Positive Influence

“I thank God . . . when I call to remembrance

the genuine faith that is in you, which dwelt

first in your grandmother Lois and your mother

Eunice, and I am persuaded is in you also.”

     2 Timothy 1:3, 5 (NKJV)

Children are a blessing from God and as Christians, we have a special responsibility in raising them. Mothers (as well as fathers, grandparents, aunts, uncles, etc.) play an important role in helping to "bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord." (Eph. 6:4, NKJV)

I think we’d all like to know that our children are walking with the Lord, but that doesn't come just by virtue of having a Christian upbringing. This is a personal decision that everyone needs to make for themselves.  Our children have free will and they have to choose to accept Christ or not.  However, we do have some important tools that we can use to have a positive influence on our children:

Power of our words:  The words we use have great power---to build up or tear down, to encourage or to dishearten others.  At times, we all say things rashly or idly that we wish we could take back, but once said, they can’t be retracted. However, we can apologize and that is a wonderful teachable moment for our children.

Power of our prayers:  Committing our children to the Lord in prayer on a daily basis is one of the most important things we can do.  Interceding on behalf of them, entrusting our petitions for them to God is powerful.  And letting our children know that we pray for them is also a way to strengthen them and help them realize the importance of prayer.

Power of our walk:   How we act is just as important as what we say, and of course, we should strive for consistency between the two. Demonstrating grace, mercy, forgiveness, charity, obedience, etc. to our children speaks volumes. And we should not be afraid to admit when we make mistakes, to show how we get back on track with God and our Christian walk.

I want to wish a special Mother’s Day blessing on all the mothers here and encourage you to leave a legacy of faith with your children.  Keep praying that they will "grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory both now and forever. Amen." (2 Peter 3:18, NKJV) 

Thursday Devotional - Chasing after the Wind of Pleasure

As we saw last week, Solomon didn’t find satisfaction from chasing after wisdom and wealth, apart from God’s plans. He found it meaningless, so he tried chasing after pleasure.

Ecclesiastes 2:1-3    I said to myself, “Come now, I will test you with pleasure to find out what is good.” But that also proved to be meaningless. ² “Laughter,” I said, “is madness. And what does pleasure accomplish?” ³ I tried cheering myself with wine, and embracing folly—my mind still guiding me with wisdom. I wanted to see what was good for people to do under the heavens during the few days of their lives.

Solomon found chasing after pleasure meaningless, too. It is temporal and unsatisfying. However, chasing after God’s plans is eternal, has meaning and is satisfying.

Ecclesiastes 2:24-25           A person can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in their own toil. This too, I see, is from the hand of God,²⁵ for without him, who can eat or find enjoyment?

Without a relationship with God and following Him, nothing will ever satisfy. Where are you and I chasing after an earthly temporal pleasure more than God’s plans for us? Staying up late watching TV, playing video games, reading/posting on social media, or logging another exotic vacation doesn’t provide lasting satisfaction.

God asked me to join an international ministry over 14 years ago that takes 15 or more hours of my time each week. It is far more rewarding than I expected. I wouldn’t trade it for all the exotic vacations in the world!!!

Similar to what Kent talked about yesterday, God can give us true joy in being content in what He’s given us to do and experience.

Alice

Chasing The Unicorn

Then, accompanied by the disciples, Jesus left the upstairs room and went as usual to the Mount of Olives. There he told them, “Pray that you will not give in to temptation.”

He walked away, about a stone’s throw, and knelt down and prayed, “Father, if you are willing, please take this cup of suffering away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine.” Then an angel from heaven appeared and strengthened him.  Luke 22:39-43

Each month, I have set goals that help me measure what I am trying to achieve for the year.  Things like meeting with my manager and team members come to mind, and discussing both their and my progress throughout the year is very helpful.  Then I have family and personal goals that are set to ensure things done.  These goals over the course of life have changed quite dramatically.  Today, things like, “Love my wife better today than I did yesterday,” and “complete repair of screen window,” are what occupy my thoughts.  When I was younger, my goals were on more materialistic or things that I wanted to get for the wrong reasons.  You might know some of these phrases behind them:  “It gives me status.” “This makes me look better, and it shows I have arrived.”  Sometimes, those are not bad things, but the motives often are.  It’s not that we should not want things, but we should always ask ourselves, “At what expense?”  There is this expression called ‘Chasing the Unicorn,’ which in essence means running after something that does not exist.  We often do this in life wanting to gain something we do not have hoping it will fill a void that materially cannot be filled.

As followers of Christ, we should always know that only He can fill the voids that matter in our lives.  I chose these verses as an example of what we should aspire to in our walk of faith.  My original thought was that verse 42 (take this cup of suffering away from me) was enough.  However, the prior verses give it context.  Reading it a few times, it feels that Jesus is giving a pep talk not only for His followers but maybe even Himself.  I know!  Jesus needs no pep talk!  However, we all have that inner voice that chimes in to try to talk ourselves out of doing something because no one will notice.  Don't have that second piece of cake.  Do not spend the extra $50 a month on the car.  Keep God in that part of your life.  Feel free to insert that indulgence that you fight to avoid a pattern of poor judgment and behavior.  I have been there, and struggled in those moments.  That is why what Jesus says has such resonance in the context of these verses.  It’s not about what I (Jesus) want.  It’s about what you (Heavenly Father, Your will to be done) want.  Whenever we face something albeit literal or spiritual, we must pray that our minds, hearts, and spirit focus on God and not just our own wants in the process.  That was what Jesus did at the Mount of Olives.

God wants what is best for us.  There are times we will openly question Him.  We say, “Why not that, and why not now?”  However, over time we have learned not just through His word but also personally that He has always delivered.  For those of you newer in your journey, think of when God first came into your life.  You knew He was real then.  Trust that He will be that same God to you today as when you first committed to Him, and as time passes, your life will be as in Jeremiah 31:12; “They will come home and sing songs of joy on the heights of Jerusalem. They will be radiant because of the Lord’s good gifts— the abundant crops of grain, new wine, and olive oil, and the healthy flocks and herds. Their life will be like a watered garden, and all their sorrows will be gone.”  Trust in God’s will and timing, and all things will work out right.  What anxieties are you experiencing today?  Where are you challenged to trust God’s timing over your own?  My prayer is that we know God will always provide, and let us not give in to ‘Chasing the Unicorn.’  Amen.

Dash

Revelation 1:8

“I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.”

THE DASH

by Linda Ellis

I read of a man who stood to speak at the funeral of a friend. He referred to the dates on the tombstone from the beginning… to the end.

He noted that first came the date of birth and spoke of the following date with tears, but he said what mattered most of all was the dash between those years.

For that dash represents all the time they spent alive on earth and now only those who loved them know what that little line is worth.

For it matters not, how much we own, the cars… the house… the cash. What matters is how we live and love and how we spend our dash.

So think about this long and hard; are there things you’d like to change? For you never know how much time is left that still can be rearranged.

To be less quick to anger and show appreciation more and love the people in our lives like we’ve never loved before.

If we treat each other with respect and more often wear a smile… remembering that this special dash might only last a little while.

So when your eulogy is being read, with your life’s actions to rehash, would you be proud of the things they say about how you lived your dash?

We have all heard and read how the Lord God is the Alpha and the Omega.  He is the beginning and the end.  But what is in between?  In between is the dash, the life that we live.  While “The Dash” never mentions God, the things it does say we should do to live our dash the best all goes along with how the Bible tells us to live.  How we are to love one another and be slow to anger. 

Today I wanted to encourage you to make sure you are living a dash that is worthy of beginning and ending with Christ.  We are Christ on earth to those that we come in contact with.  Live your dash for Christ today and always.