Monthly Archives: August 2020

Aiming Low

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Would you use a surgeon who judged his surgeries successful by whether the patient lived or not? Would you fly on an airline where the mechanic’s performance ratings were merely based on the number of planes that didn’t crash? Would you eat at a restaurant where the cook received a pay bonus as long as no one died from his cooking? 

Any thinking person who valued life would be abhorred with the above and rightfully so. Yet, might Christian parents be guilty of something far worse? We all agree that physical life is valuable, but it pales compared to eternal life. Then, might we be justified for a horrific response when Christian parents feel they are successful as long as their children have simply “prayed a little prayer” at some time growing up? 

Sadly, some are willing to accept a child’s profession, without confirming evidence of spiritual fruit over time. “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven” (Matthew 7:21). Similar to false prophets who look good on the outside, Jesus tells us how to know if someone is saved. “Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them” (Matthew 7:20).

“Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity” (Matthew 7:22-23).   

Abominable Prayers

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I spoke with someone a while back about their walk with the Lord. They described it as fantastic. I asked how often they read their Bible. They said they didn’t, but they loved God so much and prayed to Him all the time. 

People often seem to be more willing to pray than to read their Bibles. Prayer becomes a spoken, laundry-list of requests or maybe even commands for God to fulfill. “Snap, snap. I want this. I want that.” Reading Scripture is much different. As we read God’s Word,  God speaks to our hearts. We need to hear God’s commands, encouragement, promises and rebuke. 

I heard a verse in church recently that would have been appropriate to have shared with this person. “He that turneth away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer shall be abomination” (Proverbs 28:9). The Hebrew word for “law” in the verse is Torah. The prayer of a person who doesn’t want to hear God’s Word, is an abomination, something wicked and disgusting. 

Are you in His Word every day? Do you love it? Brothers, do you do your best to live it?

Marshmallow Men

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A marshmallow man is soft, squishy, and not very tough. I think that might describe me, and I’m guessing a lot (the majority?) of Christians. Of course, we don’t want to think of ourselves that way. 

I recently read about the abuse Paul suffered at the hands of those who hated Jesus Christ. That brother in Christ suffered beating, upon humiliating beating, likely providing great entertainment for spectators to enjoy. Reading that he received, “stripes above measure” (countless, excessively, beyond number), my cringing reaction showed my softness.  

“… in labours more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths oft. Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one. Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep; In journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; In weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness” (2 Corinthians 11:23-27). 

How deep is the passion of our hearts to share Jesus Christ with a lost and dying world? People are headed for eternity in hell all around us, and most consider themselves to be a “good person.” Are we telling them hell will be filled with “good people”? Everyone needs the Savior, Jesus Christ.

Feels So Good

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Admit it. We like it when others notice something and then compliment us. It might be concerning something we own, our knowledge, our skills, or our family. How the flesh loves to hear praise from others. 

Pride is such an ugly thing. What makes it worse is that we are stealing from God. Whatever we have or accomplish, it is God Who enables us or gives to us. What do we have that God hasn’t given and we deserve credit for? Nothing. “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning” (James 1:17).

 Hezekiah had a pretty bad case of pride (2 Chronicles 32:24-32). When the Babylonians heard he was sick, they sent emissaries. When they arrived Hezekiah had recovered, and he gave them the royal tour of all “his” glory (everything the Babylonians will eventually take as their loot). Listen to Isaiah: “Then said he, What have they seen in thine house? And Hezekiah answered, All that is in mine house have they seen: there is nothing among my treasures that I have not shewed them” (Isaiah 39:4). 

Isaiah then rebuked Hezekiah and told him that not only all his treasures but his sons also would be carried away to Babylon. 

“Every one that is proud in heart is an abomination to the Lord: though hand join in hand, he shall not be unpunished” (Proverbs 16:5). 

Grandma’s Lessons: Back to the Basics, Part Four

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Mom’s Smile

Once again seated around a dining room table, trying to keep five little children on track with productive homeschool activities, the Lord reminded me of the power of a smile. Sometimes several voices were loudly asking for help or just wanting to tell me a story. I could feel an intensity rising inside me that produced quite a serious face. I wanted, however, to smile at my grandchildren in those moments, knowing that a smile communicates my love for them. It encourages them to listen to me, and draws their hearts to me in the midst of my listening to them, helping them, and teaching them to take turns talking!

The Test

What about you? What do you want your children to remember about their growing up years with you? Will their memories be of a smiling, pleasant mommy or a furrowed-browed, stern-faced one? 

Perhaps you need to do what I once did, many years ago, when my children were young. I did a smile “take-a-look” test. I stood in front of my bathroom mirror and experimented with three different faces. For face one, I just talked to myself with a neutral expression. For face two, I looked sternly at myself and discussed something that shouldn’t be done as if correcting a child. That look took me aback quite a bit. I was, to be honest, surprised at the unpleasant change that had occurred between face one and face two. My mind immediately considered what my children must think when they saw me with face two. 

I ended the “take-a-look” test by smiling at my reflection and having a little conversation with myself. Oh, yes! That was much, much better. Steve had motivated that test by encouraging me to smile more. Now I understood. Smiling face three was the face I desired for my family to see.

Automatic

Sometimes your smiling face is simply there. It is the result of cheerful feelings inside as Scripture tells us. “A merry heart maketh a cheerful countenance: but by sorrow of the heart the spirit is broken” (Proverbs 15:13).

Honestly, though, in the busyness of life, especially life with children, we can lose track of the feelings that generate those smiles. We have so many things to accomplish, children to direct and sometimes correct, we get tired and worn-out. Life is overwhelming, and smiles may be few and far-between. 

When the smiles aren’t automatic, what do you do? I think you pray and ask the Lord to help you put a smile on your face. Then purpose to smile, even when the smiley feelings aren’t there. Determine to make a smile the habit for your face. 

When you do that, do you know what is likely to happen? You will probably begin to have many more smiley feelings inside. There’s just something about the smile on the outside that changes the inside too. That was my experience after the smile “take-a-look” test. When I smiled in the midst of needing to correct a child, my heart was softer toward the child, my words were gentler, and they were more receptive to them. When I smiled in the middle of trying to accomplish three tasks at once or when two lively children were talking at the same time, that overwhelmed, “I can’t handle this” feeling melted away.

Taking Thoughts Captive

And you know what? Twenty years later, as a grandmother facing those same situations, it is just as true. That smile made all the difference – in my heart, and I believe in the hearts of my grandchildren. I love it when the smile comes from the cheerful heart, but if the cheerful heart is lacking, I can choose the smile, knowing that God can use that smile to go deep inside me and generate the cheerful heart. I have come to see it is very much a part of this process: “Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:5). Putting a smile on when the cheerful feelings aren’t there, is taking my thoughts captive and bringing them into the obedience of Christ. It is the reality of my heart. I am happy, and I am content because of Jesus in my life and the wonderful blessings He daily pours out.  

Try it. I think you will like it!