Warning! Danger Ahead!

 

As mothers, it is perfectly natural to want to warn our children of any danger we know may be ahead of them.  If we know of a way for them to avoid trouble, we let them know.  It is of course up to them as they get older to heed our instruction.  Either they will listen to us or they won’t.  And if you have more than one child, I’m sure that you have already noticed that one child seems to listen to warnings more than another.

If you knew that the building they were about to go into was to catch on fire, would you just sit by while they went inside?  If you knew that the food they were about to eat was poisoned would you give it to them to eat anyway?  Of course not.  You would do everything in your power to keep them safe.  You love your child more than you love yourself.

In 2 Timothy 3:1-5 Paul is warning the Timothy of dangerous people that he will meet.  We are living in dangerous times, but this isn’t a recent occurrence because Paul is warning Timothy.

I like how The Message by Eugene Peterson writes this passage;

1-5Don’t be naive. There are difficult times ahead. As the end approaches, people are going to be self-absorbed, money-hungry, self-promoting, stuck-up, profane, contemptuous of parents, crude, coarse, dog-eat-dog, unbending, slanderers, impulsively wild, savage, cynical, treacherous, ruthless, bloated windbags, addicted to lust, and allergic to God. They’ll make a show of religion, but behind the scenes they’re animals. Stay clear of these people.

Paul is clear, “Stay clear of these people”.  Stay away!   The NIV says, “Have nothing to do with them.”

I’m sure you could name at least a dozen people you know who fit the description above.  We all do.  Also, as mothers our worst nightmare would be for our own children to become like this.  These verses describe the world we live in today.  Perversity is everywhere.  It is accepted by most as just the change in times.

The other night, my husband was reading to me an article about an amazing, but very sad, ruling that took place. A Canadian judge ruled that a 12-year-old girl was “excessively” punished when her father told her she could not go on a school camping trip because she had broken rules for use of the Internet.  Can you believe that?  You can read the whole story on Albert Mohler’s blog.  Now we have children taking their parents to court because they thought the parents were to harsh & the judges are taking the kids side!

Spiritual warfare is everywhere and as Christian parents we must stay alert and on guard and teach our children the same.  We must not be deceived in our thinking.  We live in a day and time when there are people everywhere claiming to be Christians but they are dangerous! They appear to be godly, but they are lovers of self rather than lovers of God.  They are on the TV preaching, they are in the churches preaching and leading, they are your next door neighbors.  Do not be deceived! 

We must stand against such people.  Many take the the Great Commission as their excuse to be friends with these people.  You don’t have to be good friends with them or look for them hoping to save them from their sin.  YOU ARE NOT GOD!  Only God can save them.  If He chooses to save them and chooses to use you, let him orchestrate the event.  Don’t seek these people out hoping to teach the Gospel to them.  They will not hear it or understand if God has not prepared their heart or ordained for them to accept it.  Many seek these people out for very good reasons, but in turn become sucked into the sin and selfish life.  If God has chosen them as His own, they will believe.  Listen to the Spirit and He will direct you.  How exciting it can be to witness one coming to Christ with a broken heart!  But we don’t have to look for those opportunities…God brings them to us.

Warn your children.  Teach them the Truth of Christ and the ways of God so that when they encounter the wicked they will know to run away. 

We not hide them from their children; we will tell the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the LORD, his power and the wonders he has done. Psalm 78:4

Learn to be still.  The literal meaning for be still is cease  or stop.  We don’t like to be still.  It makes us feel as though we are not doing anything.  But God tells us to be still.  This is when he speaks to us most fervently and clearly. 

Be still and know that I am God.  Psalm 46:10

Stay alert and on guard.  Evil surrounds us and if we are not careful it will not appear to be as evil as we once thought and we will accept it.  Stay alert and see it as it is..not of God!  Many will claim to be of God but only a few will be truly of God.  No lovers of self will enter into Heaven, only lovers of God.

Jesus answered; “Watch out that no one deceives you.  For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Christ’, and will deceive many.  Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved. Matthew 24:4-5, 12-13

 

Lord Jesus, open my eyes so that I may see the evil for what it is and teach my children to stay away. 

Is It Urgent or Important?

I’ve have been convicted lately of the difference of the important versus the urgent in my everyday life.  As a mother, I see most of my duties as urgent.  When the dryer goes off, it is urgent that I get the clothes out & put on hangers or they will get wrinkled. 

Sometimes, I know I get urgent & important confused.  My children are important, not the clothes in the dryer.  My husband is important, not posting to my blog. 

Do you get these confused also?  We are not the only ones.  This is an age old problem.  The disciples of Jesus also had this confused.  In fact, I think Jesus spent most of his time trying to teach the disciples that it was the people and the condition of their heart that was the most important, not the Law.  They were still held tightly to the law of the Pharisees.  This is what they grew up with & this is all they knew.  Jesus did not teach what the Pharisees had been teaching for hundreds of years. They added hundreds of rules & laws to God’s law and this is what the Jew was expected to live by. It was hard for the Disciples to change their way of thinking and understand what Jesus wanted of them.  He wanted them to stop looking at people through the eyes of the law, but see them through the eyes of God, with love and compassion.

In Mark 10:13-16 parents were bringing their children to Jesus for a blessing.  The disciples tried to get them to go away.  Children were not worthy to be with Jesus.  Jesus did not agree.  He understood that these precious little children were very important and he told the disciples to stop & let the children come to him.  I’m sure the disciples felt that there were much more urgent matters to attend to, not children.No one knew better than Jesus how precious the souls of these children were and how innocent their faith was. 

I have become more conscious of the importance of the heart of my child these last few weeks.  My youngest daughter was sick with a fever last week.  I so badly wanted to get my laundry done & out of the way, but she wanted me to lay down and watch cartoons with her.  I set my laundry down, knowing that it would take me a long time to get all of the wrinkles out, and laid down with her until she went to sleep.  This was important to her for me to lay with her while she was sick.

Issues of importance are on a vertical scale.  They deal with your relationship with God first and then your relationship with others.  They are self sacrificing, they are private and often invisible.  It is choosing others over yourself.

Issues of urgency are on a horizontal scale.  When addressed they do not enhance a relationship with others. It is putting yourself before others even though we think we are doing it for someone else. They are often simply tasks to perform.  There is a time & place for the urgent; but, our world has replaced the important with the urgent. Urgent things when done are usually very visible to to others.  When I cook dinner, everyone knows it because they can smell it.  When I check email, the sender knows because I respond.  But when I pray for that sender, know one knows but me & the Lord.

Do you see the difference? It is the things of importance that really matter.  Those urgent things can wait; really, they can.  What is the worst thing that will happen if you read with your little girl and don’t clean up the kitchen right after dinner?  You might have to scrub that pan a little harder.  But the reward is that you have filled up your daughter’s love tank by stopping the urgent and doing the important with her. 

I have never regretted putting aside the urgent for the important.  I have always looked back and wondered why I put so much importance on what I thought was urgent and regretted it.  I have missed wonderful conversations with my teens because I thought I just had to get that email sent out, or missed out on  baby doll tea parties because I was determined to get the whole bathroom clean.

Today, evaluate your day.  What is on your list that you would consider urgent and what is there that is important.  Usually the important things are not on the list, they are hidden within the list.  Don’t miss them!  Be mindful of what important things that God is placing in your day.  You will be greatly blessed for choosing the important and I think you will be amazed at how you will still get the urgent things done also.

Remembering our blessings.

I finally convinced my husband that today was the perfect day to clean & reorganize our garage.  I’m in the mood to have a garage sale & needed his strong back to move some stuff around for me so I could go through things.

Well, by mid-day I was exhausted.  I found a box of loose pictures, took it inside & sat down with it, to try and cool off in the air conditioning.  Some of the pictures brought back such precious memories of vacations, church musicals, births, and just everyday fun.  I had forgotten that Austin was such a chunky little baby.  Now he is 10 and almost as tall as I am.  So many things I had forgot, until I saw those pictures today.

I have a 14 year old son who is wearing me & his father out right now.  He is our determined, strong willed child.  We have others who have  strong will, but this child tops them all.  I feel like all I do is get on to him for misbehaving or for not doing his chore or for not coming home on time.  Gripe. Gripe. Gripe!  Today I found pictures of him when he was 2,3,4 & 5 years old.  How cute he was!!  He was always smiling.  Of course most of the pictures of him are of him popping his head in front of who I was trying to take a picture of.  He loves life!  If it is dangerous & exciting he is all there.  I have a hard time remembering the fun times I have had with my son because all of the trouble he has caused over the years remains at the front of my memories of him.  These pictures really helped me today to remember how much I not only love him, but how much I like him.

In Deuteronomy 8 I love how Moses reminded the people to not forget what God had done for them.  He freed them from over 400 years of slavery.  He gave them victory over their enemies who were much better soldiers than they were.  DO NOT FORGET!  God gave us His Word as a picture to remind us of what he has done for us. 

Some ways that I enjoy keeping the memories alive are;

• keep a journal about my kids & make notes of interesting things they have done or said (blogging is often used for this)
• Take lots of pictures!  I don’t do scrap books, but my mother-in-law does.  She remembers things about my kids when they were little that I don’t.
• Keep a journal WITH them.  Get a notebook, or blank journal and write down a question, “How was your day?” and leave it on their pillow.  When they answer, they ask you a question & leave it on your pillow.

Now that summer is here, many parents dread this time with their children because they are always at home.  I really encourage you to cherish these days with your kids.  Talk to them, look them in the eyes and most importantly listen to them with out interupting.  You will learn a lot!

 

Blessings!

~Dana

Death can be celebrated

As everyone who reads here knows, Steven Curtis Chapman & his family experienced the unthinkable a few weeks ago, the death of their 5 year old daughter, Maria.  It is every parents worst nightmare – to out live your children.

But because of the terrific & strong faith of the Chapman family, they are celebrating in the midst of their grief that Maria is in the presence of her Lord. They know where she is now.  And it is this knowledge that keeps them from drowing in their grief.  They are praising God for the short time they were given with her.  They are celebrating her life and the way she touched everyone’s life.

 

I have posted a video of part of the funeral, just to show you how this family is healing and still encouraging others.