I’m not asking that question as I look at your left hand for a shining cubic zirconium ring. I’m addressing you as a parent, a parent of a child who is 4 months, 4 years, 14 years, or 44 years old. Are you engaged as a Christ-following parent in the life of your sons or daughters immersed in a crooked and depraved generation?
In Luke 15, Jesus tells the parable of the lost son, also known as the ‘prodigal’ son. This boy came to his father to ask for his share of the estate. He was selfish and demanding, and basically wanted the inheritance that would have been left once his father passed away. In a sense, he’s saying he wished his father would die! After getting what he wanted, he squandered all he had on wild living, and ended up hanging out in the pig pen, until he came to his senses and returned home broken and ashamed.
As parents, this is where our true test begins. We will all have to face rebellion at some point in our child’s lives. Even the prodigal’s brother, who we might consider the ‘dedicated’ son, had been living at home with a seed of rebellion in his heart. The test begins when we choose to be involved in what is happening in our children’s lives. You don’t have to be an absentee dad by not being home often! Many dads are checked out emotionally, mentally, and spiritually, or are just too busy to pay attention to their sons who are really crying out.
When the prodigal returned home, he didn’t find resentment and bitterness, at least from his father! He found forgiveness and warmth and reconciliation. That is God’s ministry to you and I, the ultimate rebellious runaways from our heavenly Father! Do you as dad or mom openly embrace and forgive and restore your children after they have failed? Are you standing out on your property, along the walls, watching in prayer for your prodigal to come home?
The father had such a deep relationship with his sons that they could approach him honestly and openly. Can the same be said of you and I? Whenever our teens talk about their parents, and especially fathers, there always seems to be a desire for dad to be more involved and more caring. Kids want their dads to pray with and for them, and to forgive them when they fail. They want to be able to come honestly and share their hearts and dreams and fears and know they won’t be ridiculed or dismissed. They’ll be listened to. I implore you, for the sake of your child, please get engaged in their lives.
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Friday, September 05, 2008
Don’t Change!
'Christ-like obedience is nothing less than a high cost, a great call, an unknown endeavor, and a priceless reward.'
One of the most subtle yet dangerous threats to our Christian growth is the fear or resistance to CHANGE! We have a slogan on youth camps and retreats that I instill in our parent chaperones and adult volunteers: “Blessed are the flexible, for they shall not be broken!” When we resist change in our Christian lives, we walk the path that one man walked thousands of years ago, and his response gives us insight into why we must be willing to let God work in the way we know He will.
Who is this man? We all know him from our Sunday school classes as Jonah, the man who was swallowed by the great fish. But don’t let the wonders of marine biology distract you from a greater truth that lies deeper than the belly of the “whale”: Jonah was running away from change, from allowing God to stretch him in ways and in worlds he had never been before! After his brief stay in the Salty Stomach Suites, Jonah found himself struggling with the fact that God desired to have mercy on Ninevah. Jonah wanted to pronounce judgment, but God favored grace. Jonah wanted his way, not God’s way, and ultimately learned a powerful lesson in God’s love, sovereignty, and plans. What is interesting, however, is that before Jonah turned tail and ran, he knew what God’s intentions were, and he refused to line up to them! Jonah 4:1,2 says, “This change of plans upset Jonah, and he became very angry. 2 So he complained to the LORD about it: ‘Didn't I say before I left home that you would do this, LORD? That is why I ran away to Tarshish! I knew that you were a gracious and compassionate God, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love. I knew how easily you could cancel your plans for destroying these people.’”
Jonah understood the heart of God, the compassion and grace that God desired to share with the Assyrians, but Jonah’s own prejudice and resentment was an old wineskin that needed to be replaced. When we resist the inevitable changes that are on the horizons of life, we find ourselves in a place of failure, loneliness, and darkness (just like Jonah’s undersea adventure!). Imagine the corporate executive of a record company refusing to give way to Compact Disks when they began to skyrocket, and emphatically insisting, “We’ve always sold records in the past, and we always will!” One of the tale-tell signs that a church is in trouble is when people begin to say 6 words, “We’ve always done it this way”. One of the tell-tale signs that we are not growing in our personal walk with Christ is when we turn and run when God says “go”, when we find ourselves on voyages He never sent us on, and when we find ourselves washing up wet and weary on the very shores of the places He called us to venture out to.
So, the Lord wants to do a NEW WORK in this fellowship. He wants to pour out NEW WINE in new wineskins. He wants you to sing a NEW SONG as He grows you in areas you have never been in before. The question is, “Do you want God to leave you the same, or grow you?” Christ-like obedience is nothing less than a high cost, a great call, an unknown endeavor, and a priceless reward.—Pilgrim
One of the most subtle yet dangerous threats to our Christian growth is the fear or resistance to CHANGE! We have a slogan on youth camps and retreats that I instill in our parent chaperones and adult volunteers: “Blessed are the flexible, for they shall not be broken!” When we resist change in our Christian lives, we walk the path that one man walked thousands of years ago, and his response gives us insight into why we must be willing to let God work in the way we know He will.
Who is this man? We all know him from our Sunday school classes as Jonah, the man who was swallowed by the great fish. But don’t let the wonders of marine biology distract you from a greater truth that lies deeper than the belly of the “whale”: Jonah was running away from change, from allowing God to stretch him in ways and in worlds he had never been before! After his brief stay in the Salty Stomach Suites, Jonah found himself struggling with the fact that God desired to have mercy on Ninevah. Jonah wanted to pronounce judgment, but God favored grace. Jonah wanted his way, not God’s way, and ultimately learned a powerful lesson in God’s love, sovereignty, and plans. What is interesting, however, is that before Jonah turned tail and ran, he knew what God’s intentions were, and he refused to line up to them! Jonah 4:1,2 says, “This change of plans upset Jonah, and he became very angry. 2 So he complained to the LORD about it: ‘Didn't I say before I left home that you would do this, LORD? That is why I ran away to Tarshish! I knew that you were a gracious and compassionate God, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love. I knew how easily you could cancel your plans for destroying these people.’”
Jonah understood the heart of God, the compassion and grace that God desired to share with the Assyrians, but Jonah’s own prejudice and resentment was an old wineskin that needed to be replaced. When we resist the inevitable changes that are on the horizons of life, we find ourselves in a place of failure, loneliness, and darkness (just like Jonah’s undersea adventure!). Imagine the corporate executive of a record company refusing to give way to Compact Disks when they began to skyrocket, and emphatically insisting, “We’ve always sold records in the past, and we always will!” One of the tale-tell signs that a church is in trouble is when people begin to say 6 words, “We’ve always done it this way”. One of the tell-tale signs that we are not growing in our personal walk with Christ is when we turn and run when God says “go”, when we find ourselves on voyages He never sent us on, and when we find ourselves washing up wet and weary on the very shores of the places He called us to venture out to.
So, the Lord wants to do a NEW WORK in this fellowship. He wants to pour out NEW WINE in new wineskins. He wants you to sing a NEW SONG as He grows you in areas you have never been in before. The question is, “Do you want God to leave you the same, or grow you?” Christ-like obedience is nothing less than a high cost, a great call, an unknown endeavor, and a priceless reward.—Pilgrim
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