have accepted the free ticket, but choose to live life as they please. These folks, like many others, need to clean their life up. Paul instructs us to ‘be separate,’ (2 Cor. 6:17). He also stated to ‘abstain from all appearance of evil,’ too, in 1 Thessalonians 5:22.
Cleaning our lives up for Christ’s sake is the only way we can truly have a relationship with HIM. Sin separates us from God, and the call of repentance is loud. We should be challenged today to listen to HIM and ask HIM to show us what needs to be cleaned up. We need to give HIM our all. If you were served food on a dirty plate who you be willing to eat the food? That’s how some of our lives are; we expect God to bless us and accept us with our plates full of dirt. The main reason that the church of Corinth was so dirty was the same reason we are today. There is no real fear of God in our lives. Oh, it’s pretty easy to say we fear God, but does our life show it? We love to talk our talk, but we don’t necessarily want to walk our talk, do we? Walking our talk is a great way to “cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.” It’s just a thought.