I actually started writing this blog about another topic, but God has led me in a different direction on this beautiful, November morning.
As the hustle and bustle of 4 small, but significant blessings in my life begin their daily tasks it is these very children and their hearts that weigh heavy on my own heart.
Some of you who read this will have small children or even older children, but no matter their age they have not reached the season in their life where they are what society would call "a wayward child." Up until recently I would have been in this group. I took for granted the simplicity of my life with my children. Training was going well. They were all following the path I had so tirelessly laid out for them. Life was good!
Now some of you can recall a time when life was like that but that's not so much how this current season in your life is going. Now this group is where I can currently relate. Our oldest daughter has begun to have some struggles in her life. Struggles that, of course, as a mother I would not have wished for her to carry these burdens. We all wish for a life of blessing and not a life of strife for our children, however, that is hardly realistic.
And while I stand in the midst of this season of testing in my life and the life of my husband and our daughter, I am so thankful! For it took my daughter's rebellion and the counsel of my husband and a dear sister in Christ for me to see my failings as a mother. I had excelled at training my children to be obedient, Christ-following, mannered young men and women, but what I had neglected to tend were the hearts of my children, or namely my oldest.
For she has always been something other than a mommy's girl. I wanted to snuggle and rock her as a baby; she wanted to get down on the ground and rough-house. I wanted to play dolls with her and was told, "No, that's okay, Mommy. I like playing by myself." So I would be satisfied that I did my duty and made the offer and that was enough. After all, I had offered to play with her. I had offered to read to her. She wasn't interested. But what I failed to see until now is that I as a mother have to meet my children where they are whether that is on the couch under a blanket with a book, in the game room buried in train tracks and Matchbox cars, up in a tree communing with nature, etc. I have to meet my children where they are and form a relationship with them on THEIR terms, not mine. And with each child that takes on a different form.
My 5 yr old can draw a picture and if I simply say, "I love it!" he's satisfied that Mommy likes it and then he happily goes on his way. My 2 yr old, however, cannot be so easily satisfied. Her artwork has to be carefully examined and eye contact has to be made for her to accept the praises she's offered.
Each child's heart requires a new and unique approach, but it is our responsibility and frankly, it is absolutely essential that we reach the hearts of our children. So often parents will discipline their children and leave it at that. They get the desired behavior they want, but they fail to see the fire brewing in their child's heart. And they won't until the teenage years or beyond. That's when the discipline stops and the heart comes out. For when our children reach this age we can no longer take them over our knee or send them to their rooms. Their obedience has to come from respect. Respect for their parents. That respect is born from a relationship. And that relationship has to have been built over time, a long time. It is not something you can begin when your children are teenagers.
So I implore us all to not only train our children in the ways of the Lord, but to also lead their hearts in obedience to Him. If we gave as much attention to our children's hearts as we do their bottoms then we would not lose so many of our young people to the ways of the world when they become of the age of heavy temptation from the world.
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Sunday, November 2, 2008
Cain's offering of disobedience
Most of us can retell the story of Cain and Abel with little trouble. And even if we can't name the specifics we can certainly recall the Bible story from Sunday school where Adam and Eve had twin sons and one killed the other.
While usually the focus of this story is on Cain's jealousy of his brother Abel, there is much more depth and substance to this situation than simple sibling rivalry.
If we stop to take the time to look into the life of Cain we find a man who by the world's view would be a very hard worker. He was mostly likely up with the sun and out in his fields all day through working. He was a gardener; a farmer. There were no machines or workers to help him or aide his efforts. This was the sweat and toil of his very own hands. If he was not out in the field working his crops would fail.
When asked to bring a sacrifice to offer God the request was specific and it was one he knew by his heart. If nothing else his parents had instilled in him that the sacrifice was to be an unblemished lamb. It was as second nature to him as *** would be to you and I. He decided that he would offer something else. Something he felt like was better. So he offered his work. He took things he had labored to grow and tend and harvest. He offered fruits and vegetables from his fields.
But instead of receiving praise as he had hoped, he received God's disapproval. For God does not desire our sacrifice. He requires our obedience. Cain was full of sacrifice, but he lacked obedience.
However, it's an easy trap to fall into. Men do it with their work. Women do it with their homes and children. This is not to say that it's wrong to be successful or to have well mannered children. The point is more that that is not worshipping God. God does not desire the works of your hands to be offered at His feet. The only offering He desires and more importantly the only offering He will accept is your heart...your obedience.
And there is a simple test for obedience or more aptly your willingness to be obedient. Examine your life. Is there anything you would not give up if God asked you to? Have you made an idol of your job, your home, your sports, your nights out? If you would hesitate to give any of those things up if God led you to then you are making an idol of that in your life.
Cain made an idol out of his work; out of his own abilities and efforts and the earthly rewards that he gained from those efforts. And so it was a logical conclusion that he would bring what he held in the highest regard as his sacrifice to God.
His brother, Abel, however, is the example God desires us all to emulate. He worshipped God. He held God as first in his life and everything else was a byproduct of his worship. What he said, where he went, his work...everything was done in worship to God. So when instructed to bring a sacrifice he was obedient. He literally worshipped God through his sacrifice by bringing an unblemished lamb and sacrificing it. Even his sacrifice was designed to worship and glorify God. No part of his sacrifice was meant to bring praise or glory to himself.
Abel's life's motto could very easily have been - simple obedience. More often than not obedience is the simplest thing in the world to understand, but the most difficult to carry out. But time and time again God shows us that obedience will reap blessings and rewards and disobedience of even the smallest proportion can lead to devastating consequences.
Abel's single act of disobedience to follow the directions for a burnt offering led to his brother's death and Abel spending the rest of his life struggling to provide for even his own needs, running from people who would do him harm, and never again being able to call anyplace home.
Let us remember Abel as we go through our days. When God speaks let us listen and obey. Let us get to the end of our life and be able to look back and see a life of obedience and blessings and not a life of disobedience and consequences for that disobedience. For our Father waits so anxiously to pour out His blessings upon Him children. Blessings He tells us we can't even fathom. And all He asks of us in order to receive His outpouring of love is "simple obedience".
While usually the focus of this story is on Cain's jealousy of his brother Abel, there is much more depth and substance to this situation than simple sibling rivalry.
If we stop to take the time to look into the life of Cain we find a man who by the world's view would be a very hard worker. He was mostly likely up with the sun and out in his fields all day through working. He was a gardener; a farmer. There were no machines or workers to help him or aide his efforts. This was the sweat and toil of his very own hands. If he was not out in the field working his crops would fail.
When asked to bring a sacrifice to offer God the request was specific and it was one he knew by his heart. If nothing else his parents had instilled in him that the sacrifice was to be an unblemished lamb. It was as second nature to him as *** would be to you and I. He decided that he would offer something else. Something he felt like was better. So he offered his work. He took things he had labored to grow and tend and harvest. He offered fruits and vegetables from his fields.
But instead of receiving praise as he had hoped, he received God's disapproval. For God does not desire our sacrifice. He requires our obedience. Cain was full of sacrifice, but he lacked obedience.
However, it's an easy trap to fall into. Men do it with their work. Women do it with their homes and children. This is not to say that it's wrong to be successful or to have well mannered children. The point is more that that is not worshipping God. God does not desire the works of your hands to be offered at His feet. The only offering He desires and more importantly the only offering He will accept is your heart...your obedience.
And there is a simple test for obedience or more aptly your willingness to be obedient. Examine your life. Is there anything you would not give up if God asked you to? Have you made an idol of your job, your home, your sports, your nights out? If you would hesitate to give any of those things up if God led you to then you are making an idol of that in your life.
Cain made an idol out of his work; out of his own abilities and efforts and the earthly rewards that he gained from those efforts. And so it was a logical conclusion that he would bring what he held in the highest regard as his sacrifice to God.
His brother, Abel, however, is the example God desires us all to emulate. He worshipped God. He held God as first in his life and everything else was a byproduct of his worship. What he said, where he went, his work...everything was done in worship to God. So when instructed to bring a sacrifice he was obedient. He literally worshipped God through his sacrifice by bringing an unblemished lamb and sacrificing it. Even his sacrifice was designed to worship and glorify God. No part of his sacrifice was meant to bring praise or glory to himself.
Abel's life's motto could very easily have been - simple obedience. More often than not obedience is the simplest thing in the world to understand, but the most difficult to carry out. But time and time again God shows us that obedience will reap blessings and rewards and disobedience of even the smallest proportion can lead to devastating consequences.
Abel's single act of disobedience to follow the directions for a burnt offering led to his brother's death and Abel spending the rest of his life struggling to provide for even his own needs, running from people who would do him harm, and never again being able to call anyplace home.
Let us remember Abel as we go through our days. When God speaks let us listen and obey. Let us get to the end of our life and be able to look back and see a life of obedience and blessings and not a life of disobedience and consequences for that disobedience. For our Father waits so anxiously to pour out His blessings upon Him children. Blessings He tells us we can't even fathom. And all He asks of us in order to receive His outpouring of love is "simple obedience".
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