Words to Live By

“Only take care, and keep your soul diligently, lest you forget the things that your eyes have seen, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life. Make them known to your children and your children’s children.”

- Deuteronomy 4:9

That verse means a lot to me right now. I have spent the better part of my parenting life deciding many things for my kids, but more importantly teaching them, or at least attempting to, the lessons I have learned growing up.

It’s a very interesting dynamic to live through as a parent and adult. You see and experience your childhood through faint memories, storytelling, and photos slapped in a book that are rarely ever opened. It’s ironic I can’t remember most of my childhood, but I can remember specific times when my parents taught me something or anknowledged me in figuring out a mystery in life. For example:

1. When I was 11 or so I had a bad sore throat due to allergies. I asked Dad if blowing my nose was a good way to relieve my sore throat since your throat and nose are connected. He applauded and praised me for figuring that out.

Those times are fun to think about, but the reality is this. What memories are my kids going to remember about their childhood? I pray daily that God would allow those teachable moments to creep in so that maybe one day my children will grow up and be able to pass down to the next generation the values and life lessons I’m teaching them now.

Frustration

Recently I have become increasingly frustrated with one thing and I’ve been asking God to walk me through this…and He has. It is VERY frustrating to realize as a friend, family member, leader, servant or any other capacity I am in a relationship with someone right now…I cannot make people receive Jesus. It’s frustrating when you see the potential in someone if they would just receive Christ or if they would just let Christ have complete control over their lives but they just hold back.

You see people can list and give you many reasons they won’t ever “convert” or become a Christ Follower. For some, it’s where they say their spiritual life has taken them too. Others say spiritual thing are no longer an issue for them because there is no God to begin with. Whatever the excuse or arguement for putting Jesus Christ on the back burner and replacing Him with their own “religious” outlook, stepping back is a hard thing for me to do.

If I could count how many friends and family I know who claimed to be Christ followers and then have checked out for one reason or another later on in life, I’d be typing all night. Ultimately it comes down to the fact they were NEVER Christ followers to begin with. There was never a point in their lives when Jesus so radically changed them. It bothers me when you see parents of kids who have left the church and they will look at their kids and say, “I remember when you walked down the isle and got saved as a kid. I’m praying God will bring you back.”

WAKE UP and stop enabling your kids. I have a news flash for you parents…your kid was never “saved” to begin with! The Bible clearly states, where there is no fruit in the life of a believer, then there was no conversion to speak of in the first place!

I continue to pray for specific people in my life and realize that I can only do just that, pray. I can talk to them, love them, share the gospel with them when the opportunity comes…but ultimately all I can do is consistently declare truth and pray that God will remove the calluses from their hearts so that they can receive Christ and allow Him to be preeminent in their lives.