Goofy did it!

Troy is always saying things that surprise me. His creativity always makes me smile even when it shouldn’t. For example, a few months ago I told Troy to stop doing something (I don’t even remember now what it was) he said, “But Goofy did it!'” At the time Troy was holding his stuffed Goofy animal, and Troy was using Goofy to perform the action that I asked him to stop doing. Troy thought he had the best of both worlds: getting to do what I told him not to do and passing the blame to someone else.

I think that we can easily fall into this way of thinking as well: doing things that go against God’s will and then passing the blame to someone or something else. What about the woman who dresses inadequately and inappropriately, but blames the man for looking? Or the parents who fail to teach their children about God at home, but blame the Bible class program? What about the Christian who fails to give to God, but blames the economy?  Or the countless other ways that we try to push our faults to someone or something else? Brushing the burden of sin off to someone or something else may ease our conscience, but it will not cleanse sin off our record to God. Sin separates us from God (Isaiah 59:1-2), even if we try to push the responsibility of our actions off of ourselves. Consider 2 Corinthians 5:10: “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.” We must be careful not to fall into the dangerous trap that removes personal responsibility for the sin in our lives.

And, considering my role and responsibility as a parent, I must teach my children that they must take ownership of their actions rather than passing the blame off to something else.  Sometimes I think our instincts as parents may encourage us to make excuses for our children, thinking that we are protecting them in some way. However, I think that when we consistently make excuses for our children we do them a great disservice because we don’t teach them the importance of personal responsibility and accountability. Though no parent wants their child to do wrong, we must realize that our children will be better off in the long run if they are held accountable for their actions, ultimately so that they will understand the severity of sin and the importance of obedience to God.

Parenting from Proverbs: Avoiding Evil

Proverbs 4:14-17:

Do not enter the path of the wicked, And do not walk in the way of evil.
Avoid it, do not travel on it; Turn away from it and pass on.
For they do not sleep unless they have done evil; And their sleep is taken away unless they make someone fall.
For they eat the bread of wickedness, And drink the wine of violence.
But the path of the just is like the shining sun, That shines ever brighter unto the perfect day.
The way of the wicked is like darkness; They do not know what makes them stumble.
My son, give attention to my words; Incline your ear to my sayings. Do not let them depart from your eyes;
Keep them in the midst of your heart; For they are life to those who find them, And health to all their flesh.
Keep your heart with all diligence, For out of it spring the issues of life.
Put away from you a deceitful mouth, And put perverse lips far from you.
Let your eyes look straight ahead, And your eyelids look right before you.
Ponder the path of your feet, And let all your ways be established.
Do not turn to the right or the left; Remove your foot from evil.

I need to teach my children to be like the blessed man of Psalm 1 who turns from every way and path of evil and sin. Psalm 1:1-2: “Blessed is the man Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, Nor stands in the path of sinners, Nor sits in the seat of the scornful; ² But his delight is in the law of the Lord, And in His law he meditates day and night.” I need to teach my children to recognize evil by having a knowledge of God’s Word. However, beyond teaching my children to recognize evil, I must teach them avoid it, to not engage in  it, to not even “stand in the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of the scornful.” They need to know the danger of even being near evil and sin and the destructive influence those things can have on their life. Instead, I need to guide them to fill their hearts with God’s Word – with a life that embodies the thoughts of Philippians 4:8: “Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things.” I need to instruct them to “ponder the path of [their] feet.” They need to understand that God has blessed us with the opportunity to choose our paths, and that we need to choose the path that follows God. I must guide them to “keep their heart with all diligence” and to “let [their] eyes look straight ahead” so that they learn to live lives obedient to God.

More Parenting from Proverbs

The Seriousness of Sin and the Bible’s Answer (a reflection from Jamaica)

It is hard to believe that a month ago I was in Jamaica, along with 17 others, for a mission trip. I intended to write this post almost as soon as I returned home, but as usual, life gets busy, and I didn’t make the time to write the post as one of the many reflections I had from my trip.

I’ve now been blessed with the opportunity to go to Jamaica specifically for the purpose of spreading God’s Word three times. Each experience has taught me a lot; not only about myself, my fellow workers, and the Jamaican people, but also, and most importantly, the power of the Gospel. God’s Word is powerful, and does bring salvation to those who are willing to obey it.

Romans 1:16: “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ,for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.”

Teaching the Gospel in Jamaica also reminds me of the seriousness of sin and why we need salvation from sin. Sin, transgression of God’s law (1 John 3:4), separates us from God (Isaiah 59:1-2).  Once we reach an age of understanding, we all sin (Romans 3:23), and because of sin, are worthy of death (Romans 6:23). Our sin separates us from God, and condemns us to a place of everlasting punishment for eternity (Matthew 25:31-46).

Thankfully, God sent His Son, giving us the gift of salvation if we choose to accept it. However, we must realize that there are certain things that God says we must do to accept His gift of salvation - to be washed of our sins so that we are no longer separated from Him. The Bible teaches that to be saved – to come to God - and be cleansed from our sins we must hear and understand God’s Word (John 6:45), believe that Jesus is the Son of God (John 8:24), confess that Jesus is the Son of God (Romans 10:10), repent of our sins (Acts 17:30), and be baptized (immersed) (Mark 16:16). One example of conversion recorded for us in the Bible is found in Acts 8:26-40. There we see the account of the Ethiopian eunuch: Philip taught the eunuch about Christ (Acts 8:30-35), the eunuch believed in Christ (Acts 8:37), he repented (Acts 8:36), he confessed Jesus as the Son of God (Acts 8:37), and was baptized (Acts 8:38). Notice that the eunuch’s joy comes after his baptism (Acts 8:39), not before. Sadly, some men have perverted God’s Word teaching that baptism isn’t essential to salvation. Consider some of the things that happen at the point of baptism: we receive remission (forgiveness) of sins (Acts 2:38); our sins are washed away (Acts 22:16); we are saved (1 Peter 3:21); and we are added to the church (Acts 2:47).  If sin separates us from God, how can we be right with Him if our sins have not been washed away?

For further discussion about what God teaches through the Bible about how to receive salvation, I encourage you to listen to this lesson by Brother Dan Winkler about becoming a child of God. As always, I’d love to discuss this further with you as well – you can email me (beingwhatiwanttobe at gmail dot com) or write in the comments below.

The Ugliness of Sin

As a mother, I often think about the world in which my children are growing up and are forming who they will become. I’m a news junkie (and my fairly recent conversion to Twitter has not helped me in that area), and I see story after story of the effects of sin in the world today. One such incidence that would be hard to miss if you keep up with any news at all is the scandal that is currently rocking the sports world within the Penn State football program. There are so many things about the situation that are sickening to me: the alleged molestation of children; the alleged mishandling of reporting of the incidents; and, the protestors who seem to care more about football than young children who may have been assaulted. The actions of many within or near the entire situation are clearly revolting.

I hurt when I think about the day when my children are old enough to ask questions about such situations as the one mentioned above. I want to keep them protected from such sad and evil examples; I want to keep their minds pure. However, I know that I cannot protect them from the world forever, and eventually they will (and must) learn about sin and the consequences of sin. I’m thankful, though, that as they learn about the ugliness of sin, that I can teach them about Someone who can take away sin if we obey Him; Someone who sacrificed His life that we might live – Jesus Christ. As Romans 6:23 states: “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

1 John 4: 7-11: “7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. ⁸ He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. ⁹ In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. ¹⁰ In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. ¹¹ Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.”

Sin is Sad

Ella’s favorite Bible story right now is the story of Noah and the great flood. She loves to talk about the story every night before she goes to bed as she usually requests: “Talk about Noah!” When we discuss the reason that God brought the flood to the earth, sin (Genesis 6:5-7), Ella promptly responds: “Sin is sad.”

Sin truly is sad. It can be easy to forget the true grief that sin can and does bring into our lives. I think the devil wants us to forget that sin is sad. He wants us to think about the passing pleasure that we might have in sin or even rationalize that sin just isn’t really that bad. But it is.

Sin separates us from God (Isaiah 59:1-2). This has been apparent since the beginning  when Adam and Eve disobeyed God’s command (Genesis 3). Sin has consequences: most definitely eternal and often even within our physical lives here on earth.

I hope that as a parent I properly convey and teach the seriousness of sin to my children. I do not want to do a disservice to my children by rationalizing sin away, or deemphasizing the importance of obeying God.

Isaiah 59:1-2

“Behold, the LORD’S hand is not shortened, That it cannot save, Nor His ear heavy, That it cannot hear. But your iniquities have separated you from your God; And your sins have hidden His face from you, So that He will not hear.”

I am thankful to be a child of God

I am so thankful to be a child of God! Let me say that again-I am so thankful to be a child of God! Tonight I was at a college football game, and four college-age guys were sitting directly behind us. At first, they seemed like OK guys, but I soon realized how sad their lives really were. One was talking about how they'd barely got by in college, but that was OK because dad was going to take care of a job when he finished school. Their conversation was dominated about drinking alcohol, and getting drunk. One had already planned how drunk he we be on a date a month from now. It was absolutely discouraging for me to realize how sunk into sin these individuals were, and how they were reveling in the ways of the world.

I am so thankful that I am a child of God. I know that I am not perfect in myself, but I am covered by Christ's blood. I am so thankful for the hope of eternal salvation.

"But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life. For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." (Romans 6:22-23)