Monthly Archives: January 2015

What Could Be Worse than Ebola?

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It seems like the concern over Ebola is waning a bit. Many were very fearful of its coming to the States, and an outbreak would be terrible for sure. What would you think if I said there is something on par with Ebola in many professing Christian homes? What is it? Anger. Anger kills relationships and is highly contagious.

“Make no friendship with an angry man; and with a furious man thou shalt not go: Lest thou learn his ways, and get a snare to thy soul” (Proverbs 22:24-25). The relationships in a home are far stronger than friendship, and our anger will be strongly, deeply impressed on the souls of our family members and yield devastating consequences.

I recall one dad who talked about how bad his anger was and acknowledged it had an impact on his 18-year-old son’s not being saved. This man’s anger was a key factor in his son’s rejecting both him and Christ, and yet he referred to his anger in a fairly casual way, much as someone would who had given someone his cold. If you want to drive your children away from you—and possibly away from the Lord: be angry.

I wonder if there is any other sin—that’s right sin—that is so widely justified. “Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice:
And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you” (Ephesians 4:31-32).

Would your family say you get angry? Would they describe you as an angry man? If so, isn’t it time to forsake it before there are casualties?

Steve

 

Who’s To Blame?

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I was in junior high when my parents divorced. I was devastated and turned to food. Thus began my lifelong love and struggle with food. In college I found exercise, which was a great way to cover up the effects of eating more than my body required.

What you just read was an excuse—if I take the past and use it as an excuse for my failures today. I have met so many through the years who have waved a similar flag of justifying current problems by pointing to other past actions.

Praise God that as a believer in Jesus Christ I don’t have to be a prisoner of my past. My old life and habits are nailed to the cross. (I had also bitten my nails for over 50 years. Yeah. Not anymore.) “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20).

As recently as last year, whenever I discussed my slowly climbing weight with someone, I would say it was because of injuries and my inability to exercise, when in reality I was not eating in moderation. Of course, it doesn’t help that I have multiple great cooks in the house. (Did you notice that I just did it again?)

For two years we have had a mealtime memory verse, which we will stick with until it becomes a reality in my life: “But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway” (1 Corinthians 9:27). One reason people say they appreciate Titus 2 is that Teri and I are real in sharing our struggles. Please note that there is a difference between justifying a struggle and sharing a struggle and moving to grow.

Isn’t it about time I lived out 1 Corinthians 9:27 in regard to my eating? What bad habits does the Lord want to conquer in your life? Are you making excuses for them?

Steve

Going Forward

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Seriously is for men who are serious about their walk with the Lord Jesus and their roles leading their families in Christ Jesus. It is also for men who aren’t there yet, but want to be (“Lord, help my unbelief”).

If Seriously has been good for you, why not recommend it to brothers in Christ whom you feel could benefit from the weekly challenge? Then, after they sign up, consider discussing the articles with them. “Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend” (Proverbs 27:17). Look back in your life to those God has used to challenge you to a closer walk with the Lord Jesus. Might it be time for the Lord to use you in someone else’s life?

Steve

Don’t forget the Seriously fast this Saturday January 17th.

Are You In?

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“Come and hear, all ye that fear God, and I will declare what he hath done for my soul.” Psalm 66:16

Our first fast in November was highly successful with a large number of dads participating with very positive feedback. This is not for spectators! If you will fast all day Saturday, January 17th, I will come alongside you to fast and pray for you. There were enough men last time that it took most of the day to spend quality prayer time for each dad’s request. I loved it. I felt such a burden and heart-connect with each of you who fasted! What a blessing it was and then afterward to read the feedback from the men.

A number of men asked for the fast to be on a Saturday so they could have more prayer time. So the 17th is the day. If you will fast from food and caloric drinks from Friday bedtime to Sunday morning, sign up. Meet you at our Saviour’s glorious throne of grace and mercy!

Steve

Stress Busters – Part 2

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Stress manages to worm its way into our lives stealthily through daily living or by force when major events hit us. Either way, stress takes a toll—physically, emotionally, and spiritually. My desire is to learn better and better how to eliminate, and properly respond to, potential stress. I think that’s your goal as well. The next stress buster I would like to consider is daily time reading the Bible.

Stress Answers for Moms

Do you believe that the answers and godly responses to the stressors in our lives come from God’s Word? “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path” (Psalm 119:105). “Through thy precepts I get understanding: therefore I hate every false way” (Psalm 119:104). If this is true, why is it that we have such trouble being in the Word each day? I have struggled to be faithful in reading my Bible at times.

When Steve and I were saved just a couple of years after being married, we became solid church attenders—Sunday morning, Sunday night, and Wednesday night. We read our Bibles regularly, but we didn’t have a daily Bible-reading habit established in our lives.

I remember a few years later hearing a preacher teach on the importance of being in God’s Word every day. It was convicting, and I agreed with the Scriptures he used and the truth he presented. I desired that for my life. At the end of the message, with every head bowed and every eye closed, he wanted us to make a vow to read our Bibles every day for at least five minutes and then testify to that by raising our hands. I was not willing to make a vow because I thought I might not keep it. As the invitation lingered, I felt a bit of guilt that I wouldn’t make the vow and raise my hand, but I stuck with my decision.

Daily Time in God’s Word

Now, thirty years later, I can tell you that by God’s grace I have not missed a personal daily Bible time for twenty-five years. It wasn’t a vow that allowed that to happen but the reality of the vital connection the Word gives us with our Savior. First, I found that I simply desired fellowship with my Lord Jesus. “As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God” (Psalm 42:1). Then I realized that if I were to become the woman God wanted me to be, I needed to grow in the grace of Jesus Christ. I had to crave the Word of God just as a baby craves milk. “As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby: If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious” (1 Peter 2:2-3).

Finally, Steve and I knew that we had to make up our minds to be in the Word every day. It had to become a non-negotiable part of our day. “These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so” (Acts 17:11). Hit and miss didn’t work because it was simply too easy to make excuses to put it off to another day. Each day became a ping-pong debate of “Will I or won’t I?” with the resulting negative consequences of a day without spiritual feeding if the decision was that I wouldn’t.

In my busiest times of homeschooling plus being pregnant and having babies, it would have seemed reasonable not to have had personal, daily time in the Word. I found, though, that during those seasons I needed daily spiritual nourishment even more than at other times. It almost seemed a necessity for me to figure out ways to make daily Bible time a reality, and as I cried out to the Lord, He helped me.

It might not surprise you to know that we like using schedules at our house. We have a set time to get up in the morning that allows us thirty minutes of personal Bible-reading time. Sometimes life interferes with those normal schedules, but we still make a wake-up plan in order to have our time in the Word. If we get up later, time in the Word comes first and other parts of the day are skipped. Even if we have an extra-early event, we get up that much earlier to be able to be in the Word. For example, when we are in Colorado in the summer, we will usually climb a 14,000-foot peak or two. To be able to summit and get back down in the trees before the afternoon thunderstorms hit, we often have to be on the trail at 4:00 a.m. Since the trailhead generally isn’t close to our lodging, we might have an hour-long, or more, drive to it. That means we set our alarms to get up as early as 1:30 a.m. in order to have time in the Word and be ready for our hike before we leave.

Time Management Almost Creates Times

If you want to have time reading your Bible, but you really aren’t sure where to read or how to make that time practical and applicable to your life, then I would suggest reading Sweet Journey.

If you struggle with a schedule that will let you have Bible-reading time, I recommend Managers of Their Homes. Almost universally, when a mom puts together a schedule she carves out time to be in the Word. That schedule not only sets aside the time she needs but gives her accountablility and routine to make it sustainable.

“Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night” (Psalm 1:1-2). As I face my stressors, I need God’s blessing, strength, and grace. Do you?