Have a Godly Impact on Your Family 

Recently I attended a Grandparents Day at the Christian school where one of my young grandsons is a student. During part of the program, the grandparents were reminded of the influential role they can play in the lives of their grandchildren. The staff commended those who had impacted their families for Christ by their teaching and example. It reminded me of the many times I have heard people point to the great influence a godly grandmother or grandfather had on their lives, specifically in their eventually putting their faith in the Lord.

Paul pointed out such a heritage in relation to his young co-worker, Timothy. “When I call to remembrance the genuine faith that is in you, which dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and I am persuaded is in you also” (II Timothy 1:5). Timothy’s faith fell in line with that of his grandmother and mother before him. However, let’s not get the mistaken idea that such faith is inherited or is somehow automatically attributed to us due to our parent’s or grandparent’s relationship with the Lord. While we can be grateful if we were blessed to be raised in a family with a Christian heritage, such a circumstance doesn’t mean that we are necessarily believers ourselves. Those family members can have a huge effect on us, but we still have to come to the point of repentance and trust in Jesus in our own hearts and minds. We cannot enter into God’s kingdom riding on the wings of someone else’s faith. We have to personally respond to the love of Jesus that took Him to the cross as the sacrifice for our sins.

So even though our faith can’t guarantee that our offspring will follow in our footsteps, we can still exert a significant influence on them that might help lead them in that direction. After God gave his commands to the Israelites concerning how they were to live their lives, He declared, “And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your houses and on your gates” (Deuteronomy 6:6-9). This passage reminds us that we have a God-given responsibility to teach God’s Word and His will to our children and grandchildren. However, it needs to be more than simply going through religious exercises with them. Our faith should show in the way it affects our own lives. Our family should be able to see in us a living example of love, faith, trust, purity, faithfulness, truthfulness, and other Christlike characteristics. They should see how our relationship with Jesus plays out in our everyday lives and in how we relate to other people. It is more than teaching them Bible verses, although it can include such practices. It is living out those truths in front of them.

Of course, praying for our children and grandchildren is also a large part of our influence. This is something that may go unseen by others, but God knows and hears those prayers. He can do things in the hearts, minds, and lives of our offspring that we can’t do. He can be with them when we are many miles away. The prayers of a parent or grandparent may be the greatest influence we can exert.

Let’s not miss this wonderful opportunity God has given us. Through our words, example, and prayers, let’s seek to have a godly impact on our families.

 

Trust the Lord with Financial Concerns 

It is that season again. We went to get our taxes figured up from last year. We were hoping to buck the trend of higher payments, especially since we had some bigger medical expenses we could deduct. However, we came away from the process disappointed. It seems like our tax burden keeps growing each year. When we combine that with some other unusual expenses we have incurred recently, along with the prospect of several other big costly house projects coming up in the near future, it can seem overwhelming.

Personal finances is one of those areas that can test our faith. It takes trust in the Lord from the arena of the abstract and theoretical to a very practical part of our daily lives. We profess to believe that the Lord is able to supply our needs. We claim to be walking by faith. We say that we trust Him to take care of us. However, when the bank account is dwindling and the bills are piling up, does that profession hold up in how we deal with those circumstances? Do we let fear and worry get the best of us? Or do we let our faith provide us with a calm assurance and peace of mind as we move forward?

Jesus talked quite a bit about the subject of money. He knew the significant role it can play in our lives, both for good and for bad. He warned us that it can become our master, usurping God’s rightful place in our lives. He pointed us to the more important treasures, the ones that have eternal significance, calling upon us to seek those more than earthly treasures. And in the midst of His teachings on finances and material possessions in the Sermon on the Mount, He commands us not to worry.  

As I looked over that portion of scripture again in Matthew 6, I noticed several encouraging truths. First of all, God knows what is going on in your life, including your needs and your finances. “Therefore do not worry…For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things” (6:31-32). God knows what is going on. He sees your current needs, and He can see the ones coming up down the road. He sees the big bills and the small paychecks, the regular expenses and the unexpected ones that will pop up. He knows what you really need, not just what you might want or wish for. He knows and He cares.

Secondly, the Lord promises to provide for our needs. “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you” (6:33). If we will keep trusting Him, making Him the priority of our lives, and living in obedience to His will, He will take care of our material necessities.

Additionally, the Lord encourages us to simply take things one day at a time. “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble” (6:34). Instead of worrying about all the possible expenditures we see coming up in the months ahead, let’s just take it one step at a time. Take care of what you need to do today. Trust the Lord to provide for today’s necessities. Don’t get overwhelmed by thinking of all the future possibilities and problems. We may need to plan and make some adjustments. However, we don’t need to try to carry tomorrow’s burden today.

Money issues can weigh heavy on our hearts at times, but we can entrust those matters to the Lord. He knows, He cares, and He is able to help us. Keep trusting Him while putting Him first in your life, and let Him bless you with His peace.

 

Don’t Ignore God’s Warnings 

Last Sunday morning I noticed a brightly-colored roll of tape setting on the curb of our church parking lot. At first I thought it was the kind used at a crime scene, causing me to imagine if some police activity might have taken place there as a result of a wild Saturday night. However, a second look revealed that it was actually caution tape, the type that might be employed to warn of a hole in the ground, an unstable structure, or some other kind of danger around a work site. I checked our security cameras to see if I could discover the reason for its presence. It seems that someone had used our empty parking lot the previous afternoon to set up a couple of traffic cones with that tape stretched across them to form an appropriate spot for someone to practice parallel parking. This tape that normally warns of dire consequences was simply being used as a suggested boundary or guide to help someone prepare for a driver’s test. Therefore if the car had gone past the tape, it wouldn’t have fallen into a sinkhole or been in any real danger. 

 Unfortunately this is the way some people view the warnings and cautions God gives us, often in connection with His commands. He graciously lets us know that there are negative consequences if we choose to behave certain ways. He warns us that there are repercussions if we disobey His will. He reveals that there will be a day of judgment in which we will have to give an account of ourselves before a holy God. These truths aren’t hidden or difficult to see. Like that brightly-colored tape, God has loudly proclaimed it and plastered it upon the pages of His inspired Word. We have been clearly warned.

Nevertheless, many people tend to see God’s warnings as simply suggestions or guidelines that can be treated very casually. They view them as options rather than necessities. They may recognize that they might miss out on something good by not heeding His warnings, but they don’t believe a loving God would really cause them to suffer any serious consequences, certainly not any kind of eternal judgment. They don’t see any significant danger in going past God’s boundaries.

Even believers need to be careful about taking God’s cautions too lightly. Even though our works and obedience don’t save us, we should not presume on His grace. Let’s not fool ourselves into believing that it doesn’t matter how we live or whether or not we pay attention to God’s commands and their accompanying warnings. Too many people aren’t totally submitting themselves to God’s will for their lives but are relying on the idea that He will forgive them or already has forgiven them for whatever they might do or fail to do. Even for believers, there can be serious consequences if we ignore God’s clear warnings about how we should live our lives.

God doesn’t sound His warnings because He desires to restrict our freedom or spoil our fun. He is trying to keep us from harm. He knows what is best for us. His commands aren’t to keep us from enjoying ourselves. What He told Israel applies to us as well: “What does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways and to love Him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments of the Lord and His statutes which I command you today for your good?” (Deuteronomy 10:12-13). God’s commands and warnings are “for our good.” So let’s not ignore them or casually walk past those divine boundaries. Disobeying God has consequences. Let’s not forget it.

 

Live in the Power of the Holy Spirit 

As I continued my previously-mentioned project of cleaning up our basement, I recently came upon my old Daisy BB gun from my youth. I recall the last time I tried shooting this rifle, it was woefully lacking in power. Instead of the tiny metal ball zipping across my yard and pinging off a tree, it pitifully traveled a few short feet before softly falling to the ground. It definitely posed no threat to birds, other small wildlife, or even little boys whose moms were afraid that using such a toy might result in the loss of their child’s eye. I asked someone more knowledgeable about such items if it might be possible for it to be repaired and have its power restored. He suggested the remedy might be as simple as oiling the gun, or at least that would be a good place to start.

A similar diagnosis might hold true for followers of Jesus who are lacking power in their lives. It could be a lack of oil. Interestingly, oil is generally regarded as being used in the Bible as a symbol of the Holy Spirit. The parallel can be seen in several passages of scripture. Maybe the most notable one is taken from Isaiah but later quoted by Jesus in reference to Himself. It begins, “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me, because the Lord has anointed Me to preach good tidings to the poor…” (Isaiah 61:1). It appears to connect the practice of anointing with oil to the presence of the Holy Spirit in a person’s life.

The Bible definitely associates the Holy Spirit with the kind of power that is needed in the life of a believer. In one of his letters, Paul prayed for his fellow Christians “to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man” (Ephesians 3:16). The power we need within us to be faithful to Jesus, to do His will, and to overcome temptation finds its source in the Holy Spirit. If we have put our trust in Jesus as our Savior, the Holy Spirit is already living within us. However, we need to yield to His leading and surrender to the work He wants to do in our hearts to the point that we fulfill the command to “be filled with the Spirit” (Ephesians 5:18). It is no coincidence that when Jesus overcame the temptations of Satan in the wilderness, subsequently He was described as returning “in the power of the Spirit” (Luke 4:14). We need that same power of the Spirit if we are going to be victorious over temptation and sin.

Jesus even more strongly affirmed this connection between the Holy Spirit and power in the instructions He gave His disciples after His resurrection. “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you” (Acts 1:8). His followers received both the Spirit and the promised power on the day of Pentecost as recorded in Acts 2. This power not only strengthened them to be more godly men, but it also made them more effective witnesses and provided them with spiritual power through the use of the gifts that the Spirit gave them to use in serving the Lord. Those Spirit-filled believers weren’t weakly surviving while making little impact on the world. They were powerfully taking the fight to the enemy and turning their world upside down for Jesus.

If we are lacking that power in our lives, maybe we need to check our oil. First of all, is the Holy Spirit living in us as a result of our trusting Jesus as our Savior? If so, are we fully surrendered to Him and letting Him fill us? Let’s not be weak-shooting BB guns. Let’s be powerful, influential Spirit-directed instruments of the Lord.

 

The Church’s Foundation is Still God’s Word 

You have probably encountered the advertisements of those companies that help resolve foundations issues in houses. Cracked walls, leaky basements, doors that don’t close properly, and unlevel floors may be signs of a problem with the foundation. It is an important matter which can have serious effects and can be costly to repair.

 I am concerned that the church has foundation issues these days. It is not only vital to be built upon a good foundation but also the correct foundation. What is our foundation? In one sense, we can rightly declare it to be Jesus. The Bible states that He is the chief cornerstone of His one true church. He is the key component in the foundation. If we deny Jesus’ divinity or His self-declared purpose of coming to give His life as the sacrifice for our sins, then we are moving off our one foundation. We have no right to call ourselves the church.

While Jesus is the cornerstone, the Bible further suggests that His Word is our foundation. In the familiar parable about the houses built on the sand and on the rock, one of those structures stands because it is built on the proper foundation. Jesus indicated that what He was talking about is hearing and doing His Word.

The Apostle Paul also makes this connection in a passage where he is picturing the church as a building. He says that it had “been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets” (Ephesians 2:20). I don’t believe he was simply pointing to those individuals as the founding fathers of our faith, much like people might point to George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and others as the founders of the United States of America. Anything built upon the foundation of fallen human beings, no matter who they are, is going to be unstable. I believe Paul was referring to the special revelation those apostles and prophets had received from God. It seems to be saying that the scriptures, what we have come to refer to as both the Old Testament and the New Testament, are the foundation on which the church is built. Both the living Word – Jesus - and the written Word compose that all-important foundation of the church.

There are specific churches that have forsaken God’s Word as their foundation. Their beliefs are based more on popular thinking, common morals, and on man’s ideas about what is good or right instead of trusting in what God says about those matters. Instead of declaring with divine authority, “thus says the Lord”, they tenuously talk about “your truth and my truth”, “follow your heart”, and “we know better today.” The true church is not founded on philosophy, sociology, religious traditions, the vacillating values of our culture, or personal feelings. The church is based on God’s truth – what He has revealed to us in Jesus and His Word.

If a church has left its foundation, it is merely an organization of man, not the Body of Christ. That is not to say that there may not be some individuals in those particular churches who are still part of the true church. They may still be clinging to that firm foundation, or the Lord may still be clinging to them to keep them from falling. However, we need to realize how serious it is when churches or individuals leave their foundation. Picture a house being knocked off its foundation by a flood or storm. It is so unstable, it usually can’t be salvaged.

Let’s stand firm on God’s Word and the truths about Jesus and the significance of His death and resurrection. Let’s not fall away as too many others are doing today. If we compromise on God’s Word, we are dangerously forsaking the very foundation of the church that we profess to be part of.

 

A Relationship with Jesus Changes Our Values 

I have begun a long overdue task of cleaning up our basement. This part of our house became the storage area for piles of possessions that have now accumulated over several decades. So as not to be overwhelmed by the enormity of the task, I am just taking it a little at a time. As I sort through the items, I separate them basically into three groups: what we plan to keep, what we can donate to a thrift store, and what needs to be thrown away. Some of the stuff I am classifying as garbage once had value to us. We had hung onto it either thinking we might use it again or that it might bring in a few dollars at a garage sale. However, some of it is now worthless. For example, I found some floppy disks for the computer. Not only is the information or the games on those disks outdated, but I don’t even have the equipment to be able to gain access to them anymore. They are useless to me. Garbage.

The Apostle Paul declared some things he once valued highly as being like garbage to him. He was referring to his status and actions before he came to put his faith in Jesus. He had put a lot of stock in his Jewish ancestry, his strict adherence to the law, and even how he had passionately opposed the followers of Jesus whom he considered to be enemies of God. However, after coming to know Christ, his values drastically changed. “What things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him” (Philippians 3:7-9). Compared to knowing Jesus, all those other things had become like worthless garbage to him.

If we are following Jesus, some of our values will be different from the world we live in. Our own values will change as we seek the kingdom of God first in our lives. Interests, desires, and activities that once were important and meaningful to us may begin to take a backseat to things that are more aligned with our growing relationship with the Lord and with His will for us. Some of them we may even come to value no more than we do garbage. We have no problem ridding ourselves of them completely.

I noticed a social media post from a friend in which he made it known that he had not watched this year’s Super Bowl. Although he has always been a sports fan, he intentionally chose not to participate this time, opting instead to spend time with his wife and children in other activities. And he declared that he didn’t miss it like he thought he would. I can relate to him, as in recent years I have intentionally pulled back from being an avid sports fan. Nevertheless, I decided to tune in to the first part of the Super Bowl, but after just a few minutes I was reminded why it no longer interests me as much. In what I witnessed on the field, in the stands, from the announcers, and on those famous commercials, I was reminded that my values were different from much of what was being displayed.

Don’t get me wrong. I am not saying being a sports fan is bad. It is simply one area in which this truth could apply to some people’s lives. If we are faithfully following Jesus, we are going to find some of our values changing. What was once important to you may become less important, especially in comparison to knowing Jesus. What do you value less these days? What should you value less? 

 

Keep a Healthy Respect for God 

One of my teenage grandsons had an unfortunate encounter with a chainsaw last week. He ended up with a deep gash on the back of one hand that required surgery to repair three tendons. As he explained what happened, it became apparent that he momentarily did something he knew wasn’t wise. Instead of keeping two hands firmly on the saw, he had taken one hand off and placed it on the log he was cutting. Therefore when the tool unexpectedly kicked back, he couldn’t control it, resulting in his injury.

Having heard about numerous serious accidents involving chainsaws over the years, I have always been very cautious around them. While they can accomplish great tasks, they can also inflict great pain and do much damage. That fact should cause anybody using one not to treat it casually, not even for a moment. A person doesn’t have to become careless with one to suffer the consequences but simply not maintain the level of respect such a powerful tool deserves.

It is very similar when it comes to our attitude toward God. The Bible declares that “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” (Proverbs 9:10). This isn’t suggesting that we should be terrified of God anymore than someone should be frightened to use a chainsaw. However, we do need to maintain a proper view of God, never losing sight of His greatness and power. Even as we relish His love for us and are grateful He is such a merciful God, we should also keep in mind that He is the Almighty Creator of the universe, the Holy One whose character cannot tolerate sin, and the Judge who will pass righteous judgment on every soul. He is to be respected at all times.

Therefore we can’t afford to become careless in how we relate to Him. We should not take it lightly when we have chosen to disregard His commands. There are consequences to our disobedience. God may mercifully spare us from some of the results of our sin, but we should not presume on His mercy. Sometimes He may allow us to “face the music”, not just to punish us but primarily as a means of awakening us, teaching us, and helping us see our need to return to Him. We may find forgiveness, but still suffer some consequences of our careless behavior.

Likewise, we have to guard against developing too casual of an attitude toward God. God is love, however, like that chainsaw, He still has teeth. Just because He loves us, it doesn’t mean He is a pushover or that He will let us get away with whatever we do. He is not the huge tough-looking man who can sound harsh but in reality is simply a teddy bear at heart who wouldn’t hurt a fly. Neither is He the jolly Santa Claus giving us whatever we wish for. He is the holy God and we had best respect Him as such.  

The Bible tells us about an incident when the sacred ark of the covenant was being moved. A man named Uzzah reached out to steady the ark when the oxen stumbled as it was pulling the cart on which that object rode. God struck him dead. Why? Not only should Uzzah have considered the ark too sacred for him to dare to touch, but the whole move wasn’t being done according to the manner God had prescribed. God’s judgment came because of both a casual spirit and careless behavior.

Let’s be sure we have a healthy fear of the Lord. While we rejoice in His love and can draw close to Him as our Father, let’s remember that He is still Lord, King, and Judge. He is not only Someone to hug, but to respect, submit to, and obey.