Children in Christian preaching symbolize innocence, dependence, and the promise of the future, reflecting Jesus' teaching that the kingdom of God belongs to such as these (Matthew 19:14). Illustrations often use images of nurturing, growth, and the challenges of parenting to underscore the responsibility of raising children in faith (Proverbs 22:6). They highlight both the joy and spiritual significance of children as gifts and heirs of God's promises.
A farmer was walking over his farm with a friend, exhibiting
his crops, herds of cattle, and flocks of sheep. His friend was
greatly impressed and highly pleased, especially with the
splendid sheep. He had seen the same breed frequently before,
but never had seen such fine specimens. With great earnestness
he asked how he had succeeded in rearing such flocks. His simple
answer was: "I take care of my lambs." --Scottish Magazine
In all the literature of sacred experience that has grown around that child's prayer of the Christian world, " Now I lay me down to sleep," we have seen few narratives more affecting than this:
It was told by the pastor of St. John's Church, New York. Part of the wall of a burnt house, he said, had fallen on a six- or seven-year-old boy, and terribly mangled him. Living in the neighborhood, I was called in to see the stricken household. The little sufferer was in intense agony. Most of his ribs were broken, his breastbone crushed, and one of his limbs fractured in two places. His breathing was short and difficult. He was evidently dying.
I spoke a few words to him of Christ, the ever-present and precious Friend of children, and then, with his mother and an older sister, knelt before his bed. Short and simple was our prayer. Holding the lad's hand in mine, I repeated the children's gospel: "Suffer the little children to come unto Me, and forbid them not, for of such is the kingdom of heaven."
He disengaged his hand from mine, and folded his. We rose from our knees. His mind began to wander. He called his mother. "I'm sleepy," mamma, "and want to say my prayers."
"Do so, my darling," replied the sobbing mother.
"Now I lay me down to sleep; I pray Thee, Lord, my soul to keep If I should die..." and then he was beyond the river of death.
Dr. W. B. Riley told of spending a brief vacation years ago on the premises of a Scottish sheep herder. His host had met him courteously at the station, but in the long drive to the ranch had seemed strangely disinclined to talk. There had seemed to be a heavy burden on his heart. Pressed for the reason for his silence, the old shepherd had wept as though his own children had been snatched from him. "I lost sixty-five of my best lambs last night," he said. "Wolves got in." The sympathetic pastor expressed his own grief over this great loss of his friend's. "And how many sheep did they kill besides?" he asked. The shepherd looked surprised. "Don't you know," he answered, "that a wolf will never take an old sheep so long as he can get a lamb?" The "lambs" are being cruelly ruined by the enemy of souls today. Who is there with the shepherd heart to weep over this loss, to set about to bring to the lambs and the sheep the protection that is to be found only in Christ?
--King's Business
A Sunday School teacher was in the process of teaching the 10
commandments to her third grade class. She noted: "We have learned
the commandments, 'Honor thy father and mother.' Is there one that
refers to brothers and sisters?" A little girl responded, "Thou shalt
not kill!" -- Homemade
A church newsletter included this essay by Danny Dutton, age 8.
His third grade Sunday School teacher had asked her students to
explain God.
"One of God's main jobs is making people. He
makes these to put in the place of the ones that die so there will be
enough people to take care of things here on earth. He doesn't make
grownups, just babies. I think because they are smaller and easier to
make. That way he doesn't have to take up his valuable time teaching
the to talk and walk. He can just leave that up to the mothers and
fathers. I think it works out pretty good. "God's second most
important job is listening to prayers. An awful lot of this goes on,
cause some people, like preachers and things, pray other times besides
bedtime, and Grandpa and Grandma Dutton pray every time they eat
(except for snacks). God doesn't have time to listen to the radio or
TV on account of this. Cause God hears everything, not only prayers,
there must be a terrible lot of noise going on in his ears unless he
has thought of a way to turn it off. I think we should all be a little
quieter. God sees everything and hears everything and keeps everything
and is everywhere. Which keeps him pretty busy. So you shouldn't go
wasting his time asking for things that aren't very important or go
over your parents' heads and ask for something they said you couldn't
have."
see \reference{Deuteronomy 6:1-9}{Deuteronomy 6:1-9}; \reference{1
Kings 2:1-4}{1 Kings 2:1-4}; \reference{Matthew 18:2-6}{Matthew
18:2-6}; \reference{Ephesians 6:4}{Ephesians 6:4} Source: Christ
Church (Episcopal), St. Michael's, MD.
see "Fresh Sermon Illustrations"
(http://www.sedona.net/~budman/illustr.html)
A couple was watching a television program about children in other countries who needed families. The lady's attention was especially drawn to a photograph of one of the children. She told her husband that she had this strong feeling that they should go to Romania, bring the boy back to the U.S. and adopt him. The husband agreed, the plans were made and before long they were on a plane to Romania. When they arrived at the orphanage, they were told that the child had been returned to his parents. Finding out where his parents lived, the couple went immediately to see the boy at his home. The parents told them that the child was dead and that his body was over in the corner of the room. But, as they approached him, they saw him move slightly and heard a faint whimper. There were cigarette burns and bruises all over his body and he was seriously malnourished. "Take him," the heartless parents told them, "we have too many children anyway." Upon returning to the U.S. with their new son, the couple was determined that this child would either die being held and loved or recover fully under their care. He had been found to be blind, crippled, unable to talk, and sick almost to the point of death, not to speak of the multitude of emotional scars he bore. >From the start, they ministered to the boy's needs with a long and detailed daily regime of love and exercise, working with him many hours every day. The little boy's improvement began immediately. They taught him basic functions, like crawling, and then sitting up. The doctors said he would always be blind, and never able to do these basic things because of all the abuse he had experienced. However, within a few years he was not only seeing, but he was able also to walk and play and converse like other children his age. He was made whole. The love, mercy and compassion that flowed from the lives and hearts of this couple in such a magnanimous way and the healing effect that it had in the life of their adopted child is a very pale example of the love, mercy and compassion our Heavenly Father has for us. He looked down upon us and saw our need and sent the Provision in His Son, Jesus Christ. We have only to receive it by faith. God's Word says that we say we are rich, with everything we want. We say we don't need a thing and that we don't realize that spiritually we are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked. (\reference{Revelation 3:17}{Revelation 3:17}) We are in need of this healing, saving love of God in Jesus Christ. "But when the fullness of time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, in order that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons." We don't have to work for His favor anymore. When we receive Christ into our hearts as our Savior and Lord we are no more under the Law as slaves, but we are adopted by Him as His sons and daughters. What a difference!
Seven things smart parents never say:
1. You should've done it this way.
2. Is that hair on your head or are you wearing a mop?
3. You don't mean that.
4. That's the most beautiful picture I've ever seen.
5. Hey, you're a wildman.
6. Watch out you're crusin 'for a brusin'.
7. Not now.
Children respond best to those acts and words they perceive as encouraging, and worst to punishment and degrading comments, which inflict discouragement. Encouragement enables. Discouragement disables.
- Harriet Webster
Expectant faces on wiggling bodies,
Sitting around a table, waiting for someone to teach them.
Who will minister to the children?
"I'm too busy. I work hard all week.
When I come to church, I need to be ministered to.
I can't do it."
Minds waiting to be molded, needing to learn about God,
They look eagerly for someone to teach them.
Who will minister to the children?
"I'm with children every other day of the week.
I need a change of pace on Sunday.
I can't do it."
Children wanting to know God's message to them.
Children wanting to experience God's love,
Children wanting to know God.
Who will minister to the children?
"My children are all grown.
I put in my time.
I deserve a break.
I can't do it."
Jesus said, "Let the little children come unto me,
and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God
belongs to such as them."
Who will minister to the children?
- Kathy Strawn, {The Sunday School Leader: Larger Church
Edition, }Sept.1994, 40.
On the mantelpiece of my grandmother's parlor was an apple in a
vial. It entirely filled the body of the bottle, and my childish
wonderment constantly was "How could it have got there?" I climbed a
chair to see if the bottom would unscrew, or if there had been a joint
throughout the length of the vial. But neither of these proved to be
the case, and the apple remained to me a mystery. One day, walking in
the garden, was a vial tied, and within it a tiny apple growing. The
apple was put into the bottle while it was little, and it grew there.
So we must capture the boys and girls and introduce them within the
influence of the church, and let them grow up therein.
{The Sunday School Times}
A familiar story is that of a visitor to Coleridge who argued
vehemently against the religious instruction of the young, and
declared his own determination not to "prejudice"his children in favor
of any form of religion, but to allow them at maturity to choose for
themselves. The answer of Coleridge to the particular argument was
pertinent and sound enough: "Why prejudice a garden in favor of
flowers and fruit? Why not let the clods choose for themselves
between cockleberries and strawberries?"
{The Christian Advocate}
Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes was once asked when the training of a
child should begin. "A hundred years before it is born," he replied.
What he was saying is simply that the training of children should
begin with the training of their grandparents. Timothy's faith was
the result of the faith of his mother and his grandmother.
How important it is that we recognize our responsibility in the
area of the children entrusted to us. If we are faithful in this
training, we can claim God's promise concerning their future.
- Irving D. Larson, {The Fountain}
Children are creatures of habit. Once you've done something twice,
it becomes a tradition. Whether it's the food you eat on a holiday or
the way you observe the holiday, kids need traditions. Traditions
give your child a sense of what it means to be part of the family.
- Marilyn Minshell, {Pipeline, }Jefferson County Schools,
Louisville Ky.
A new mother stayed with her parents for several days after the
birth of her first child. One afternoon she remarked to her mother
that it was surprising the baby had dark hair, since both her husband
and she were fair. The grandmother said, "Well, your daddy has black
hair." To which the daughter replied, "But, Mama, that doesn't
matter, because I'm adopted." With an embarrassed smile, that mother
said the most wonderful words her daughter had ever heard: "I always
forget."
All Christians are adopted children of God who are accepted by God
with the same unconditional love that this mother had for her
daughter.
- Michael Green
The governess of an eight-year-old girl in Evanston, IL, tells how
the little girl's parents, both psychology majors, brought her up.
They followed a rule of never commanding her or punishing her, but
always trying to reason with her. One snowy morning they asked her to
wear her snowpants. She refused. They reasoned with her - the snow
is deep - you'll get damp legs - you'll catch cold and get sick. The
girl, unimpressed by reason, refused. But somehow she gave in and put
on her snowpants. But once inside, standing in full view of her
parents who were watching from their living-room window, she pulled
off her snowpants, threw them in the snow, and went on to school. The
parents went out into the snow to retrieve the garment and agreed that
they must not mention the episode to their daughter on her return from
school.
That evening at the dinner table the father asked his
eight-year-old to please pass the salt. She refused.
He reasoned with her. "My food will taste better with salt. You
want your daddy to enjoy his meat and potatoes, don't you?"
The little girl still refused to pass the salt.
For five full minutes he reasoned, cajoled, and coaxed. Then
finally he got up from his chair, walked around the table and picked
up the salt and walked back to his place.
Commented the governess, "If that had happened when I was a girl,
my father would have gotten up from the table too - but not to get the
salt."
A father was reading stories from a picture Bible to his three-year-old daughter. When they got to the story of the Last Supper, she pointed to the picture of the loaf of bread and asked, "Is that the crust that Jesus died on?"
Dad tried to explain that Jesus had died on a cross, not on a crust! ________
Perhaps the next time we look upon the "crust" of a loaf of bread, we can be reminded that, via the cross, Jesus' body was broken on our behalf.
Source: Christian Parenting, Nov/Dec 1996, p. 48.
PRAY THAT YOUR CHILDREN WILL...
Become Christ's follower early in life (Psalms 63:1; Psalms 2; 1 Timothy 3:15).
Have a hatred for sin (Psalms 97:10).
Gratefully receive discipline (Psalms 119:71).
Accept responsibility for their sins (Psalms 51:1-4, Psalms 51:9,Psalms 51:10).
Be protected from the evil one -- spiritually, intellectually, emotionally, physically (John 17:15, 1 Thessalonians 5:22,1 Thessalonians 5:23, Matthew 6:13).
Be hedged in by God so that they cannot find their way to wrong people or places and that the wrong people cannot find their way to them (Job 1:10; Hosea 2)
Have an excellent spirit in all their ways and relationships (Daniel 6:3)
Respect those in authority over them (Exodus 20:12, 1 Thessalonians 5:12, 1 Thessalonians 5:13; Ephesians 6:1-3, Ephesians 6:5-7)
Desire the right kind of friends and be protected from those who would corrupt them (Proverbs 1:10-19).
Be kept from the wrong mate and saved for the right one (2 Corinthians 6:14-16)
Be kept pure while awaiting marriage (1 Corinthians 6:18-20).
Learn to totally submit to God and actively resist Satan (James 4:7).
Be single-hearted and wholly committed to the Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 12:1, Romans 12:2).
Parents/Grandparents, why not put this near where you usually pray and go down the list in your petitions to God?
___________________
Glad Tidings, Jacksonville Church of Christ, Jacksonville, AL, 25 June 1998.
#15886
*
My Source:
GLAD TIDINGS OF GOOD THINGS
Volume 4, August 6, 1998
Author: Lester Kamp
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
CHILDREN IN WORSHIP
by Lester Kamp
One of our main goals in life is to help our children and other young people to become Christians who are faithful to God's Word and active in His kingdom, the church. We want to "bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord" (Ephesians 6:4). We want them to know the joy of knowing, serving, and worshipping the Lord. Our children should be taught why we worship, how we worship, and how to make our worship most effective. Parents, grandparents, and friends will be the most important influences on our young people in their worship. Here are a few ideas that will help us train our children to be good worshippers.
ONE-----SET A GOOD EXAMPLE
Children need to see your worship and the joy it brings to your life. You need to come to the worship assemblies regularly with an attitude of joy and anticipation--not with a sense of drudgery or obligation. You need to sing, bow in prayer, listen intently to the sermon, give joyfully, and partake of the Lord's Supper meditatively. Children will follow your example, so set the right kind.
TWO-----PREPARE THE CHILD
Before Sunday, talk to your child about how to act in the assembly. Tell the child why we pray, sing, give, partake of the Lord's Supper weekly, and listen to a sermon. As you would in preparing him for school, make sure the child gets enough rest the night before to be awake and alert Sunday.
THREE-----INVOLVE THE CHILD
When singing, help him locate the page of the song. With your finger on his book, point to the words as we sing. Encourage your child to sing even though he may not always sing the right words. When the sermon is delivered, help the child locate the Scriptures cited and/or encourage him to write them down. This impresses upon the child the importance of paying attention. It also stresses that worship is active and not passive.
FOUR-----AVOID DISTURBANCES
Make sure that your child has gone to the restroom and for a drink of water before the worship service begins. Traffic in and out of the auditorium during worship is both unnecessary (with but a few exceptions) and disruptive to the worship of many.
FIVE-----SIT UP TOWARD THE FRONT
Don't follow the natural tendency to sit in the back so that the child does not disturb others. Think positively. Sit close to the front so that your child can see and hear what is happening. You'll be amazed at how much better he will behave when you sit toward the front, and how much more meaningful worship will be to you, too.
SIX-----FOLLOW THROUGH
Reinforce your child's learning by discussing various aspects of the worship period afterwards.
SEVEN-----BE PATIENT
Children will not act like adults, but with patience and love, they can be taught to love God and worship Him from the heart.
This process will take time, but it will be time well spent. The time to begin is now, regardless of how young your child is.
By Rev. Marvin McKenzie
Heartland Baptist Bible College, Oklahoma City, OK
Text: Hebrews 2:5-9
Introduction: As a means of introducing this morning's message, allow me to give you a little material concerning the context of the passage. The Book of Hebrews is one of the most important and yet most difficult of the books of the Bible to grasp. The authorship is uncertain, however, most Fundamental scholars agree that Paul is most likely to have been its author. It is interesting to me that, those who are not so fundamental almost always ascribe the authorship to someone other than Paul.
Some say it was Barnabas, some say it was Peter, others say it was written after all of the apostles had died away, by some strange person no one knows about anymore. I have come to the place that I just about determine whether a person is a theological liberal or fundamentalist based upon their view of the authorship of this book!
We believe that Hebrews is written to a persecuted and scattered population of Jewish Christians.And the writer's desire is to encourage them in their faith by telling them about some BETTER THINGS! As you study through Hebrews you hear repeatedly about Better Things and New Things.
A BETTER PRIESTHOOD A BETTER SACRIFICE A BETTER COVENANT A BETTER REST A BETTER FUTURE and so forth.
In chapter 2, the author is writing of Jesus Christ, explaining how he is BETTER THAN THE ANGELS. Now, notice in our text a few points concerning man's present condition;
His worthlessness - What is man? (vs. 6) His powerlessness - Lower than the Angels (vs. 7) His Helplessness - Not all things put under him (vs. 8)
***Man was created the crowning point of God's Creation, now he is so sinful and wicked that it is a wonder that God would even take note of him.
***Man was created with glory and honor. A being, unlike the angels, in that we were made in the image of God and for the express purpose of fellowship with God. Now, through sin and rebellion, we're just "lower than the angels."
***Man was created to subdue the earth and conquer it. Now, due to the curse, this earth is the death of us. We earn our bread by the sweat of our faces. We suffer and struggle to scratch out a living from the earth, but eventually, time, and the forces of the nature of this earth take its toll on us and we return to the dust.
The author is being honest.
THAT'S WHAT LIFE CAN BE!
If he had tried to pull one over on these Christians, he would have been laughed out of town. No one would have given him a second thought.
THEY KNEW THEY WERE SUFFERING!
And, when a man is hurting, some pie in the sky by and by type message won't be much help to him! So the author admits times are tough. But then, look at verse 9
BUT WE SEE JESUS!
As bad as it is, the author, under divine inspiration says,
THERE IS A BRIGHT LIGHT TO LIFT UP AND LOOK AT!
We see Jesus!
No matter how rough things get in this life.
We see Jesus!
No matter how hard it may be to feed the family
We see Jesus!
No matter how wicked this world seems to be
We see Jesus!
And I want to submit to you today, that, when we see Jesus,
-- We can find the hope to hang in there. -- We can find the strength to keep on for Christ. -- To keep doing what is right. -- To keep a joy about our countenance
I saw this phrase this week and began to think about all of the ways we might see Jesus today. And I want to tell you what I found, because I believe when Jesus is lifted up, you can't help but want to come to Him!
First, We See Jesus
I. AS WE LOOK BACK THROUGH BIBLICAL HISTORY
Look into the pages of history and, nearly everywhere you look, you will see the Lord Jesus Christ!
1. We see Jesus as the Promised Seed
Promised first to Adam and Eve in Genesis 3:15
Again to Abraham in Genesis 12:1-2
This seed was then promised to Jacob, then Judah, and then David.
He is promised in Isaiah 7:14 thus;
Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. (KJV)
He is promised in Isaiah 9:6 like this;
For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. (KJV)
And He is promised in Micah 5:2 with these words;
But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting. (KJV)
All of the hopes of the world, both in the Old Testament and in the New, rested upon this one promise made by the God. And one day. Not when men would have expected it, But in the fullness of God's time
GOD KEPT HIS PROMISE!
A special Star singled His arrival, the Angels of God sung about His appearance, and Even the sin filled world today celebrates His birth. That Promised Seed came for you and me!
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.
Secondly
2. We See Jesus as the Powerful Son of God
I refer here to the miracles Jesus did in His life on earth.
Walking on water Calming the storms Healing the sick Raising the Dead Feeding the Multitudes The centurion had it right when, at Christ's cross he exclaimed "...Truly this was the Son of God..." Matthew 27:54
Every miracle Jesus did in His earthly lifetime has some application for you and me today. They tell us how to be free from sin How to live victorious over our self and How to be servants to those around us.
Third, whenever we look through Biblical History
3. We See Jesus as the Impoverished Servant
While the promised seed was expected, He was not expected to come in the way he did. They all figured He would come in glory and splendor to defeat the Roman bad guys and make the Jewish nation the greatest one in the world. Frankly, most of the world of Christ's day were not ready to receive Him the way He was.
Isaiah says Isaiah 53:2 For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. (KJV)
Christ came in humility for two very important reasons:
First,
So people would be attracted to Him through faith and not because of what He could do for them. I can tell you this with absolute certainty. If you come to Christ for the wonderful things He can do for You, You will be disappointed! Christ isn't our personal genie who makes all our troubles go away and smoothes out every rough spot in out road. He just won't work like that! But, if in faith you come to Him as the only hope for to have you sins forgiven and to have an eternal home in Heaven. Christ will grant you those, AND MAKE LIFE MUCH MORE ABUNDANT TOO!
Second,
To teach us to serve and live humbly. Jesus taught the disciples that the servant is the greatest of all. There is no greater endeavor a man can put forth than an endeavor to serve others! When we look through Biblical History
4. We See Jesus as the Spotless, Sinless Sacrifice.
Hebrews 4 says
"He was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin."
While that has countless points of significance for us, the greatest of them all is that Because He is sinless, He can pay for our sin!
He made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.
And, finally, as we look back at Biblical History
5. We See Jesus as The Risen Saviour.
He is not here, He is risen, as He sad, come see the place where the Lord lay.
For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures;
And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures: (KJV)
Jesus is alive today! And because He is alive
He is able to save all who will come to Him He cares about what you and I are going through, and He is praying before God the Father for us right now!
We see Jesus as we look back through Biblical History
Number two
Theme. WE CAN STILL SEE JESUS TODAY
The influence Christ had on the world in the first five centuries AD was enormous.
His influence can be seen today in the fact that we call this 1998 AD a reference to Christ's coming. His influence can be seen when we look at the most civilized nations of this earth, all of which use an Judeo-Christian system of law. His influence can be seen in our code of morality. His influence can be seen in the shear numbers of churches which exist in the world today.
1.--- We can see Jesus whenever a person trusts Jesus as Saviour, and especially as they grow in spiritual things.
***Those who once were vial become victorious
***Those who once were lost became found
***Those who once were hateful and proud become humble and loving.
2.--- We can see Jesus today in His local Church.
This congregation as the body of Christ, demonstrates the truths about Christ to the world around us.
The only thing some people will ever know about Jesus is what they see through this church!
THAT'S SCARY, ISN'T IT!
3.--- But as I considered it, I think there is one way in which Christ can most clearly be seen today.
If you want to see Jesus today
Look into the Bible.
One of the names of Jesus is "The Word."
And the word became flesh and dwelt among us, (and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.
There are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost, and these three are one.
The relationship between Jesus Christ the Living Word and the Holy Bible, the written Word and undeniable to any who would only study this Book! And because of that relationship, wherever you look in the Bible, you see Jesus!
In the Genesis, He is the Word which Created all things.
In the Pentateuch, He is the Passover Lamb, and every other Sacrifice.
In the Historical Books, He is the angel of the Lord who fights for Israel.
In the Poetical Books He is the Rose of Sharon and the Lily of the Valley.
In the Major Prophets, He is the stone, cut without hands and
In the Minor Prophets, He is the soon coming King.
In the Gospels He is the Lamb of God which taketh away the sins of the world.
In Acts, He is seated at the right hand of the Father.
In Pauline Epistles, Jesus is the purchaser of our salvation and the builder of His Church.
In Hebrews, Jesus is the one Better than all before and any after.
In the Petrine Epistles, Jesus in the lively cornerstone.
In the Johannan Epistles, He is our Advocate when we sin.
In Jude, Jesus is the only Lord God and Our Lord Jesus Christ and
In Revelation, He is the alpha and omega, the beginning and the end.
AND HE IS COMING BACK.
I am saying, We see Jesus when we look in the Bible! Sometime, just for fun, read through the Bible looking for things that remind you of Jesus. It may not appear to have anything to do with Him on the surface, but think about a chapter, a Book, or a section of the Scriptures and see if you can see Jesus in it! It will bless your soul!
We See Jesus as We look to Biblical History
We Can See Jesus Today as We Study His Word and Finally,
III. WE WILL SEE JESUS IN THE FUTURE
Revelation 1:7 says of Jesus
"Behold, He cometh, and every eye shall see Him..."
There are three most notable events in the future in which we see Jesus very prominently;
1. When He Calls His People to Heaven
Vs 16 "For the Lord Himself shall descend ...."
What an experience that is going to be!
Jesus described it in Matthew like this;
---Two people will be working in the fields: one shall be caught up and the other will be left.
---Two women will be working at a grindstone: one will be caught up, and the other left.
Imagine a husband and wife. One is saved and the other is not. Jesus calls his own to heaven, and there is a wife, suddenly, without warning, alone! A young man and his brother are playing together. One is saved, and the other isn't. There is a great crash of thunder and the unsaved one is standing by himself! You know, many of the things that are the biggest blessings to the Christians are the worst curses to the unsaved. I heard a lady on a radio talk show one time complaining about her pastor. She said "He likes to preach over and over about how Jesus is coming soon. WHY CAN’T HE BE MORE POSITIVE!"
For the Christian THERE IS NOTHING SO POSITIVE AS THE BLESSED HOPE OF JESUS’ RETURN. But that which we look for and long for is going to be a terrible experience for those left behind! We'll See Jesus Again in the Future
2. When He Comes to End the Tribulation
After all the Christians are taken off of this earth, Satan will have a chance to have almost complete dominion here. And those left on this earth will experience seven years of events so horrible that the Bible says there has been nothing like it!
Natural disasters such as the world has never seen. Wickedness and violence running rampant. Demonic forces torturing and tormenting men.
Jesus said that it will be so horrible that, if he didn't come to stop it, there would no flesh be saved.
Finally, well see Jesus in the Future
3. When He Climbs on to His Eternal Throne
Imagine what a wonder that will be! No sin, No sickness, No death and No tears. The Bible says there isn't even any sun or moon there, because Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, is the light of the place. Just think of how wonderful it would be to live in a place where there was no hunger no worry about unemployment no fear of being robbed, mugged, or murdered. Where the news can never report anything horrible because nothing horrible happens. Where loved ones will not die. Where friends will not move away. And where everyone will get to see Jesus face to face!
This dreamland is real, but it is not for everybody (Revelation 21:27).
Only those whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life get to go there!
Everyone else goes to the Lake of Fire and Brimstone.
Oh Listen, today, if you are not in that Lamb's Book of Life, please let us show you from the Bible how to be saved for sure and forever!
1. Away in a manger, no crib for a bed,
The little Lord Jesus laid down His sweet head;
The stars in the bright sky looked down where He lay,
The little Lord Jesus, asleep on the hay.
2. The cattle are lowing, the Baby awakes,
But little Lord Jesus, no crying He makes;
I love Thee, Lord Jesus! look down from the sky,
And stay by my cradle till morning is nigh.
3. Be near me, Lord Jesus! I ask Thee to stay
Close by me for ever, and love me, I pray;
Bless all the dear children in Thy tender care,
And fit us for heaven, to live with Thee there.
Every year, I promised it would be different. Each December, I vowed to make Christmas a calm and peaceful experience. But, once again, in spite of my plans, chaos prevailed. I had cut back on what I deemed nonessential obligations: extensive card writing, endless baking, Martha Stewart decorating, and, yes, even the all-American pastime, overspending. Yet still I found myself exhausted, unable to appreciate the precious family moments, and, of course, the true meaning of Christmas.
My son, Nicholas, was in kindergarten that year. It was an exciting season for a six-year-old, filled with hopes, dreams and laughter. For weeks, he'd been memorizing songs for his school's upcoming Winter Pageant.
I didn't have the heart to tell him I'd be working the night of the production. Not willing to miss his shining moment, I spoke with his teacher. She assured me there'd be a dress rehearsal in the morning, and that all parents unable to attend the evening presentation were welcome to enjoy it then. Fortunately, Nicholas seemed happy with the compromise.
So, just as I promised, I filed in ten minutes early, found a spot on the cafeteria floor and sat down. When I looked around the room, I saw a handful of parents quietly scampering to their seats. I began to wonder why they, too, were attending a dress rehearsal, but chalked it up to the chaotic schedules of modern family life.
As I waited, the students were led into the building. Each class, accompanied by their teacher, sat crossed-legged on the floor. The children would become members of the audience as each group, one by one, rose to perform their song. Because the public school system had long stopped referring to the holiday as "Christmas," I didn't expect anything other than fun, commercial entertainment. The Winter Pageant was filled with songs of reindeer, Santa Claus, snowflakes and good cheer. The melodies were fun, cute and lighthearted. But nowhere to be found was even the hint of an innocent babe, a manger, or Christ's precious, sacred gifts of life, hope and joy.
When my son's class rose to sing "Christmas Love," I was slightly taken aback by its bold title. However, within moments, I settled in to watch them proudly begin their number. Nicholas was aglow, as were all of his classmates, adorned in fuzzy mittens, red sweaters and bright snowcaps upon their heads. Those in the front row, center stage, held up large letters, one by one, to spell out the title of the song. As the class would sing "C is for Christmas," a child would hold up the letter C. Then, "H is for Happy," and on and on, until each child holding up his or her portion had presented the complete message, "Christmas Love."
The performance was going smoothly, until suddenly, we noticed her, a small, quiet girl in the front row holding the letter M, upside-down! She was entirely unaware that reversed, her letter M appeared as a W. She fidgeted from side to side, until she had moved away from her mark entirely. The audience of children snickered at this little one's mistake. In her innocence, she had no idea they were laughing at her and stood tall, proudly holding her W.
You can only imagine the difficulty in calming an audience of young, giggling children. Although many teachers tried to shush them, the laughter continued. It continued that is, until the moment the last letter was raised, and we all saw it together. A hush came over the audience and eyes began to widen. In that instant, we finally understood the reason we were there, why we celebrated in the first place, why even in the chaos, there was a purpose for our festivities. For, when the last letter was held high, the message read loud and clear:
"CHRISTWASLOVE" (CHRIST WAS LOVE)
And, I believe, he still is.
____________________
By Candy Chand (c) 1999, from Chicken Soup for the Christian Family Soul by Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen, Patty Aubery and Nancy Mitchell Autio.
A Christian and philosopher and educator, Erasmus of Rotterdam, the greatest classical scholar of the northern Humanist Renaissance, determined that manners was the best instilled at an early age. Here are some samples from the three-century best seller, “On Civility in Children” (c.1530):
“To lick greasy fingers or to wipe them on your coat is impolite. It is better to use the table cloth or the serviette.”
“Some people put their hands in the dishes the moment they have sat down. Wolves do that.”
“You should not offer your handkerchief to anyone unless it has been freshly washed. Nor is it seemly, after wiping your nose, to spread out your handkerchief and peer into it as if pearls and rubies might have fallen out of your head.”
“If you cannot swallow a piece of food, turn around discreetly and throw it somewhere.”
Teenagers seem to be punching, kicking, threatening to kill and otherwise abusing their parents in increasing numbers, partly because permissive mothers and fathers are not keeping a tight enough rein on their children, says a new Health Canada study.
Terrified parents should stop treating their offspring as friends and equals and begin to act as the loving authority figures they are supposed to be, says the report by Barbara Cottrell, a Halifax-based researcher.
She also says society has hidden and downplayed "parent abuse," much as wife battering was treated two decades ago, and must begin to shine a spotlight on the phenomenon.
"The abuse usually begins with verbal abuse. For most parents, the abuse is a daily occurrence that follows a pattern, usually with the child showing no signs of remorse or guilt," said the study.
"We have to break the silence that surrounds it. Because parent abuse is still not recognized, it is often considered acceptable behaviour."
The report, submitted to Health Canada earlier this year, is a follow-up on Ms. Cottrell's first examination in 1996, which was based on interviews with more than 100 parents, teenagers and child- welfare experts in Nova Scotia.
To prepare the updated report, which had been requested by the Health Canada, she interviewed another group of parents and social workers.
Many professionals believe parent abuse is increasing, the new study says. But police and shelters keep no statistics on the phenomenon and, outside of the study, there has been little research on the problem, Ms. Cottrell wrote.
Dr. Michael Seto, a psychiatrist at the Toronto-based Centre for Addiction and Mental Health whose specialities include young offenders, said he did not know much about the subject and could not name an expert who would.
"It's not studied widely," said Dr. Seto.
The report said both boys and girls can be abusive toward their parents, but mothers are more likely to be the victims, perhaps because they are seen as more vulnerable.
The physical abuse can include hitting, slapping, kicking, shoving, breaking things, punching holes in walls, throwing objects or spitting. They can also engage in psychological and emotional "terrorism," which includes threatening to injure, maim or kill their parents, yelling and swearing, and playing mind games.
The report also cited financial abuse, such as outright theft from parents, selling family possessions and demanding their guardians buy items they clearly cannot afford.
Children sometimes lash out at their parents because they have never faced clear rules and guidelines for their behaviour, the study says. The lack of control can leave the teenager fearful, prompting them to misbehave, wrote Ms. Cottrell.
Parents of the baby-boom generation often feel they should treat their children as friends, not as dependents who need their authority and guidance, the study said.
The report recommends that parents set clear limits for their children and enforce them resolutely. When abuse happens, they should consider calling police, which has proven to be an effective deterrent, said Ms. Cottrell.
*
Sermon in Colossians series. Colossians 3:20-21
ENCOURAGE OBEDIENCE
===================
I. Lesson of VBS - it is hard to control kids.
II. Children through history.
A. Place of children in ancient world.
B. Place of kids in our modern world.
C. Note that Paul directly addresses the children.
III. Obedience.
A. Family authority flows from the top down.
B. Are there limitations?
C. Doing what pleases the Lord.
IV. Who wields "The Belt"?
A. Paul turns the focus on fathers.
B. Fill in the gaps on how to discipline.
V. Fathers can have a positive role.
A. Be engaged without being overbearing.
B. Give them high values.
VI. How is your relationship with your Heavenly Father?
*
Children or Understanding
Yesterday my son's (Luke) Sunday School teacher approached me after church and said, let me tell you what your son said in Sunday School today (a phrase to strike fear in the heart of every preacher). She had been teaching about how God created Adam from the dust of the earth. Luke said, "You mean I'm made out of dirt?" She responded, "well, in a sense, yes." He thought for a moment, processing this information through his four year old brain, then stated wide-eyed, "My Mom is NOT going to be happy about that!" submitted by Mike Kjergaard
A Child's World
Read: Deuteronomy 6:6-25
The words which I testify among you today, . . . command your children to be careful to observe. --Deuteronomy 32:46
A popular pizza restaurant that caters to children advertises itself as "a place where a kid can be a kid." Actually, a child should be able to be a child anywhere.
But creating a child's world goes beyond letting a kid be a kid. Parents must understand their responsibilities in guiding that child. And for that we need to look at what the Bible says about parenting:
* Parents must teach God's truth (Dt. 4:9; 32:46).
* Parents must lovingly discipline children because they are immature and need guidance (Prov. 22:15; 29:15).
* Parents should not exasperate their children (Eph. 6:4).
* Parents' wise decisions bring blessing to their children (Dt. 30:19-20).
* Parents who are godly teach their children to obey (Eph. 6:1; 1 Tim. 3:4).
* Parents who faithfully train their children can be confident that their efforts are not in vain (Prov. 22:6).
Above all, to create a child's world, your home needs to be a place where you serve one another through God's love (Gal. 5:13). And it doesn't hurt to have some pizza now and then too! --JDB
O speak the truth to these your precious ones--
For guidance tell your daughters and your sons
Of One who loves them even more than you,
Who wants to be their guide a lifetime through. --Anon.
A parent's greatest responsibility is to point the way to God.
Misunderstanding/Children
For weeks a five-year old boy kept telling his kindergarten teacher about
the baby brother or sister that was expected at his house. One day the mother
allowed the boy to feel the movements of the unborn child inside of her stomach.
The five-year old was obviously impressed, but made no comment.
Furthermore, he stopped telling his teacher about the impending event. The
teacher finally sat the boy on her lap and said, "Tommy, whatever has become of
that baby brother or sister you were expecting at home?"
Tommy burst into tears and confessed, "I think Mommy ate it!"
I must say that the biggest lesson you can learn in life, or teach your children, is that life is not castles in the skies, happily ever after. The biggest lesson we have to give our children is truth. And that's what I'm saying: That we're all built with illusions. And they break.
-Goldie Hawn
Children are influenced more by our character than our accomplishments.
Children may not inherit their parents talents, but they will absorbe their values.
DESATERO RODIÈOVSKÝCH PØIKÁZÁNÍ
1. Nauète je èíst a používat Boží slovo - Bibli (5. Mojžíšova 6:6-9)
2. Uète je rozlišovat, co je zlé a co dobré. (1. Královská 1:6)
3. Hleïte na nì jako na dar Boží a ne na svoje vlastnictví. (Žalmy 127:3)
4. Usmìròujte je a ukazujte jim Boží cestu. (Pøísloví 22:6)
5. Napomínejte je - uète je disciplínì. (Pøísloví 29:17)
6. Milujete je bezpodmíneènì a obìtavì. (Lukáš 15:11-32)
7. Neprovokujte je k hnìvu. (Efezským 6:4)
8. Získejte si jejich úctu dobrým pøíkladem. (1. Timoteovi 3:4)
9. Starejte se o jejich tìlesné potøeby. (1. Timoteovi 5:8)
10. Pøedejte jim svoji víru. (2. Timoteovi 1:5)
Zítøejší charakter vašich dìtí závisí na tom, co je nauèíte dnes.
- Chléb náš vezdejší, 1989 -
Dìtí na prodej
Hotoví fotbalisté jsou stále dražší. Proto nejbohatší kluby upínají zraky na talentované dorostence a žáky. Na jejich výchovu vynakládají obrovské finanèní prostøedky, napøíklad anglický gigant FC Liverpool zbudoval sportovní støedisko mládeže za 34 milionù liber, Juventus Turin se chlubí 14 -ti vybìry všech vìkových kategorií. Ani to však nestaèí. Aby talentovaný kviteèek neutrhl nìkdo jiný, jsou ochotný pøedkládat dìtem závazné smlouvy.
Service had started, and the minister began his sermon in our small country church in southeastern North Carolina. Everyone's attention was on the intense words being delivered to us that would feed us for the week and enlighten us on God's word.
Because our church was so small, there was no nursery. This gave me the privilege of having my active three-year-old daughter sit with her father and me. Along with being active, Tammie had a gift for words - that is, speaking them - and had not yet mastered the art of understanding that quietness was of the utmost importance in church, especially when the Sunday morning sermon was being delivered!
After many admonishments to be quiet, Tammie's father picked her up to take her outside for a little conference.
This was not the first time such an event had taken place, and she understood its significance. She also obviously understood the significance of prayer!
For as her father picked her up and was walking down the aisle to carry her outside, Tammie reached over his shoulders with her arms outstretched to the congregation and the minister. She then proceeded to call out to all who would listen, "Ya'll pray for me!"
Needless to say, it was a few minutes later before we could get back on track with the sermon.
Guess it proves we are never too young to "let our requests be known!"
________________________
by Donna Kay Heath (c) 1998, from A Second Chicken Soup for the Woman's Soul by Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen, Jennifer Read Hawthorne and Marci Shimoff.
Vietnam is banning toy weapons to protect the minds of its children.
A Trade Ministry official told Reuters the ban, which covers bamboo and plastic swords, bows, rifles and grenade-shaped cigarette lighters, applied to both imported and locally produced toys.
"Those toys are dangerous and harmful," he said by telephone. "They cause a bad impact on children's psychology, and make them think of wars and violence."
Vietnam's communist government regularly expresses concern about the impact of consumerism and outside influences on its young people.
Officials also said they were seeking a ban on Japanese pocket-sized computer games known as Tamagotchi featuring virtual pets which bleep when they need attention.
________
REUTERS
British woman conceives rare "time-lag" twins
LONDON, Nov 11 (Reuters) - A British woman is about to give birth to time-lag twins who were conceived a month apart.
Debbie Gilbert, 38, a housewife from Leicestershire in northern England, is only the sixth person in the world and the first in Britain to conceive naturally during two different monthly cycles.
Experts say the odds against such an unusual pregnancy are in the region of millions to one.
"The hormones produced by the first pregnancy were obviously not strong enough to suppress the action of the pituitary gland, which normally tells the ovaries to shut down," Professor Stuart Campbell, head of obstetrics at St George's Hospital in London, was quoted on Tuesday as saying in the Daily Mail newspaper.
Gilbert, who has had two daughters previously in separate normal pregnancies, thought she was eight weeks pregnant when she went for her first scan, but doctors insisted that the foetus was 12 weeks old.
A second scan picked up the second foetus which was four weeks younger than the first.
Her doctor was initially baffled before realising the twins were conceived weeks apart.
"He told me I was only the sixth person to be in this situation," Gilbert was quoted as saying.
The twins, a healthy boy and girl, will be delivered at the same time, when the older one reaches full term. They are due on November 28. ^REUTERS
Aunt Betty's wedding ring had been in the family for three generations - and it's been passed down to my wife Karen. There's probably no piece of jewelry that she treasures more. But she couldn't wear it because Aunt Betty's ring size was a lot larger than Karen's little fingers. Karen identified a jeweler whose craftsmanship she trusted, and she entrusted this heirloom to him to be downsized. To be honest, she was a little nervous leaving it with anyone, but she did commit it to this jeweler. When he called that the ring was ready, Karen could hardly wait to see what he had done with it. Well, the diamonds were intact, the ring looked the same - but it fit her perfectly. He didn't make it into a necklace or a pendant; he didn't change the setting of the stones ... of course not. He took what Karen entrusted to him and made it better.
Well, I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A WORD WITH YOU today about "No Business Re-Creating."
A jeweler shouldn't try to re-create a piece of jewelry into something else when the one who trusted it to him just wanted him to enhance what it already was. We understand that about jewelry - but often we don't seem to understand that about the child that God has entrusted to us. God gave them to us to enhance what He made them to be - we keep trying to make them into something else!
The problem is, a lot of parents didn't get the child they wanted. You wanted an athlete and you got a scholar ... you wanted a musician and you got a mechanic ... you wanted a quiet one and you got a loud one ... you wanted a loud one and you got a quiet one - the list goes on and on. So maybe you didn't get the child you wanted - but you got the one God wanted!
You got what is described in our word for today from the Word of God in Ephesians 2:10. In fact, you could put the name of your child, or each of your children, right in this verse. It says, "We are God's workmanship" - if you'd like, put the name of a child of yours right there at the beginning - "__________ is God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do" - or "for ___________ to do."
Your business is to step back and recognize the unique person God made when He made your son or daughter - with all their personal strengths, with all their great qualities, and with all the limitations and weaknesses He gave them, too. Then your job is to hold up a mirror regularly for them and let them see the incredible person God made when He made them. Affirm who God made them to be, praise them, compliment them - even when you need to correct him, do it in the context of affirming who he is.
A mom came to me recently, concerned about the offbeat sense of humor her 8-year-old son has. Actually, she asked me if I was like that at that age. I'm still not sure what that was all about, but he seems like an anomaly in a family that is otherwise fairly serious. But I encouraged her to fan the flame of his sense of humor - it is something God can use mightily to open doors and hearts her son's whole life. Our son used to frustrate us when he would come to us with a whole itinerary he had planned out meticulously for him and his friends - only asking us after everything was already set. We needed to correct that a little, but I'm glad we didn't put out the flame of a budding planner. God is using those same abilities mightily right now in a trailblazing ministry!
So remember - God didn't trust the treasure of that child to you to reshape him into what you want him or her to be. God gave you that child for you to develop and enhance the person He made them to be. Don't try to re-create the workmanship God has created!
________________
Copyright © Ron Hutchcraft Ministries, Inc., PO Box 400, Harrison, AR 72602. Used by permission. Written by Ron Hutchcraft. "Practical Answers to Real Life Issues"
*
"If you want your children to turn out well, spend twice as much time with them, and half as much money on them."
Abigail Van Buren
Cited in The Best of...BITS & PIECES
*
To those of us who have children in our lives, whether they are our own, grandchildren, nieces and nephews, or students ... here is something to make you chuckle.
Whenever your children are out of control, you can take comfort from the thought that even God's omnipotence did not extend to His own children.
After creating heaven and earth, God created Adam and Eve. And the first thing he said was, "Don't."
"Don't what?" Adam replied.
"Don't eat the forbidden fruit." God said.
"Forbidden fruit? We have forbidden fruit? Hey, Eve.. . we have forbidden fruit!"
"No way!"
"Yes, way!"
"Do NOT eat the fruit!" said God.
"Why?"
"Because I am your Father and I said so!" God replied, (wondering why he hadn't stopped creation after making the elephants). A few minutes later, God saw His children having an apple break and was He ticked!
"Didn't I tell you not to eat the fruit?" God, as our first parent, asked?
"Uh huh," Adam replied.
"Then why did you?" said the Father.
"I don't know," said Eve.
"She started it!" Adam said,
"Did not!" "Did too!" "DID NOT!
Having had it with the two of them, God's punishment was that Adam and Eve should have children of their own. Thus, the pattern was set and it has never changed! But there is reassurance in this story. If you have persistently and lovingly tried to give children wisdom and they haven't taken it, don't be hard on yourself. If God had trouble raising children, what makes you think it would be a piece of cake for you?
Advice for the day: If you have a lot of tension and you get a headache, do what it says on the aspirin bottle: "Take two Aspirin" and "Keep away from children."
CHILDREN: You spend the first 2 years of their life teaching them to walk and talk. Then you spend the next 16 telling them to sit down and shut-up.
Grandchildren are God's reward for not killing your children.
Mothers of teens know why some animals eat their young.
Children seldom misquote you. In fact, they usually repeat word for word what you shouldn't have said.
The main purpose of holding children's parties is to remind yourself that there are children more awful than your own.
We child-proofed our home 3 years ago and they're still getting in!
Be nice to your kids. They'll choose your nursing home.
*
Our daughter, Lisa, is all grown up and married, and even a mom. But the other day she told me about the Bible verse she learned as a little girl and never forgot: "If God be for us, who can be against us? (Romans 8:31) Then she told me why she never forgot it. One day when she was pretty young I had brought her to my office, and at lunchtime, we walked downtown to get something to eat. And, as Lisa remembers very vividly, we passed this storefront that must have been a fortune teller's place. There was a picture of a big human palm in the window, signifying that the occupant did palm reading. Lisa tells me that I explained to her what that all meant - and that night she got to thinking about it. And really she was too scared to go to sleep. At which point she says I knelt next to her bed and I gave her a word for today from the Word of God: "If God be for us, who can be against us?" She went to sleep repeating those words. She never forgot them, and she hung onto them many times in the years to come.
Well, I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A WORD WITH YOU today about "Living Proof."
Lisa said to me, "Dad, you know why that Bible verse became part of me? Because it was linked to a real experience." There's nothing new about that. That's how God's been telling parents to make God real to their children for 3,000 years.
Our word for today from the Word of God is Deuteronomy 6:5-7 - instructions for parents who are trying to raise children in a morally confusing, increasingly pagan culture. That was the situation in the time this statement was written. It's the situation today. And God's parenting strategy? Oh, it's still the same, too.
Here's what it says, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength." Notice here that God says that you should be showing your children a love-relationship with Him, not just a religion. He goes on: "These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children." OK, impress your son or daughter with them - don't just tell them about it. How do you do that? Here's what it says, "Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road ,and when you lie down and when you get up."
God says show them your Lord and His ways, not just in formal spiritual settings, but in the casual classroom of everyday life. This is spontaneous stuff, not pre-planned. It's teaching that looks for and prays for teachable moments to arise in a child's life, and then gently introduces God's statement into that situation. When a verse is a response to a real-life experience, and when your child can use it to handle that experience, that verse is part of them! They have just experienced living proof that God and His Word are the real deal.
It's a basic principle of learning that we learn what we live. And that we don't really learn something until we're in a situation where we really need it. Just before the Gulf War, I heard a soldier admit that most of them had paid little attention when chemical warfare was talked about in basic training - but that now when it was covered, they were taking noted and listening intently! Why? Because suddenly, they were in a situation where they would need that information.
So God advises parents to communicate His truth in real-life situations ... sitting at home, walking or driving somewhere together, when you're getting up, when you're wrapping up the day. It's those spontaneous lessons - responses to things that happen in the course of a day - that are not ever forgotten.
So look for, pray for those wonderful, teachable moments in the life of your child. And let the daily experiences of your child's life be the blackboard on which you write the powerful words of God.
________________
Copyright © Ron Hutchcraft Ministries, Inc., PO Box 400, Harrison, AR 72602. Used by permission. Written by Ron Hutchcraft. "Practical Answers to Real Life Issues"
*
Seven children aged 6 to 14 have been removed from their home in Aylmer, Ont., because their parents, who accept the literal truth of the Bible, refuse to promise they will never again hit them with switches if they disobey.
Their pastor, Rev. Henry Hildebrandt of the Aylmer Church of God, said the couple have resorted to corporal punishment in the past, believing it is wrong to spare the rod if other methods fail.
He said police, acting on a request from child-welfare workers, carried the children from the house on Wednesday after friends and relatives tried to prevent them from being taken.
"They didn't want to go. As they were coming out I was standing out there in the parking lot and the children just put their arms out and they said, 'Help me, help me!' "
"I said I would gladly do it, but I can't."
He said the parents are German-speaking immigrants in their 30s who came from a Mennonite agricultural community in Mexico. They settled in Aylmer, a Southwestern Ontario town of 7,000, and joined his church about two years ago after picking crops in the area for a number of summers, he said.
Mr. Hildebrandt said his congregation believes that Proverbs 13:24 -- "He that spareth his rod hateth his son" -- is a direction to parents. "I'll be quick to say that rod doesn't mean an iron rod, it doesn't mean something that would bruise them. We are very particular about what we would use, but we do believe that it [corporal punishment] teaches and we do believe that it works in our time to do it just like it's written."
The four boys and three girls have been put in foster care until their parents appear in court next week.
Steve Bailey, executive director of Family and Children's Services of St. Thomas and Elgin, said he could not discuss the case but could speak generally about the official line on corporate punishment.
"Spanking per se is not child abuse," he said. ". . . Things that would be more concerning to us would be discipline that causes injuries. We would look at whether there's any use of inanimate objects, such as belts or cords or sticks. And then, of course, we're concerned about whether there are any observable injuries."
Mr. Hildebrandt said the parents let the child-welfare workers check the children for signs of injury before they were taken away and none were found.
Aylmer police issued a statement saying officers had to ask the Ontario Provincial Police for help because "family members and friends arrived at the residence and hampered the initial apprehension effort," but the children were "subsequently taken into interim custody without incident."
The permissibility of spanking and other physical punishment has long been a matter of dispute.
Last year, an Ontario Superior Court judge in Toronto ruled that spanking does not violate children's constitutional rights.
The Criminal Code allows the use of force by a number of people in authority for "correction" if it "does not exceed what is reasonable under the circumstances."
Poll Result
Should the government be allowed to take children away because their parents spank them?
Yes 179 votes (11 %)
No 1431 votes (88.0 %)
Total Votes: 1610
Aylmer, Ontario, is Mennonite country. It's a pretty sleepy place. Until three days ago, the police department's biggest case was a bank robbery back in 1997. (They caught the guy.)
Last Wednesday came an even bigger case. It took all the cops in town, plus heavy reinforcements, to seize the seven children of Herbert and Emily Greber (not their real names). The police action was, once again, successful.
Mr. and Mrs. Greber have spanked their children from time to time using an object other than their hands. They refuse to say they'll never do it again. Therefore, according to the local Children's Aid Society, they are guilty of child endangerment. And that's why the police, at the request of the CAS, took away their kids.
The Grebers are religious. So is the CAS. It believes that corporal punishment is a sin, and that the Grebers are sinners.
Until two years ago, the Greber family lived in a Mennonite community in Mexico. They are Canadian citizens, but speak mostly German. There, they met an Aylmer-area pastor, Henry Hildebrandt, who persuaded them to return to Canada and join the Church of God. The church is quite traditional, though not, Mr. Hildebrandt says, as strict as the Mennonites. “We are Bible-believing people. We stress holy living in our daily lives.”
The Bible says spare the rod and spoil the child. The pastor describes the rod as a last resort, but a necessary one. “You'll never be able to rear a child without love. But when they cross a line, they need to know there is a possibility there could be corporal punishment.”
The Grebers, who are in their 30s, have three girls and four boys, aged 6 to 14. They live in a neat brick bungalow in town.
The pastor doesn't know how the family came to the notice of the CAS. Perhaps a neighbour phoned. Someone else says it happened when one of the kids was scalded in an accident last year and was treated at home rather than taken to hospital. In any event, three days ago, a CAS worker showed up to search for signs of abuse. She brought a policeman with her.
The children were asked if they'd been spanked. One boy said he'd been spanked toward the end of June. “There was no mark on him and I was very comfortable it was being done the right way,” the pastor says. “We expected that after the physical exam the children would be released.”
Instead, the CAS worker began to question Mrs. Greber. Do they spank their children? She said yes. Do they ever use an object? Yes. “I told them this was what our belief was as far as corporal punishment,” says the pastor. Would Mrs. Greber promise never again to use an object? No, she would not promise. “They were just about to go into it deeper when I interfered,” says the pastor. “I said, 'I think we are giving you ammunition, not information.’ Then the caseworker said there was no further point in talking.”
By now, a crowd from the church had assembled around the house. The pastor was urged to help remove the children peacefully, but he refused. Now the children were upset. They started screaming. Reinforcements were called. Soon, 10 or 12 police cruisers were on the scene, along with two more people from the CAS.
It took three burly cops to haul away the oldest boy. In the photos someone took, he is kicking and screaming like a little tiger. The six-year-old girl screamed, “Help me! Help me! I don't want to go,” as a female officer carried her away.
The children are in temporary foster care until the matter comes before family court. The director of the local CAS, Steve Bailey, won't discuss the case but blames the pastor and members of the church for making matters worse.
Meantime, the clerk at Aylmer's police station says she's getting calls from anxious parents asking if spanking is against the law. She has two young children, and doesn't agree with corporal punishment. She's from Mennonite stock, but times have changed. “Everyone is starting to discipline differently from the way their grandparents did,” she tells me. “Maybe their grandparents used a horsewhip.” Her own parents sometimes used a fly swatter.
I asked her what she uses.
“I hold them. We took a course. It's all on video. 'Growing kids God's way,' it's called. It deals with today's society.”
In the past few years, many people have come to believe that spanking is wicked, and that corporal punishment will scar a child's psyche, if not his body, forever. Yet our child-protection agents exercise a peculiar double standard. They think it's child abuse to hit your kid. They are very suspicious of people who take their parenting lessons from the Bible. But every day, they choose to leave helpless infants with their single teenage mothers on the streets. Those moms have never heard of Dr. Spock, never mind the Bible.
Child abuse is like any other sin. It's frequently in the eye of the beholder.
Scorned in her hometown of Edmonton as a prostitute, a drug addict and a criminal who deserves to be sterilized, Leyla Nordby, the mother of Erika the "Miracle Baby," the infant who froze on a winter night but recovered in hospital, has sought refuge with her family in a Saskatchewan village.
Recently charged with personation and obstruction of justice over an incident four years ago, she left the furor in Edmonton that made life there unbearable.
In the living room of her modest bungalow in tiny Canwood, a village of 345 people about 150 kilometres north of Saskatoon, Leyla Nordby reflects on her life. At 26, she has had six children with six different men. One daughter, Kayla, was born with a heart defect and died shortly after birth. Erika very nearly died from exposure. An eight-year-old son is the subject of an assault charge against her.
"I don't care what people think. I am an awesome mom," she says, putting a bottle to the mouth of her 17-week-old daughter, Elyssa. "I didn't even really know how to be a mom. I had no mother, I had no brothers and sisters, nothing. But I'm learning, I take the tools that I get and I go on."
Erika, now 19 months old, wandered from their temporary home in Edmonton in the middle of a -24C night in February. The girl froze and was clinically dead. She was resuscitated by emergency and medical workers.
Ms. Nordby, who has three of her children in her care, said she came to Saskatchewan to escape the intense scrutiny that followed Erika's miraculous recovery.
She was featured on U.S. network television and in newspaper reports around the world.
But not all the attention was positive. Letters to newspapers in Edmonton questioned Ms. Nordby's suitability as a mother. Some suggested she should be sterilized. People came up to her in the street and told her she was not fit to be a mother.
It grew worse when details emerged about Ms. Nordby's past drug use, her former life as a prostitute and the criminal charges that have dogged her from when she was on the street in 1997. On June 1, Edmonton police laid charges against Ms. Nordby in a four-year-old case for personation -- impersonating someone else -- and obstruction of justice after an officer recognized her from media coverage, she said.
Ms. Nordby says she could no longer shop or play bingo in Edmonton without ridicule.
"I came to get away. People were really bugging me, saying awful things about me. I just wanted to be left alone," Ms. Nordby said.
She admits she was working the streets of Edmonton in 1997 and that she gave a false name to a police officer. She then failed to attend court on Aug. 8, due to a misunderstanding with her lawyer, she says, prompting an Edmonton judge to issue an arrest warrant. Ms. Nordby has since turned herself in to police. She was released on a promise to appear in court in September.
She has asked to have the charges moved to a court in Saskatchewan, where she says she will plead guilty. "I might as well. I did it," she said.
Ms. Nordby is also facing an assault charge for an incident involving her eight-year-old son in December. She was embroiled in a custody battle with the boy's father at the time.
Ms. Nordby, unemployed and single, reluctantly became famous in February after Erika, her then 13-month-old daughter, was found lying outside in the snow.
Erika had climbed out of her mother's bed in the strange house that was their temporary home and toddled outside before collapsing in the snow and slowly freezing. Clad only in a diaper and a tiny pink T-shirt, Erika's core temperature fell to just 16C. Her lifeless body was so cold paramedics could not force a breathing tube between her pale blue lips.
The incident drew massive attention and even inspired singer Stompin' Tom Connors to write a song in Erika's honour. But it did not take long for the miracle tale to turn sour. Even while Erika was still in the hospital, the mean-spirited letters began to arrive.
"We got letters from people saying, `Oh Erika, you are such a beautiful baby. But your mom is such a slut,'" Ms. Nordby said.
This week, as Erika climbed on top of a coffee table in the living room of their home, Ms. Nordby admitted she has a checkered past. She left home at 12 and delivered her first son, Matthew, at age 13. The boy is being raised by his grandmother. Ms. Nordby had a second son when she was still in her teens. He is with his father.
In 1994, at age 20, she had a daughter, her third child. Kayla survived for 34 days before life support was removed and she died of heart failure.
"I just went loopy, you know what I mean?" Ms. Nordby said. "It's been like that all my life; one thing after another."
Ms. Nordby says she became addicted to amphetamines and worked as a prostitute to support her addiction, going for long periods without seeing her children.
"I used to dream about filling the pipe the way you dream about coffee," she said.
By 1998, she discovered she was once again pregnant. "I was 106 pounds, sitting in jail in Fort Saskatchewan. I came out at 125 pounds and I just decided it was time for a change."
Ms. Nordby has had a child in each of the past three years. She was pregnant with the most recent of her children when Erika froze. Erika has fully recovered, but has scars on her left foot. She shows the same determination that allowed her to survive her chilly ordeal.
"In fact, she's driving me nuts," her mother said lovingly.
Ms. Nordby says she has avoided drugs since Elyssa was born in 1998. She wonders why no one has been critical of the four men who have abandoned their children to her care without offering any support. Two of the fathers are in jail and two have ignored orders to pay child support, she said.
Ms. Nordby now lives in a tiny white bungalow with a neatly trimmed yard. Her father has co-signed a mortgage so she could buy the home from her grandmother. But even this quiet refuge is not without trouble: Some of Ms. Nordby's family is upset because they wanted to take over the house, she says. Neighbours who know about her story are not always friendly.
Inside the house is the chaos one would expect in a household containing three children under three years of age. Ms. Nordby wipes Erika's face and says her children saved her life. They keep her straight, she says.
"When I'm with my aunt and I've had a couple of beer, I stop. I know I would be no use to them the next day if I'm hung over. I won't let that happen now.
"I'm not denying anything that I've done. But like my aunt says, `Leyla, you've paid your dues.'"
Consider these principles on educating young children.
1. The education of young children is the primary responsibility of parents. Deuteronomy 6:4-9; 11:18-21; Psalms 78:1-7; 127:3; Proverbs 22:6; Malachi 2:13-16; Ephesians 6:4.
2. The education of young children is a 24 hour-a-day, seven-day-per-week process that continues from birth until maturity. Deuteronomy 6:7; 11:19; Proverbs 22:6.
3. The education of young children must have as its primary goals the salvation of and discipleship of the next generation. Psalm 78:6-7; Matthew 28:19-20.
4. The education of young children must be based on God's Word as absolute truth. Matthew 24:35; Psalm 119.
5. The education of young children must hold Christ as preeminent in all of life. Colossians 2:3,6-10.
6. The education of young children must not hinder the spiritual and moral development of the next generation. Matthew 18:6; 19:13-14; Mark 10:13-16; Luke 18:15-17.
7. The education of young children, if and when delegated to others by parents, must be done so with utmost care to ensure that all teachers follow these principles. Exodus 18:21; 1 Samuel 1:27-28; 3:1-10
8. The education of young children results in the formation of a belief system or worldview that will be patterned after the belief systems or worldviews of the child's teachers. Luke 6:40
Everyday we hear the cry
to save the ozone in the sky,
save the dolphins in the sea,
save the owl and the trees.
The endangered species of our land,
are the little people close at hand.
Confused and angry little ones,
running wild and packing guns.
Innocent faces, oh so sweet,
in baggy clothes, they run the streets.
Used as pawns by gangs and thugs,
committing crimes and selling drugs.
Too young to know or understand,
that death lies in their little hands.
Not old enough to realize,
they point the gun, another dies.
Their future is the grave or jail,
for someone in their lives has failed.
Delinquent people, some on speed,
have failed to meet their basic needs.
The national treasure of our land,
today is slipping through our hands.
America please don’t look away,
we’re losing children every day!
Yes, save the animals and the trees,
save our treasure of the sea,
but save our children first of all
before another child falls!
The government has calculated the cost of raising a child from birth to 18 and came up with $160,140.00 for a middle income family. Talk about sticker shock! That doesn't even touch college tuition!
But $160,140 isn't so bad if you break it down. It translates into $8,896 a year, $741.38 a month, or $171.08 a week. That's a mere $24.24 a day! Just over a dollar an hour.
Still, you might think the best financial advice says don't have children if you want to be “rich.” It is just the opposite.
What do your get for your $160,140?
Naming rights --- first, middle, and last!
Glimpses of God everyday.
Giggles under the covers every night.
More love than your heart can hold.
Butterfly kisses and Velcro hugs.
Endless wonder over rocks, ants, clouds, and warm cookies.
A hand to hold, usually covered with jam.
A partner for blowing bubbles, flying kites, building sand castles, and
skipping down the sidewalk in the pouring rain.
Someone to laugh yourself silly with no matter what the boss said or
how your stocks performed that day.
For $160,140, you never have to grow up.
You get to fingerprint, carve pumpkins, play hide-and-seek, catch lightning bugs, and never stop believing in Santa Claus.
You have an excuse to keep reading the Adventures of Piglet and Pooh, watching Saturday morning cartoons, going to Disney Land, and wishing on stars.
You get to frame rainbows, hearts, and flowers under refrigerator magnets and collect spray painted noodle wreaths for Christmas, hand prints set in clay for Mother's Day, and cards with backward letters for Father's Day.
For $160,140, there is no greater bang for your buck.
You get to be a hero just for retrieving a Frisbee off the garage roof, taking the training wheels off the bike, removing a splinter, filling a wading pool, coaxing a wad of gum out of bangs, and coaching a baseball team that never wins but always gets treated to ice cream regardless.
You get a front row seat to history to witness the first step, first word, first bra, first date, and first time behind the wheel You get to be immortal.
You get another branch added to your family tree, and if you're lucky, a long list of limbs in your obituary called grandchildren.
You get an education in psychology, nursing, criminal justice, communications, and human sexuality that no college can match.
You have all the power to heal a booboo, scare away the monsters under the bed, patch a broken heart, police a slumber party, ground them forever, and love them without limits, so one day they will, like you, love without counting the cost.
Enjoy your children.
*
[Original illustration at this number was a duplicate of HolwickID #5959]
Quote Magazine (September 1, 1985) published ten behaviors children ages 8 to 14 identified as qualities wanted in parents. These young people, from 24 countries, agreed on 10 traits they believed were important for all parents to possess. Here they are:
1. They want harmony. They do not want their parents to have unresolved and destructive conflict in front of them.
2. They want love. They wish to be treated with the same affection as other children in the family.
3. They want honesty. They do not want to be lied to.
4. They want acceptance. They desire mutual tolerance from both parents.
5. They want their parents to like their friends. They want their friends to be welcomed in the home.
6. They want closeness. They desire comradeship with their parents.
7. They want their parents to pay attention to them and answer their questions.
8. They want consideration from their parents. They do not want to be embarrassed or punished in front of friends.
9. They want positive support. They wish for their parents to concentrate on their good points rather than their weaknesses.
10. They want consistency. They desire parents to be constant in their affections and moods.
Why are refrigerator doors important? "To keep the cold inside," you say. Or, "to keep that little light inside from burning out." Yeh, that's true too. But you might be forgetting one of the most valuable functions of a refrigerator door - that's right, it's a great place to display the artwork of your children or your grandchildren! Ours has been covered for years. Now, throughout our house and our offices, you can find pictures drawn by our grandson, crafts made by our grandson. You might not think they're masterpieces or great works of art, but they're precious to us.
Well, I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Surrounded by Precious."
And why are these humble artistic creations so valuable to us? Because of who made them, of course! The person who created them is precious to us - so what he created is precious to us.
There's a song the children love to sing - I did, too, when I was one of those Sunday School kids. "Jesus loves the little children, all the children of the world. Red and yellow, black and white, they are precious in His sight. Jesus loves the little children of the world." They're all precious to Him - people of every color, every background, every I.Q., every nationality, every age. And they had better all be precious to us.
Sadly, even though, according to the Bible, "God is no respecter of persons," (Romans 2:11) God's children, all too often, are respecters of persons. We judge people by their category. To be honest, most of us secretly, and sometimes openly, think of some people as being "not quite on our level," not our type, as being "outsiders," or in some way, not quite as important as we are.
Don't try telling that to God. In His book, you and I are surrounded by people who are precious. Why? For the same reason our grandson's artwork is precious to us - because of who made them. Every man or woman in our world was made in the image of Almighty God Himself. Every man and woman in our world is "fearfully and wonderfully made" (Psalm 139:13) ... and is, in the Bible's words, "God's workmanship." Our subtle racism, or prejudice, or feelings of superiority are nothing less than sin to a holy God who "so loved the world that He gave His Son." (John 3:16)
And your Savior went out of His way to be with those everyone considered as being of less worth. He'd walk past the religious leaders to express His forgiveness to a repentant prostitute. He'd make a despised Samaritan the example of a good neighbor. He would stop the entire parade around Him for the man everyone else wanted to shut up, blind Bartimaeus. And in Mark 1:40-42, our word for today from the Word of God, "A man with leprosy came to Jesus and begged on his knees, 'If you are willing, you can make me clean.' Filled with compassion, Jesus reached out His hand and touched the man. 'I am willing,' He said. 'Be clean!'"
What a scandal! Lepers were the lowest of the low, the total outcasts. And no one ever touched them. Except Jesus. Every person is of equal value to Him. Every person should be of equal value to you, as His follower. No matter what race or class ... no matter what their limitations or education ... no matter what nation or religion they're from.
Jesus' followers don't get to choose who they'll treat as precious - because they're all precious to Him. Our mission is to show every person in our personal world how very precious they are to Him - and to us. Because of Who made them!
________________
Copyright © Ron Hutchcraft Ministries, Inc., PO Box 400, Harrison, AR 72602. Used by permission. Written by Ron Hutchcraft. "Practical Answers to Real Life Issues"
*
Dear Heavenly Father, make me a better parent.
Teach me to understand my children,
to listen patiently to what they have to say,
and to answer all their questions kindly.
Keep me from interrupting them or contradicting them.
Make me as courteous to them as I would have them be to me.
Forbid that I should ever laugh at their mistakes
or resort to shame or ridicule when they displease me.
May I never punish them for my own selfish satisfaction
or to show my power.
Let me not tempt my child to lie or steal.
And guide me hour by hour
that I may demonstrate by all I say and do
that honesty produces happiness.
Reduce, I pray, the meanness in me.
And when I am out of sorts,
help me, oh Lord, to hold my tongue.
May I ever be mindful that my children are children
and I should not expect of them the judgement of adults.
Let me not rob them of the opportunity to wait on themselves
and to make decisions.
Bless me with the bigness to grant them all their reasonable
requests and the courage to deny them
privileges I know will do them harm.
Make me fair and just and kind. And fit me, oh Lord,
to be loved and respected and imitated by my children.
Some days I don’t think our family is large enough.
Having many children means chores are divided
So are the clothes
And the books
Time to practice on the piano
Time to bake cookies or brownies
Time to make a meal because Mom is helping to paint outside
Having many children means many stories to listen to
At mealtime
While dishes are being washed and put away
In the van driving to another dentist appointment
Going to Wal-Mart
On trips to see big sister with her new family
Having many children means tears to shed
When they fall off the pony and are injured
When they leave for another country
When they fall in love
When they miss the one they love
When they miss Mom and Dad
When they simply grow up and move away
Having many children means many joys to share
As they overcome fears
As they prepare to play in their first piano recital
As they romp in the Gulf of Mexico
As they play with their best friends in the woods and fields
As they receive an e-mail from special people far away
Having many children can cost money–
but the investment in their lives is invaluable
Having many children can cost your sanity–
you thought you clearly told them what to do yet somehow they misunderstood
Having many children can drive you to your knees because there is no
other posture in dealing with the uncertainties of childhood and adolescence.
Then when you think they have grown and are on their own, you realize
life has taken on a new dimension.
We tried so hard to make things better for our kids that we made them worse. For my grandchildren, I’d like better:
• I’d really like for them to know about hand-me-down clothes and homemade ice cream and leftover meatloaf sandwiches. I really would.
• My cherished grandson, I hope you learn humility by being humiliated, and that you learn honesty by being cheated. I hope you learn to make your bed and mow the lawn and wash the car. And I really hope nobody gives you a brand new car when you are sixteen. I hope you have a job by then.
• It will be good if at least one time you can see a baby calf born and your old dog put to sleep.
• I hope you get a black eye fighting for something you believe in.
• I hope you have to share a bedroom with your younger brother. And it’s all right if you have to draw a line down the middle of the room, but when he wants to crawl under the covers with you because he’s scared, I hope you let him.
• When you want to see a Disney movie and your little brother wants to tag along, I hope you’ll let him.
• I hope you have to walk uphill to school with your friends and that you live in a town where you can do it safely.
• On rainy days when you have to catch a ride, I hope your driver doesn’t have to drop you two blocks away so you won’t be seen riding with someone as uncool as your mom.
• If you want a slingshot, I hope your dad teaches you how to make one instead of buying one.
• I hope you learn to dig in the dirt and read books.
• When you learn to use those newfangled computers, I hope you also learn to add and subtract in your head.
• I hope you get razzed by your friends when you have your first crush on a girl, and when you talk back to your mother that you learn what Ivory soap tastes like.
• May you skin your knee climbing a mountain, burn your hand on the stove and stick your tongue on a frozen flagpole.
• I hope you get sick when someone blows cigar smoke in your face.
• If a friend offers you dope or a joint, I hope you realize he is not your friend.
• I sure hope you make time to sit on a porch with your grandpa and go fishing with your uncle.
• May you feel sorrow at a funeral and the joy of friendships long lasting.
• I hope your mother punishes you when you throw a baseball through a neighbor’s window and that she hugs you and kisses you when you give her a plaster of Paris mold of your hand.
• These things I wish for you — tough times and disappointments, hard work and happiness.
Children are a precious gift from God.– Charles H. Spurgeon
“Bring him unto me.” – Mark 9:19
Despairingly the poor disappointed father turned away from the disciples to their Master. His son was in the worst possible condition, and all means had failed, but the miserable child was soon delivered from the evil one when the parent in faith obeyed the Lord Jesus’ word, “Bring him unto me.” Children are a precious gift from God, but much anxiety comes with them. They may be a great joy or a great bitterness to their parents; they may be filled with the Spirit of God, or possessed with the spirit of evil. In all cases, the Word of God gives us one receipt for the curing of all their ills, “Bring him unto me.”
O for more agonizing prayer on their behalf while they are yet babes! Sin is there, let our prayers begin to attack it. Our cries for our offspring should precede those cries which betoken their actual advent into a world of sin. In the days of their youth we shall see sad tokens of that dumb and deaf spirit which will neither pray aright, nor hear the voice of God in the soul, but Jesus still commands, “Bring them unto me.” When they are grown up they may wallow in sin and foam with enmity against God; then when our hearts are breaking we should remember the great Physician’s words, “Bring them unto me.” Never must we cease to pray until they cease to breathe. No case is hopeless while Jesus lives.
The Lord sometimes suffers His people to be driven into a corner that they may experimentally know how necessary He is to them. Ungodly children, when they show us our own powerlessness against the depravity of their hearts, drive us to flee to the strong for strength, and this is a great blessing to us. Whatever our morning’s need may be, let it like a strong current bear us to the ocean of divine love. Jesus can soon remove our sorrow, He delights to comfort us. Let us hasten to Him while He waits to meet us.
There is great joy in children! They are a gift from God and meant to be a tremendous source of blessing. They need to hear from parents how special they are, and they need to hear it in terms they understand and believe.
How to communicate love to your children:
• Establish boundaries for their lives. By setting boundaries you convey your love for them by saying, “I love you too much to let you grow up in any way other than the way I know will honor God and bless you.” Boundaries are only as strong as you are willing to enforce them.
• Enjoy them. It’s fun to have kids. Enjoy the time with them. Fill your home with smiles, laughter, and a little bit of craziness.
• Expose your humanness to them. Let your kids hear you say, “I’m sorry; I blew it,” when you make a mistake. Whether blowing your stack without all the facts, or saying something you later regretted, mistakes are part of parenting. Admitting your human inadequacies face-to-face teaches them by example.
• Explain the reasons behind your decisions. “Because I said so” ought to be stricken from every parent’s vocabulary. It should be your goal to help them reason through your decisions. That doesn’t mean they will always accept your judgments, but at least they need to understand the rationale behind those decisions.
• Exchange ideas with them. Your children will know they’re something special when you take the time to exchange ideas with them. When you expose them to an intellectual life beyond the routines of a busy household, they will see that you are treating them as valuable people. And many times they grasp more from these exchanges than you suppose.
• Encourage them. Encouragement in regular and massive doses is probably the best thing you can give your kids to help them know you are on their team. Be a cheerleader for your kids, helping them to believe in themselves. Keep searching for opportunities to encourage your kids – they need it so much.
• Help them to believe they can go further than they dream. God invites you to challenge your sons and daughters to look beyond where they are; to imagine a broader and richer and greater future.
• Physically express what you feel in your heart. It’s a delight to hug a 2-year-old, but how easy it is to get out of that habit as the child enters the teen years. You can never receive too many hugs – no matter what age. When you express your emotion in hugs and tears, without fear of rejection, then your children will enjoy the greatest security they can ever know.
• Examine your marriage regularly. You best communicate love when they see that the commitment Mom and Dad have to each other is so deep that they will never violate that commitment and leave the children to deal with the results.
• Exercise great patience with them. It takes a lot of patience to be a parent. But God uses the hard times of family life to bind families together.
If I had my child to raise all over again,
I’d finger-paint more, and point the fingers less.
I would do less correcting and more connecting.
I’d take my eyes off my watch, and watch with my eyes.
I would care to know less and know to care more.
I’d take more hikes and fly more kites.
I’d stop playing serious, and seriously play.
I would run through more fields and gaze at more stars.
I’d do more hugging and less tugging.
I’d build self-esteem first, and the house later.
I would be firm less often, and affirm much more.
I’d teach less about the love of power,
And more about the power of love.
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