Loving Our Children Enough To Love Jesus More

"...he who loves son or daughter more than Me, is not worthy of Me." (Matthew 10:37 NKJV)

    Parenting can be tough. We are blessed with the stewardship of raising our children yet there are times when they resist the raising; when they push the boundaries we've set for them and try to establish their own rule. Attitudes and eye rolls suddenly enter stage left, doors get slammed, feet stomp, and volume increases (in their earpods as they try to drown out our voice of instruction). Now is not the time to give in to their demands - this is no hostage situation, this is a normal Tuesday night! - now is the time for wise, prayerful parental decision-making (James 1:5)!

 

    As Christians, we must always be focused on the big picture of life. As we raise our children we must keep in mind our ultimate hope for them: that they would come to respect and reverence God, happily follow His commands, and lead a faithful life before Him because if they have a true love for God in their hearts, all their other future decisions (how they treat others, where they work, whom they marry, how to raise their children, etc.) will guided by and made with respect to God and His Word.

 

    No matter what our kids ask/plead/beg/bargain/barter for we must keep our big picture hope for them in our minds and ask ourselves, "Is what they are wanting going to lead them toward God or away from Him?"

 

    It can be easy to fall prey to their emotional pleas simply to have peace but we must love Christ more than our sons and daughters because in doing so, we can keep our eyes fixed on Jesus (Hebrews 12:2) and show our kids, through word and action, that God's way truly is the BEST way!  We will replicate God's boundaries in our homes and live joyfully in the freedoms God has granted us (Galatians 5:22-23), allowing us to reflect God's love and prove His wisdom to our children.

 

    Are you ready to stand for Christ, even if it means having to say "No" to your children? Do you love your children enough to love Christ more?

 

You can do it! So can I!

 

Let today be the day!

Being Worthy of Jesus AND Honouring our Parents

“He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me…” (Matthew 10:37 NKJV)

    Continuing our thoughts from last week, we need to understand that Jesus’ words were never for the purpose of tearing families apart, His teaching is quite the opposite, even reiterating the commandment to ‘honour your father and mother’ (Matthew 15:4).

    So, how do we reconcile this statement, so that we can be worthy of Jesus?

    Jesus knew that His teaching and preaching of the kingdom of God would divide families. He knew that people would need to make a choice to keep doing what they have always known or to trust Him, believe Him as the Son of God and begin to follow His way.

    The same is true for us today.

    No matter what we have been raised to believe (or not believe), if we hear the truth of God’s word (Romans 10:17) found only in the bible, we will need to make the choice to either stay with what we have known or to leave that behind and put our whole effort into following Jesus. This may require us doing what is different from our parents, but it’s a choice that needs to be made.

    Jesus said if you choose to follow Me, you are worthy of Me. If you choose to follow what you’ve always known, you’re not worthy of Me.

    So how do we honour our father and mother when we have to follow a different path from them?

    Love and honour your parents enough to share the good news of Jesus with them! Be an example to them (Romans 12:1-2), take opportunities to tell them of the Truth found in God's word. Invite them to church services, to bible studies; show them God's pathway. Just as you had a choice to make, they will too. It may not be comfortable at times but keep loving them, keep trying to guide them to the Light with kindness, patience, and prayer. 

    For those who have been “raised in the church”, whose parents have followed Jesus’ teaching from its pure source, the Bible, it is our responsibility to make our faith our own – to “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling” (Philippians 2:2:12). We need to not rely on our parent’s faith, nor their reputation of faith, but to study and build up our own solid faith.

“Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” (2 Timothy 2:15 NKJV)

    No matter our background, if we have heard God’s word, we have a choice to make: Stay with what we have always known OR love Jesus enough to wholly follow Him. Oftentimes, it comes down to convenience or conviction and Jesus wants us to be convicted that He is the Son of God and that He truly does have the words of eternal life (John 6:68-69)!

       Are you making the choice of convenience or are you willing to choose a live of faithful conviction? Jesus desires you to be worthy of Him, please do what is necessary to choose Jesus! It is worth every sacrifice and every effort (Matthew 19:29)!!

Let today be the day!!

Worthy of Jesus

    Are you worthy of Jesus?

    Of course, your immediate response may be, “No!” quickly followed by the question, “Can anyone ever be worthy of Jesus?” To which I will respond, “Yes, we can! You can, I can; we all can! We CAN be worthy of Jesus!” If the Lord wills, over the next few weeks we will see how to be worthy of Him who gave His life for us!

    Consider this statement made by Jesus:

“He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me…” (Matthew 10:37 NKJV)

    To be worthy of Jesus, one must love Him more than their father or mother.

    What does that mean?

    Well, what if your father or mother followed a religion different from what is found in the Bible? What if they were devout to it and expected the same of you? Religions like Jehovah’s Witness and the many variables of the (Dutch) Reformed use pressure tactics like ostracization to shame people who leave, causing embarrassment to the father and mother whose child lacked commitment. Parents wishing to avoid excommunication for their child may use all manner of appeal to keep them in attendance: “If you love us you will stay!”, “If you love us you would understand how important it is!”, etc. etc.

    Jesus says that we must love Him more than our father and mother. To be worthy of Jesus we must do what is necessary, even if it means disappointing our parents to obey Him and follow His commands as found only in the Bible – there is only ONE gospel message (Galatians 1:6-10, Romans 10:17), found only in the Bible, and not in any creeds of men (which many religions are founded in and many denominations follow more closely than the Bible) – we must be willing to love Jesus more than all the earthly pressures that may be imposed on us by our father or mother.

    If you have found the one true gospel and you have chosen to obey it even though it is different from what your father or mother believe or what they raised you to believe, you have proven yourself to be worthy of Christ! I pray that you may still have time and ability to help your parents to see the one true gospel, that their eyes may be opened to its Truth, to God’s Truth!

“Open my eyes, that I may see wondrous things from Your law.” (Psalm 119:18 NKJV)

Ways to SHOW God Your Gratitude

    How do you SHOW God gratitude and thankfulness for what He has provided to you this day?

    Well, He has blessed you with today, use it to His glory!

• Work joyfully! In whatever you do, “do it heartily as to the Lord and not to men” (Colossians 3:23)!
• You are loved by Him, be loving (Ephesians 5:1-2)!
• You are forgiven, be forgiving (Colossians 3:13)!
• You can speak, choose your words wisely (James 3:9-10, Ephesian 4:29)!
• You can see and feel, do what you can to help others (Galatians 6:1-2, 6-10)!
• You live in God’s light, reflect it into the darkness (Romans 13:11-14, Matthew 5:14-16)!
• God shares His abundance with you, be generous to others (2 Corinthians 9:6-11)!
• God cares for you, care for others (1 Peter 5:7, 2 Corinthians 1:3-4)
• God is faithful, TRUST HIM (Psalm 31:14,19, 33:4-5, Hebrews 11:6, 2 Thessalonians 3:3)!
• You have hope, live in hope (Hebrews 6:17-19, 2 Timothy 4:8, 1 Peter 1:3-9)!
• You have freewill, behave like a Christian (Ephesians 5, Romans 12)!

    SHOW God that you appreciate the benefits He daily loads on you (Psalm 68:19) – use all your blessings to bring glory to Him! Behave in such a way that “God is not ashamed to be called [your] God” (Hebrews 11:16)!

    How can you keep a grateful mindset that helps you to FEEL gratitude, discover more and more reasons to SAY 'thank you' to God, and gives you more opportunities to SHOW God that you are full of appreciation for His abundant blessings?

“Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth…” (Colossians 3:1-2, keep reading the whole chapter, it’s great!!)

From wherever you are right now – BEGIN! 

Learning to SHOW Gratitude

    Over the past several weeks we have been looking at “The Three Thank You's” and how they will help us develop proper gratitude.  First, we should FEEL thankful, second, we should SAY thank you, and third, we should SHOW how thankful we are. 

    We have already studied the first two, so this week let’s consider how to SHOW gratitude toward our heavenly Father.

    When you have planned for the perfect gift, you have made sacrifices in order for the recipient to have it, you have put so much thought into it and worked tirelessly in putting it together and wrapping it. It seems like you’ve been you’ve been looking forward to giving it since forever and when you finally do, the recipient is happy and excited by the gift – it makes your heart overflow! But a few months later you visit them and see your gift still sitting in the box on the floor, gathering dust… now how do you feel?

    We can often do the same to God. We may in the moment of receiving a gift/blessing FEEL thankful and we may even say ‘Thank You’, but do we always SHOW God how grateful we are by using that blessing for His glory?

    Grab a Bible and turn to Ephesians 5; I would like you to think on three points from this chapter that will help us do better in SHOWING gratitude to God.

WALK IN LOVE   (Ephesians 5:1-7)

    God has given us the gift of love. He loved us SO much that He gave us His Son. He continues to show us love through His mercy, grace, help, comfort, and forgiveness. We SHOW appreciation and gratitude for this gift by walking in love, just as Christ did, showing love toward God the Father and all people. We deny self (along with our selfish lusts and desires) and instead imitate
God. SHOW God that you appreciate His love by learning from it how best to love others!

WALK IN LIGHT (Ephesians 5:8-10)

    God has given us the gift of light. We were once in darkness (sin) but now we are “light in the Lord” (v.8, see also 1 Peter 2:9). In His light we see, we can know His way, we can find out what is acceptable to the Lord. How do we show that we appreciate the light He has brought us into? By walking as children of light! We learn, we obey, we grow, and we guide others toward God’s light by reflecting His light in our day-to-day tasks and interactions!

WALK IN WISDOM (Ephesians 5:15-17)

    God gives us the gift of today. How do we show appreciation and gratitude for today? By using it wisely; walking in wisdom. We do that by first understanding what the will of the Lord is (v17) and then asking Him for wisdom, which He gives generously (James 1:5). Walking in wisdom involves being careful of our words and actions (Ephesians 4:29) and looking for opportunities to do good works (see Titus 3:8,14), which keeps us walking in love and as children of light!

    Are you ready to SHOW God how much you appreciate His gifts and blessings? USE THEM!! See their amazing value by using them as God desires! Show gratitude today by imitating Him in love, basking in and reflecting His light, and being wise and careful in all that you do so as not to hinder His light and love!

From wherever you are right now – BEGIN! 

You can do it! So can I!!