On Righteousness

We were watching a show today that used the word righteous out of Biblical context.  My daughter recognized it and immediately responded with the correct definition, which led to a wonderful gospel conversation on the couch.

Child: Mama what's the opposite of righteous?
Me: Unrighteous.  Who was the one righteous person in all of history?
Child: Jesus!
Me: That's right.  God's word tells us no one is righteous, not even one.  Who was the most unrighteous person in all of history?
Child: Satan.
Me:  Exactly.  Satan is everything bad and God is everything good.
Child: And we're exacty in the middle, right?
Me: Oh baby, sadly we're much closer to Satan than we ever will be to God in this life.  God is SO holy and because of the fall everything we do is colored by our sin.  Even the good things we do, we don't do for the right reasons apart from God's spirit.
Child: But my sibling did the nicest thing ever earlier today!  It was SO nice!
Me:  I know.  But they did it for selfish reasons.  Even the good things we do, we do for the wrong reasons- because it makes us feel good or because we're afraid of the consequences. It's only when God gives us a new heart to love Jesus that we can start to do things out of love, because we are SO thankful that while we were still sinners Jesus died on the cross for us.  We won't be able to be purely selfless until we go to be with Jesus or until Jesus comes back.  Doesn't it make you long for heaven when Jesus will make all things right again?  Let's pray Jesus would come quickly, and that he would change all my children's hearts to begin to love him.

Verses being referenced:

"But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us."

Romans 5:8

"As it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one.""

Romans 3:10

Light and Dark

My older daughter loves to talk.  Sometimes our conversations are light hearted and sometimes they delve deeper.  On the way to water our friend's plants for her, she started asking about light and darkness.

Daughter: Hey Mama, darkness can mean more than one thing did you know that?
Me: Oh yah?
Daughter: Yah there's darkness like night and there's darkness like evil.
Me:  That's true.  God made everything in creation to point to the greater truth of who he is.  How do you think that light and dark point to God?
Daughter: Well light and dark are opposites.  And in the Bible darkness can be evil.  
Me:  Yes for sure.  The darkness hides things too, but nothing hides in the light.  The light reveals everything.  We shine a light to see what's hidden in the dark. 
Daughter: Yah like when we use a flaghlight!
Me: Yes!  Did you know that the Bible calls Jesus the Light of the World?  Why do you think God says that?
Daughter: Well maybe because Satan is evil and darkness, and Jesus is the opposite of that which is light.  
Me:  That's a great observation.  The whole verse says "Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”"  When we know Jesus, we have a light to guide us in everything we do."

The verse being applied here is John 1:5, John 8:12:

"The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it."

"Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."

Life and Breath and Cupcakes

I was doing crafts with my two older daughters one afternoon and my girls had a sweet moment choosing their painting pages.

Daughter: This one makes me sad.  I don't want the cupcake one. I read it and it says "I don't want to share".
Me: Why does that make you sad?
Daughter: Well it's not kind to not share.
Me: Why isn't it kind?
Daughter: Because God wants us to share things.
Me: That's true. God shares everything with us.  He gives us life, and breath, and every good thing.  And most of all he gives us what?
Daughter: Cupcakes!
Me: And?
Daughter: Oh and Jesus!  Cupcakes and Jesus.

The Bible verse being applied here is Acts 17:25 (NIV):

"And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else."

Teaching our Children About God's Armor

Ephesians 6:10-18

"10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

13 Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 14 Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15 and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

18 And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people."

Dry Spells

Earlier this year, my family lived in six houses in four months.  Yep, you read that right.  With four children aged five and under including an infant.  To say that this was a chaotic time in our family would be the definition of understatement.

In the midst of the transitions we were undergoing, I found myself falling into laziness.  Simply wanting my children to obey for the sake of convenience and expediency.  I became very harsh in my parenting and was focused primarily on outward appearance.

Our family dynamic quickly shifted.  There were consequences and haughty attitudes, short fuses and little forbearance.

Then a friend in our old hometown said in a chat, "We sure miss you at Bible study.  Your example was such an encouragement."  This came the same day as a disastrous trip to the grocery store (you know those ones right?)  It was like having a bucket of cold water poured over me.  I quickly responded "Oh how the mighty have fallen..."  I said it jokingly but really in seriousness.  Oh how I had fallen out of showing grace to my children.  How I had fallen out of sharing the Savior's tender kindnesses.  Something on which I had sinfully prided myself on being such an example.

I fail.

We all fail.

Life crowds in and we get distracted and then we get discouraged.

But grace.

The beauty of grace is the begin again.  We can boldly proclaim like Timothy "But I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that he is able to guard until that Day what has been entrusted to me." (2 Timothy 1:12)  We repent and believe once again.  We keep on believing.

The beauty of grace is that we don't have to be perfect. We just have to keep trying.

Theology in the Grocery Aisle

Last week on a trip to the store, we had our first experience with a my children meeting a dwarf.  It's not something I had thought to prepare them for in advance and so it struck me a little unawares in a mode of reacting and recovering instead of responding.

Daughter: Mama!  That person is little and they are all on their own in the store!
Son: Yah, how come they get to walk around on their own and we don't?
Me (hushed whisper): Hands on mouths till we walk to the next aisle.
(walk in silence to the next aisle then kneel down)
Me: Y'all.  That was not a child wandering unsafely through the store.  That was a grown up.  When God made that man, he made him a special way.  It's called being a dwarf or a little person.  That means that people who are dwarves or little people only grow to a certain height.  But what does God tell us about all people?
Daughter: That they're made in God's image.
Me: That's right.  Some people are born who can't hear, or who can't see, or who are dwarves.  In the Bible, the disciples asked Jesus if a man was born because he sinned and do you know what Jesus told him?
Children: No.
Me: He told them that no one had sinned, but it was so that God could be made known.  We each have been made a specific way.  If we love God, we can use all the special things about ourselves to make God known to the world.  Not because of our sin, because we are all sinful, but because God loves us in Jesus Christ. How did he show us he loved us in Jesus?
Daughter: By sending Jesus to die on the cross for our sins.

The passage this is drawn from is John 9:1-5:

"As He passed by, He saw a man blind from birth. 2 And His disciples asked Him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he would be born blind?” 3 Jesus answered, “It was neither that this man sinned, nor his parents; but it was so that the works of God might be displayed in him. 4 We must work the works of Him who sent Me as long as it is day; night is coming when no one can work. 5 While I am in the world, I am the Light of the world.”"

How to Talk to Your Daughter About Beauty

I was snuggling with my daughter at bedtime one night when she started talking.  I don't always make the most of these opportunities because- ugh, bedtime.  But tonight we snuggled together and had a sweet time talking.

Daughter: Mama do you think I am beautiful?
Me: Of course, Baby, I do.  Because you are kind and you care about people.
Daughter: But do I look pretty?
Me:  Do you know what God says about beauty?  He says it comes from our hearts.  The Bible tells us that man looks at the outside but God looks at the heart.  God cares about how we love people.  And how do we love people?
Daughter: Because we love Jesus.
Me: That's right.  When we love God because he sent Jesus to die for us, we can't help but love other people.  God tells us when we do that, we will shine like stars in the universe.  Think about our friend Miss ___.  Isn't she beautiful?  Her eyes shine bright with how much she loves Jesus.  When people truly love Jesus, you can see their hearts shine right out of them.  They can't hide it, and that's true beauty.  That's the beauty that Mama wants you to see and to hope for.

The two Bible verses referenced here are:

1 Samuel 16:7 (ESV):

"7 But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.”"

Philippians 2:14-14 (NIV):

"14 Do everything without grumbling or arguing, 15 so that you may become blameless and pure, “children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation.” Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky as you hold firmly to the word of life."