Tag: Family

Problematic faith


In our society today it seems that we have problems with faith. Occasionally it is the lack of faith but most often it is that people of faith seem to be the problem. It doesn’t matter how many florists or bakeries there are in a particular town or city, those who want to cause trouble usually find the one run by someone who is a Christian. As Jesus said, “The world hated Me so it will hate you“; it is the Truth which the world hates and since our Lord is the Truth and His Word is also, then it makes sense in a way.

Our faith in Jesus is not really in question but the absolute Truth of God’s Word is the part which the world and those who don’t want to believe in Him or live by it is the real problem. Can we do anything to fix this? No, not really. The only way that this could be better would be IF the world would convert to Christianity. We are trying to tell the world about Jesus and that He is the Messiah for all of humanity, but much of the world doesn’t want to hear it.

Thankfully, we don’t push our faith on people. We tell you about it, we will pray for you, I can tell you the pathway to salvation through belief in Jesus, but if you decide against it then that is your decision. God doesn’t push Himself nor belief in His Son on the world. He didn’t do it even before Jesus was born but He did try to get the Israelites to follow His commandments and be His representatives to the world, but they didn’t do that even then.

Being faithful in following God has always been a tricky proposition. There was always the temptation to worship the gods of those around them or if they married someone who worshipped an idol. We have the same problem today, except our “idols” are much different. We worship money or family or our jobs, even though we don’t bow down or pray to them. We just place more emphasis on those things in our life than we should.

Anytime that you place anything ahead of or in place of your faith and belief in God, you are creating an idol or a “god” which takes His place. This is a big problem in our world today. Because many people look at their jobs or their bank accounts as their “savior” in many things. That is why Jesus said that “it would be easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter Heaven“.

Why is that true? Well, wealthy people don’t have to worry about bills or having enough money or food. Why would they need God? Granted, there are some who know where their wealth came from and they honor Him for it and with tithes which show that He is the source and not their business or their bank account. But…those are few. Give God the glory for your ability to get wealth and for your salvation through Jesus!

 

Consider….


Consider life and how it flows through time.

Consider your life and where it may go in time.

Consider love and what will become of it in time.

Consider our society and what it will become…in time.

Consider your family and what will happen to them…in time.

Consider your nation and what it may look like in time. Will it still be a nation?

Consider the world and what may happen in it in the future of our time.

Consider your future. Where will you spend eternity at that time?

Just…consider the possibilities for all of these, then decide if there is one of them that you can have an influence on.

The last one on the list is the only one that you can really have an impact on and it hinges upon one decision. That decision is whether you believe in Jesus and His atonement for your life and sins and whether you have accepted Him as Savior or not.

That’s it.

A Father’s place


In our culture, a father is needed in the home today more than ever before. But, there are many who are growing up without one present. Oh, some men are there in the home but they are so caught up in their careers that they don’t have time for the kids and their spouse. But, the sad fact is that for many families there is no father figure around at all. There are too many single parent homes today and the men that are around are not giving the children that are around them the support that a father is supposed to give.

I mean, what can you do about being a father or a Dad if you weren’t raised by one yourself? Did you have a role model like a grandfather or an uncle to teach you the things that your father should have? Boys need a father, a Dad that will be there when they want or need to ask questions, they don’t need a gang or some schoolyard “friend” who may teach them things that they really don’t need.

Our country is reeling from a lack of fathers…of Dads, who need to step up and be the Dad that their children need, even if the child in your family is not yours, they still need a father figure to show them the path that they need to be on! God‘s Word says that we, as fathers, should train a child in the way that they should go and when they are old, they will not depart from it; that is exactly what needs to be done but in the last fifty years there have been many who did not or would not do this! So, why do we seem to be surprised when there are so many men in prison and so many crimes committed by men? They didn’t have someone to look up to or anyone to teach them, so where did they get their example? Who showed them the “ropes” of being a man?

Life is hard enough with a Dad to help you, to show you how to do things and the right way to do them, let alone going through life without an example from a man, especially a Godly man!

Hear, my children, the instruction of a father,
And give attention to know understanding;
2 For I give you good doctrine:
Do not forsake my law. (Proverbs 4:1-2)

Dad?


During our lifetimes we have all started a conversation, or a question with “Dad? Can I….” It is not a bad way of starting a conversation actually, because it shows that you want Dad’s input or his permission in some area of your life or for something that you would like to do or even as a preamble to asking for something like a gift, whether it is for your birthday or Christmas (if you celebrate it).

What I like to hear from my son is that he would like to do something with me. It doesn’t matter what it is. If I can do it, I will go anywhere and do anything with him as long as I feel that I am wanted…needed in his young life. The reason that I say this is because there are so many father/son relationships which are strained or even broken for whatever reason.

Kids need their fathers. They need them to be in their lives, maybe not 24/7 but they need them nonetheless. It doesn’t matter for what reason, it can be for any reason but children, boys and girls, need their Dad. I barely had one when I was growing up because of a divorce that happened when I was only five years old. Of course, I thought it was something that I did, and something that I could fix. I found out later that wasn’t the reason, that I was not even part of the reason for it. I grew up angry and resentful because of it, mainly because I was so young that nobody thought it was a good idea to tell me exactly why this had happened when I got old enough to understand. Dad’s usually are good at helping kids understand things, especially when they are around.

My point in this is that our father, our Dads are important and should be in our lives, not only when we are young but when we get older as well. I know of many who are taking care of their Dad now because he is older, because he needs his children. Is it too much to ask of us as children to be there for the man who was there for us? If your Dad wasn’t around while you were growing up, maybe you can get together now. Try not to hold a grudge against him, there usually was a good reason for his absence.

Our Father, the One in Heaven, would also like to be in your life. The difference between our Heavenly Father and our Dad that we have here on earth is that we must choose to have a relationship with Him. In some kids lives, they may need to choose to have a relationship with their earthly father as well, but that relationship is important too. God wants a relationship with each of us and He is always with us. His presence in your life can be felt and known at any time regardless of where you are. The reason behind His presence in your life is because He wants to be, but you have to choose to allow Him into your life.

In order for us to have a real relationship with God, we have to come to Him through Jesus. When we do that, we can have a relationship with God forever, not just while we are alive here but when our body dies, we will wake up in His presence. Isn’t that awesome!

That doesn’t mean that we will be in “church” forever. We will be worshiping Him but in other ways, we will be serving Him in whatever ways that we can. The difference in Heaven will be that we have the knowledge to do what needs to be done and we will have eternity to do whatever there is that needs doing.

By choosing to have a relationship with Jesus, you get a relationship with the Father too. He has loved each of us from the beginning, not of our life but the beginning of time itself. He has known you from long before you were ever born or even before the world, earth, was created for us to live on. His love, His compassion for us is so far beyond our comprehension that it is hard to explain. As the Scripture says, “my ways are higher than your ways, and my thoughts are higher than your thoughts”, God is simply saying that He is perfect in His knowledge of all things above and beyond what we can know. He is not bragging, it is just the truth!

This Father’s Day, think about your father, your Dad and then really think about having or starting a relationship with God, your Father in Heaven. Life is too short to waste it on stuff, our relationship with our family, both here on earth and the family that we have in Heaven, is far more important than is given credit in our culture today. Give both of your Fathers your attention so your relationship with them doesn’t have to end. Think about it.

 

A message for Father’s Day


Today being Father’s Day, I thought we would concentrate on finding out what God’s Word says about fathers and their place in the home. Truly, fathers are the leaders in the home, the ones who set the example for their children to follow. Do we have an example to follow? Did our father or grandfather show by his example how to be a father? These are a couple of references from the Bible which give us some idea about being fathers:

HOSEA 11:1-4

(NRSV) When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son. The more I called them, the more they went from me; they kept sacrificing to the Baals, and offering incense to idols. Yet it was I who taught Ephraim to walk, I took them up in my arms; but they did not know that I healed them. I led them with cords of human kindness, with bands of love. I was to them like those who lift infants to their cheeks. I bent down to them and fed them.

EPHESIANS 6:1-4, 10-12

Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.  “Honor your father and mother”–this is the first commandment with a promise: “so that it may be well with you and you may live long on the earth.”  And, fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.

The way that we can do these things is to make sure that we have a relationship with our Father in Heaven.Then make sure that we live that daily in front of our children. Don’t break the speed limit unless it is a true emergency, don’t cheat on your taxes, you know the drill. Everything that you do is being watched carefully by your children, whether they are grown or not. They watch and they learn by what you say and do in front of them.

When you tell them that God is important make sure that you let them see you doing that, not just saying it. “Do as I say and not as I do” is no way to bring up a child. Your children will do as you do, regardless of what you say. Even in God’s Word, when He told them to do things a certain way they didn’t do it. If they did, it would only be for a little while.

The lives of the next generation are precious to us and to God so we should live our life and our beliefs daily, not just on Sunday. Giving your life to Christ is the most important decision of your life. Living that new life in Christ in front of your family is the next decision that is important because of who is watching. God is watching you and watching over you, but your children, your wife, your co-workers are all watching to see the change that has happened in your life. If there has been a change, it will be evident.

Your character will be affected by that change and it will be what everyone sees on a daily basis. No matter what happens that change can’t be undone once it truly occurs. You won’t lose it and no one can take it from you. You can walk away from God, just as Jonah did, but when God decides to bring you back……He will. Hopefully without a fish swallowing you.  He will guide you back to Him one way or another.