Archives for November 2009

Love this quote

“If Christ is followed only because his gifts are great and his threats are terrible, he is not glorified by his followers. A defective lord can offer great gift and terrible threats. And a person may want the gifts, fear the threats, and follow a lor whom they despise or pity or find boring or embarrassing, in order to have the gifts an avoid the threats. If Christ is to be glorified in his people, their following must be rooted not mainly in his promised gifts or threatened punishments, but in his glorious Person.”

From When I Don’t Desire God by John Piper (page 36). It’s not a difficult read, and it’s very good (although I do concede he makes some logical leaps I’m not sure I agree with– Still thinking on this.)

Habakkuk said something similar:

Though the fig tree should not blossom,
nor fruit be on the vines,
the produce of the olive fail
and the fields yield no food,
the flock be cut off from the fold
and there be no herd in the stalls,
¹⁸yet I will rejoice in the LORD;
I will take joy in the God of my salvation.
¹⁹GOD, the Lord, is my strength;
he makes my feet like the deer’s;
he makes me tread on my high places.

Habakkuk  3:17-19

Lee’s mom and dad hit a deer on their way to New Mexico for Thanksgiving. They were unhurt, but their car was totaled, and it was cost and time prohibitive to come here after that. You might think, based on the reactions from our children, that it wasn’t that big of a deal.

However, last night, David came and tapped on our door. His nose was all stuffed up, he said. After a little bit of questioning and reassurances didn’t seem to help ease his mind, I realized that he was bothered about something else. So I asked what else was bothering him, and he started to cry. He was sad and disappointed about grandparents not coming.

Of course, my heart goes out to him. It’s hard to see your children hurting, even if there’s no blame for the sadness. God is good, because He is using this event to remind me that our children learn about the goodness of God from disappointments, too. I tried to say something comforting to him, and then he went back to bed. Then I had a thought.

I went and got a Bible, and took it to him. I found a flashlight and asked if he would like to read Psalm 23 if he couldn’t go to sleep. He nodded. I opened the Bible to the right place, put the flashlight on the Bible and put it on the end of his bed. He might have read, and he might not have, but what’s important is that he learns that God is our refuge and strength. I want to teach my children the process of turning to God when they are sad. I want him to know that disappointments remind us that our joy is to be found in God, and not merely His good gifts. Perhaps God will use this experience to show him his need of salvation.I am praying that he will see his need of the Good Shepherd.

Disappointments are hard, but they are also a blessing. I am grateful for the answer to prayer of insight into my quiet son’s soul. I’m praying that God will give me wisdom to minister to him further.

I wanted to talk today about encouraging one’s self. I love Psalm 46 and Isaiah 40. David says his favorite is Psalm 23. What Scripture do you go to when you are in need of encouraging yourself?

I am, if you don’t know, rather absentminded. I admit, sometimes this state can be inconvenient, but it has its blessings, too. Chances are, I won’t remember if you’ve offended me in the past. If you come over, I can sit down and enjoy a visit without obsessing over details. Crooked pictures don’t bother me. And I can be easily interrupted if I am needed. Interruptions don’t usually bother me at all.

Under the control of the Holy Spirit, my absentmindedness is a good thing.

One of the challenges my mom makes is the importance of seeing personality traits through the lens of God’s grace and provision. It’s easy instead, to be irritated at a child who is too quiet (or not quiet enough), too rigid (or not rigid enough). One child might not think in shades of gray; the other never sees black and white! (I speak metaphorically, of course.) Sadly, when we see these personalities as problems, we miss the joy that comes from understanding not only how God works in our children’s lives, but also our own.

I might call Bethel intense, but my mom calls her enthusiastic (whatever she is doing). That’s not an accidental correction, but a gentle reminder that how we perceive our children really does matter. A child isn’t fearful, but careful. Imagine the value of a cautious soul when guided by the Holy Spirit. And imagine the glory God gets when that cautious soul acts boldly because he is walking in the spirit.

We can run the risk the other way, too, valuing personality traits that in themselves are neither good nor bad. A quiet child might be the admiration of all young mothers. A child who cares desperately to please people might be extremely pleasant for all the wrong reasons.

Every personality can be used for good.

This morning, I have need of fighting against my personality to get the house ready for possible company this week. And I need to sit down with my Bible and a cup of coffee. I need to walk in the spirit.

Awhile back I spent some time thinking about the idea that God does not “mark our iniquities” as David says. And along with that idea is the one that says, “Love covers a multitude of sins.” I know some of you have thought about these verses a lot, too.

The hard part is understanding how God in his justice can “overlook” or “ignore” sin. We know practically that if we were to lovingly correct our children, husbands, fellow believers, any and every time we saw them sinning, that we would crush their spirits. And we recognize that God does not discipline us for every sin in our lives, all at once. Have you ever had your sin revealed to you, and you were amazed that you never saw it before?

We also recognize that God’s timing in our fellow believers’ lives is not our own. We become frustrated when other believers don’t change immediately upon seeing the Scriptures on some topic. It’s clear as the nose on their face, but they don’t understand or get it yet. Is it possible that the Holy Spirit isn’t ready to work on that sin yet? That maybe He’s got a different agenda? Sometimes, I think this is the case.

Does God’s patience mean that He is unrighteously allowing sin in our lives? Far from it. We see much in the Bible about God’s longsuffering nature, his mercy and grace. He remembers that we are but dust. It makes sense, then, that part of His mercy and omniscience is knowing exactly when to bring up an area of growth in our lives. I’m always amazed at how God brings events in place when we’re ready. I think of hard things God has given me– like a dad with a terminal illness, a seven-month separation from my husband, and so on, and then I realize that God is using those things in my life to teach me about himself, lessons I was not ready for when I was twenty. Along with those lessons were some sin problems– selfishness with my time, laziness and poor stewardship with taking care of my house, prideful criticism. I didn’t see some of those problems, either, perhaps because God was working on other things in my life: contentment and compassion, for example.

As parents, we see far more sins in our children’s lives than we should deal with all at once. We choose what takes a highest priority at the time. We sometimes wait until the time is right to deal with a pattern of sin we see. Remember when Jesus told us “Be ye merciful as your father is merciful”? I wonder if this is one of the ways we show mercy.

This portion from mom’s book Parenting with Wisdom was helpful for me to think about:

Recognizing the power of love and kindness helps us better understand why God said to Isarael, “Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love; therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee” (Jeremiah 31:3). God uses love and kindness to draw Israel closer to Himself in a relationship of obedience. In Romans we read a fascinating passage addressed to a rebelling soul, “Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?” (Romans 2:4).

You might think God would immediately judge the wickedness of offenders and exact justice upon them, as they deserve. But God is forbearing and patient, and in love gives sinners space to repent and turn to Him b efore they experience the righteous judgment of God. As parents, we sometimes become too quick to come down harshly on an erring child and fail to discipline in love with understanding and patience. We often fail to understand the importance of drawing children close to ourselves with love and kindness so that our discipline and instruction is received with a willing heart. (from “How to Really Love Your Child,” pp. 49-51)