In just a few short days, it will be the time that all children hate and moms eagerly await …the start of another school year. The time to begin or to resume the lifelong journey to acquire knowledge and understanding is once again close at hand …and that got me thinking about children and their place in our lives and the kingdom of God.
You see today, my wife and I will be taking our only child, our lovely daughter, off to college …and we will join that ever-expanding group of “empty-nesters”. I must say that we face this momentous occasion with conflicted emotions; however, we know that the time has come to push her ever so gently from the nest so that she might truly spread her wings and soar…and for that grace that God has given us, we are eternally thankful. We have been truly blessed with an intelligent and loving daughter that is a joy to her mother and I…and a bright and shining star in the firmament of her Heavenly Father. It is for our daughter and her 10 year birthday as a Christian that I am sharing this previous communication from Salt & Light; one that I believe instructs all who will heed its lesson and will diligently seek to know the one true God…..read on and be blessed!
In Matthew 18: 1-4, we read, “At that time the disciples came to Jesus saying, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” And calling to him a child, he put him in the midst of them and said, “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of Heaven.”
Are you humble in your drive to be the greatest? Do you know what it means to have child-like faith in the Father and follow Jesus unconditionally? Are you headed for the kingdom of heaven? Can you explain your faith and your relationship with your heavenly Father as this young boy? I pray that you can!!!!!
The following was written by an 8-year-old named Danny Dutton, who lives in Chula Vista, CA. He wrote it for his third grade homework assignment, to "explain God." I wonder if any of us could do as well if we were required to give our EXPLANATION OF GOD:
"One of God's main jobs is making people. He makes them to replace the ones that die, so there will be enough people to take care of things on earth. He doesn't make grownups, just babies. I think because they are smaller and easier to make. That way he doesn't have to take up his valuable time teaching them to talk and walk. He can just leave that to mothers and fathers."
"God's second most important job is listening to prayers. An awful lot of this goes on, since some people, like preachers and things, pray at times beside bedtime. God doesn't have time to listen to the radio or TV because of this. Because he hears everything, there must be a terrible lot of noise in his ears, unless he has thought of a way to turn it off."
"God sees everything and hears everything and is everywhere which keeps Him pretty busy. So you shouldn't go wasting his time by going over your mom and dad's head asking for something they said you couldn't have."
"Atheists are people who don't believe in God. I don't think there are any in Chula Vista. At least there aren't any who come to our church."
"Jesus is God's Son. He used to do all the hard work, like walking on water and performing miracles and trying to teach the people who didn't want to learn about God. They finally got tired of him preaching to them and they crucified him; but he was good and kind, like his father, and he told his father that they didn't know what they were doing and to forgive them and God said O.K."
"His dad (God) appreciated everything that he had done and all his hard work on earth so he told him he didn't have to go out on the road anymore. He could stay in heaven. So he did. And now he helps his dad out by listening to prayers and seeing things which are important for God to take care of and which ones he can take care of himself without having to bother God. Like a secretary, only more important."
"You can pray anytime you want and they are sure to help you because they got it worked out so one of them is on duty all the time."
"You should always go to church on Sunday because it makes God happy, and if there's anybody you want to make happy, it's God!
Don't skip church to do something you think will be more fun like going to the beach. This is wrong….and besides, the sun doesn't come out at the beach until noon anyway."
"If you don't believe in God, besides being an atheist, you will be very lonely, because your parents can't go everywhere with you, like to camp, but God can. It is good to know He's around you when you're scared, in the dark or when you can't swim and you get thrown into real deep water by big kids."
"But...you shouldn't just always think of what God can do for you. I figure God put me here and he can take me back anytime he pleases.
And that's why I believe in God."
I trust that today you won’t focus on just what God can do for you, but rather what YOU CAN DO FOR GOD…..AS A CHILD OF THE KING!
Blessed and believing,
WPQ
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Monday, August 2, 2010
Are you a 007 Christian?
I don’t know about you, but I am a diehard James Bond fan. In fact, I practically grew up watching and re-watching the James Bond films… and to this day, I will gladly plunk down in front of the old boob tube and catch a Bond thriller or weekend extravaganza of Bond classics.
I guess the mystery and excitement of James dashing around the world as a servant in Her Majesty’s Secret Service was the juice that would quench the thirst of young mind’s wanderlust and allow me to step out of the problems and tribulations of a young adolescent, even if just for a few hours. I seemed to always marvel that James was so adept at hiding his true identity and pretending to be so many different people with such diverse and intriguing backgrounds.
The same can be said for so many Christians in this day and age….they profess to follow Jesus as they pass down dark halls and gather in church vestibules on Sundays; but, on Mondays, they move through the corporate world incognito ….stripped of anything that may give away their secret identity ….a son or daughter of the Most High ….a member of the family of God.
But they are not the first to travel such a path of deception as they conceal their Christian identity; just look in the Scriptures in John 12:42-43: “Nevertheless many, even of the authorities believed in Him, but for fear of the Pharisees, they did not confess it so that they would not be put out of the synagogue; for they loved the glory that comes from man more than the glory that comes from God.”
Even in the day of Jesus, when many had seen with their own eyes the miracles he performed, they could not be persuaded to believe in Jesus; however, there were many that did believe, but rather than confess Him as Lord and Savior, they kept their faith in Him a secret….they became a silent follower with a secret identity for fear of the cost.
Today, unfortunately, there are too many Christians living as 007…an agent for Jesus with a secret identity. They will profess Him to their close circle of fellow believers but they are not willing to publicly announce their allegiance and loyalty to the King of Kings for fear of the cost….the cost of ridicule, weak-mindedness or sarcasm…the cost of power or prestige or put downs….the cost of glory or praise from others that see Christ as a crutch and not as a conqueror.
How are you living in this world today…are you out in the open as a true believer that values the opinion of God over the fleeting fancies of the “in” crowd….or are you living as a “secret agent’ that is pretending to be what the world values rather than living the values taught to us by the Savior.
As always, THE CHOICE IS YOURS ….AND YOURS ALONE!!!! God will not hold your feet to the fire until you confess Him as Lord and Savior in your life; but, He is watching …and often withholding His abundant blessings until we are stripped of our secret identity and fully functioning as a child of the King.
So go ahead and drop the pretense that you can be an 007 Christian…. Step out in faith to tell others that Jesus is INDEED the one you adore and the one to whom you answer ….and in that matter, YOU WOULDN’T HAVE IT ANY OTHER WAY!!
Stepping out of the Shadows….Living in His Glorious Light,
WPQ
I guess the mystery and excitement of James dashing around the world as a servant in Her Majesty’s Secret Service was the juice that would quench the thirst of young mind’s wanderlust and allow me to step out of the problems and tribulations of a young adolescent, even if just for a few hours. I seemed to always marvel that James was so adept at hiding his true identity and pretending to be so many different people with such diverse and intriguing backgrounds.
The same can be said for so many Christians in this day and age….they profess to follow Jesus as they pass down dark halls and gather in church vestibules on Sundays; but, on Mondays, they move through the corporate world incognito ….stripped of anything that may give away their secret identity ….a son or daughter of the Most High ….a member of the family of God.
But they are not the first to travel such a path of deception as they conceal their Christian identity; just look in the Scriptures in John 12:42-43: “Nevertheless many, even of the authorities believed in Him, but for fear of the Pharisees, they did not confess it so that they would not be put out of the synagogue; for they loved the glory that comes from man more than the glory that comes from God.”
Even in the day of Jesus, when many had seen with their own eyes the miracles he performed, they could not be persuaded to believe in Jesus; however, there were many that did believe, but rather than confess Him as Lord and Savior, they kept their faith in Him a secret….they became a silent follower with a secret identity for fear of the cost.
Today, unfortunately, there are too many Christians living as 007…an agent for Jesus with a secret identity. They will profess Him to their close circle of fellow believers but they are not willing to publicly announce their allegiance and loyalty to the King of Kings for fear of the cost….the cost of ridicule, weak-mindedness or sarcasm…the cost of power or prestige or put downs….the cost of glory or praise from others that see Christ as a crutch and not as a conqueror.
How are you living in this world today…are you out in the open as a true believer that values the opinion of God over the fleeting fancies of the “in” crowd….or are you living as a “secret agent’ that is pretending to be what the world values rather than living the values taught to us by the Savior.
As always, THE CHOICE IS YOURS ….AND YOURS ALONE!!!! God will not hold your feet to the fire until you confess Him as Lord and Savior in your life; but, He is watching …and often withholding His abundant blessings until we are stripped of our secret identity and fully functioning as a child of the King.
So go ahead and drop the pretense that you can be an 007 Christian…. Step out in faith to tell others that Jesus is INDEED the one you adore and the one to whom you answer ….and in that matter, YOU WOULDN’T HAVE IT ANY OTHER WAY!!
Stepping out of the Shadows….Living in His Glorious Light,
WPQ
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