Wiping Yet Another Snotty Nose

Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.

37Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink? When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee? Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?

40And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me. Matthew 25:34-40

I’ve been thinking how many times I sigh inwardly when I have a nose to wipe at an inconvenient time. Or have to intervene in another squabble. Or comfort a child in the middle of the night when I’d much, much rather be sound asleep.

I can remember today that in serving (appropriately, of course) my children, I am directly serving Christ. In our society, children are indeed among “the least of these.” This is an important thought for me today.

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Defining Mean

I love that this morning, I had an opportunity to teach my children not to be mean. :)

This morning, Bethel and Laurel were playing with a new playdoh set that Laurel bought with her own money. I heard Laurel start to get irritated with Bethel, so I looked over and saw that both children had a small bit of playdoh. Then I saw that Bethel had all of the rest of the playdoh hidden. She was practically sitting on it.

Now, Bethel knew she wasn’t doing right. I think she knew she was being mean. But I still felt the necessity of defining it for her, since I’ve noticed a pattern of meanness the last few weeks. That’s why I took the time to talk about how we (mommy and Bethel) can tell that there might be meanness in her heart.

So, without further ado… How do you know what you’re being mean? All of these happened in our household by all of our children, just this morning!

  • When you’re more interested in hiding a toy than playing with a toy.
  • When you’re glad that someone is getting in trouble for grabbing.
  • When you’re trying to play with three toys at once, just so someone can’t play with one of the toys you have.
  • When you have more than you can use, and won’t let anyone have any (One child this morning had five cups of orange playdoh that he made, and wouldn’t give any away!)

Since all the selfishness happened before  eight o clock, what verses will we talk about at breakfast?

Working to give. This was an important verse for our situation, because Laurel used money she earned doing work to purchase the playdoh. It was good and right for her to see her dollars being used not only for something that she wanted, but also for an opportunity to share. I want to reinforce this idea for her. I need to think of ways that I can provide for Bethel to work and share what she has worked for. David worked hard to make the playdoh. I want them to understand that work is a primary means of having so that we can give!

There’s probably far more passages we can think though, but more might be overkill. So we’ll stop there.

Let him who stole steal no longer, but rather let him labor, working with his hands what is good, that he may have something to give him who has need. Ephesians 4:28

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Disobedience and the Fear of God

Our conversation yesterday at breakfast was helpful for me as a mother. As a result, I became more aware that one reason that my children are not always obedient is that they don’t fear God. They don’t believe he is a good God who will give them everything they [...] Continue Reading…

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Teach the Fear of God

Come, you children, and listen to me, I will teach you the fear of the Lord. (Psalm 34:11)
I’ve read this verse before, but I forget not only that the fear of God is something that can be taught, but also that I should be deliberately teaching it.

Truthfully, I’ve rather [...] Continue Reading…

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Breakfast Talk Again

This morning mommy needed the restorative waters of God’s Word– the rest and peace. Here is what I read and said to my children this morning.

Would you like to hear a poem mommy likes a lot? [I didn't say, but I thought: it doesn't matter; I'm going to read [...] Continue Reading…

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Find a New Church

We’re moving this summer, so we’ve been talking a lot about our move.  The children want to know if we will leave our toys in our old house. They want to know if they’ll move next week. They are wondering what kinds of birds live in our new town. [...] Continue Reading…

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Tell a Child He’s Saved

Questions:

Is telling a person he is saved unbiblical?
Is there more to assurance than saying “Yes, you’re saved because…”
When a child states that he is saved already, at what point should a parent “let” him be saved?
Should a parent ever bring up salvation with a child? At what point developmentally?

A [...] Continue Reading…

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Assurance and Children

I’m going to begin a series on helping children come to an assurance of salvation. This topic has been percolating for awhile, and Lee and I have been discussing it at length together. We’ll see how it all comes together.

When I was a teenager, I started having doubts of [...] Continue Reading…

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Malware Alert

My antivirus software noticed a Trojan on my site today.  After further investigation, we learned that my site was hacked, and a harmful small java script was embedded in the header file of my blog.  I don’t know what, if any, consequence this has for you.  We have taken [...] Continue Reading…

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Does the Gospel Make a Difference?

On Monday my friend Kelly showed me this passage and I’ve been thinking on it since then.
I Peter 1:17-21

And if you call on the Father, who without partiality judges according to each one’s work, conduct yourselves throughout the time of your stay here in fear; 18 knowing that you [...] Continue Reading…

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    • I hope you have enjoyed reading my blog, but my greatest desire for my audience is that they would be inspired and motivated to search the Scriptures for themselves. God promises to give wisdom to any believer who searches for it His way. Here are some Bible study links I have found of interest and help.

    Chronological Bible: ESV
    Read the Bible chronologically. The first time I read through the Bible in the order everything happened, I learned so much and gained an incredible understanding of the big picture of Scripture. If you've never done it, you should!

    Bible Gateway
    From this website you can search for scriptures in a number of versions and languages by key words, phrases, or references. I use this website often when I post Scripture on my blog, so then I don't have to worry about typing in the verse accurately.

    Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
    This is a fantastic online version of a classic reference tool. Basically this is a list of cross references based on particular passages. Simply click on the verse or passage you are studying, and you will find other references to other relevant Scripture.

    Bible Commentaries Online
    A list of classic Bible commentaries. Sometimes they're hard to understand, but they can be helpful when you're wanting more insight into a passage you are studying.

    More Bible Study Resources
    This is a page of links for articles and audio on the topic of studying the Bible. Some are not easy to read, but they are helpful. The rest of this website has a tremendous amount of resources that may be of interest.