Pastor's Thoughts

 

I read this quote this morning. “When Bible, prayer and the hickory stick were a part of the education, the common problems were paper wads, hooky, and homework. Since their absence, the common problems are drugs, alcohol, assault, and pregnancy.” You may or may not agree with that statement and its implications in its entirety, but surly we can all see our culture is headed in the wrong direction. It is obvious that we are not listening to the right voice when it comes to training and ministering to children. The problem is we only get one opportunity to raise our children and if we make the wrong choices they are the ones that will suffer the consequences of our failures. May I be so bold as to suggest that the best voice to listen to is our Heavenly Father’s voice?

 

Mom and dad, God does care about how you influence your children. He desires to work with you in all areas of training your children, in building their character, and most of all in developing their faith. That being said, why is it that we are looking to our culture for help or simply relying on what we feel is the right thing to do to guide us, instead of depending on the one who gave us our children to begin with? Perhaps there are a number of reasons, but here are my thoughts.

 

Listening to God requires effort on our part. After all we can’t text him. We can’t pick up the phone and give him a call either. I know his address but visiting his residence isn’t an option, so a sit down face to face encounter simply is not going to happen. So how do we listen to our Heavenly Father? Two methods are mentioned in the quote, “Bible and prayer”. Studying the Bible, discerning its true meaning, and then complying with it teaching all require time and effort. Prayer, if it includes listening and not just talking, involves meditation, quiet solitude, and intimacy with God. To hear clearly requires a pure heart, committed living, and a spirit of obedience to God’s will. Comparably speaking is much easier to go with the flow of culture and wing it on our own, than to listen to God, but let me remind you we are talking about your children’s lives.

 

God also speaks through preaching, Bible teaching, songs, and even everyday circumstance. Jesus often said, “Let him that hath ears to hear, let him hear.”  We can pick up some direction with a sensitive spirit and a willingness to listen for God’s leading through any one of these means. But I urge you to use caution at this point, preachers, teachers, song writers and circumstances can at times be misleading, their voices are not always the same as the voice of our Heavenly Father. I urge you don’t take the short cut. Why rely on the possible, when you can put your trust in He who is perfect? Take God at His word, seek His divine council before making major decisions about the choices you make in guiding your child. You will never regret the time spent praying and seeking God’s council for your children. One day they will move beyond your daily influence and if you have done your job, they will be looking to the One in whom you trusted as their own personal guide.

 

Pastor Danny

 

            

Articles

Home