I'm Still a Parent

When a period of feasting had run its course, Job would make arrangements for them to be purified. Early in the morning he would sacrifice a burnt offering for each of them, thinking, “Perhaps my children have sinned and cursed God in their hearts.” This was Job’s regular custom. Job 1:5

Many parents feel that their responsibility for their children ends when they leave home. But I do not quit being a parent just because they are not under my roof.

Here are four lessons the Lord taught me that morning from the first chapter of Job.

1. Pray for your children. If your children are unbelieving, plead with God and intercede with Him for their salvation. You’re asking God to set them apart for Himself. Plead with God to remove their heart of stone and replace it with a heart of flesh that beats for Him.  If your children are believing, pray for them to grow in their faith.

2. Pray for each of your children. Job interceded for each of his children because each child is unique. Our children have different strengths and weaknesses, different struggles and temptations. So pray for each of them according to their own needs.

3. Pray for each of your children regularly. Job rose early in the morning. He daily interceded and offered burnt offerings for each of his children.

4. Pray for each of your children regularly, because they’re sinners in need of grace. Too many parents idolize their children and are unable to see them for the sinners they really are. Our culture is so blinded in this way that when their children get in trouble, the parents often blame others: teachers, coaches, other children. Job understood human depravity and he understood his children’s potential to sin. This is why Job continually interceded before God for his children.

Prayer is essential to parenting. 

Refused Communion

 

I mostly create posts that reflect faith and family issues but what I heard on the news stirred me.

On May 20, San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Corileone made an astonishing announcement. He pronounced that House Speaker, Nancy Pelosi, should be manned from taking the sacrament of Communion. Many people may think that is no big deal but if you are a “practicing” Catholic it IS a big deal. (Or least it should.)

Though I am not a Catholic and do not hold to Catholic doctrine, I have to admire Corileone's courage to uphold the church's beliefs. The basis of his action is that Pelosi is totally going against the church's stance against abortion. Pelosi is trying to legalize abortion on demand and force taxpayers to pay for the killing of unborn babies in abortions, she claims to be a devout Catholic.

Not all priests believe the Archbishop's was justified even though the Catholic church has for centuries held abortion was a sin. (Canon 915) Pelosi, in defiance of the Archbishop, received communion at Holy Trinity Church in Georgetown this past Sunday. Apparently, the priest at this church didn't think it was a big deal to serve her either.

Many celebrities and politicians have publicly stated that it was not Corileone's place to ban her from Communion. Like it is just a manner of personal opinion. But it IS his responsibility to uphold the church's doctrine.

While I disagree with much the Catholic church teaches, I have to admire this man's courage in the face of opposition.

Heavy Burden?

 

Cast your burden upon the Lord and He will sustain you... Psalm 55:22a

I once heard a story about man walking down a dirt road with a heavy backpack. A man driving a horse drawn wagon came upon the man and invited to give him a lift. The man accepted the invitation, climbed up on the wagon, sat down beside him but put his backpack on his lap.

The driver of the wagon said, “Why don't you put your backpack in the back of the wagon?” The man replied, “No thanks. You were so kind to give me a ride, I cannot ask you to give my backpack a ride as well.”

This reminds me how some people approach prayer. They accept the invitation to bring our problems and burdens to the Lord but refuse to leave them with Him. We ask Him in prayer to carry our load but we continue to try and work out the situation. The hymn writer said it right, “Take your burden to the Lord and leave it there.” God wants us to leave our burdens at the cross.

Enjoy Your Life

 

You may be under a lot of stress right now, but God wants you to enjoy life. Unfortunately, there are many people who do not want to let God into their lives because they fear He will make them give up anything that is fun. They think that to become a Christian is the same as saying the party's over, that to be spiritual is to be miserable.

People are frantically looking for fun "fixes." They spend more time, more energy, and more money to get less and less of a thrill. They go around asking, "Are we having fun yet?" The truth is, God "richly provides us everything for our enjoyment." 1 Timothy 6:17b NIV

Faith or Reality?

 

It’s not denial. I’m just selective about the reality I accept. Calvin and Hobbes

Sometimes, even when we remember all that God has done for us, it doesn’t change our circumstances. Sometimes we just have to accept that it’s beyond our understanding right now and just keep going. But we must also realize that acceptance is not denial.

When you accept what God is doing, you don’t simply stuff your feelings down and let your heart die. When you accept that God’s up to something that you can’t see or understand right now, you don’t just roll over and play dead and resign yourself to despair. No, you keep praying for a miracle from him unless he tells you otherwise. But you don’t pretend that everything is okay when clearly it’s not.

The prophet Habakkuk learned that God was going to use a pagan nation to discipline Israel. Habakkuk certainly couldn’t pretend and keep his head in the sand, he said, “I heard and my heart pounded, my lips quivered at the sound; decay crept into my bones, and my legs trembled” (Habakkuk 3:16 NIV).

When Habakkuk accepted reality while waiting on God, it wasn’t denial. It was faith. Not faith that God would do what Habakkuk wanted God to do. But faith in God’s character. Habakkuk goes on to say, “The sovereign hand of God is doing something here. God has spoken, so I’ll accept whatever he is doing, as difficult as that may be for me.”

Sometime, something is going to happen that you don’t like. It may be happening right now.

You remember what God has done. You accept what God is doing. You trust what God is going to do.