Kingdom Bites

It’s been a couple of weeks, but it is still hard for me to believe, my oldest child started school this year. I know every parent says it, but it seems like just yesterday I was in the delivery room hearing my daughter cry for the first time. Now, she is ready to embark on her educational pursuit that will dominate and direct a good part of the rest of her life.

My wife and I take this very seriously, and spent a long time carefully weighing the different education options available to us: Public School, Private School, and Homeschool. Each option has it own set of advantages and struggles. It became apparent to us that whatever route we chose, as parents it is our responsibility to be deeply involved in the education of our children. After all, they are ours, not someone else's.

This responsibility does not lie solely in “secular” subjects but includes the “spiritual” also. God never gave the church the primary responsibility to rear or instruct our children. Instead He gave it to us, as parents.

Deuteronomy 6:6-9 says, “These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.  Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.”

God’s design for family is rather simple. As parents we are given the responsibility to teach (or disciple) our children in God’s Word. In Deuteronomy 6:1-5, God instructs parents (and grandparents) to hear, to heed, and to teach God’s Word in our homes, giving our children an example to follow. However, the goal is more than teaching, more than passing on facts about God and the Bible, and more than blind obedience or head knowledge. Our goal is to pass on our faith and love for Christ.

God tells us to impress His Word on our children.  Which means to “Teach them diligently.” The idea is similar to the sharpening of blade on a stone; indicating a close and sometimes hard task. This is done through accurately teaching the Bible, sharpening our kids’ faith on the honing stone of God’s Word.

Deuteronomy says that this should be an integrated part of life. We are told to talk, or have conversations about God and His Word throughout our life. Day by day, moment by moment talking and teaching our children what the Bible says and how it applies to life. We are to look for the teachable moments and seize every opportunity where spiritual lessons can be taught.

It is also important to keep reminders of God and His Word visible. We may no longer tie Frontlets or Phylacteries around our head, or carve Scripture verses on our door; but our Faith and the Bible should be visible in our home and lives; visible to our family, and to all guests who may enter.

Yes, the church has an important role in coming alongside families, helping and equipping them to instill God’s Word in their families. But the work starts, and ends at Home. As you bring your children (or grandchildren) back to Sunday School this year, don’t let that be the only instruction they get…. For everyone should be “home-schooled” in God's Word!

9-11. Need I say more? Without further explanation every American understands exactly what I am referring to, and are transported back in time to the place and activity they were engaged in when news broke and terror filled our country.

I’m taken back to my childhood home. I was sleeping in the makeshift bedroom my parents provided for me during college.  I had been up into the wee hours of the morning completing an assignment for school, and now was trying to catch up on sleep. I awoke as my bedroom door swung open and the bright sunlight pierced through the darkness of my room. As I stirred and squinted toward the doorway, my mother quickly blurted out - "Get up Eric,  we are at war."

That phrase, which was impossible to digest at the time, has remained fixed in time and constantly comes back to mind whenever my thoughts drift back to September 11, 2001. I don’t recall much more of the day. It was spent like many; fixed to the television, watching the carnage unfold on the eastern seaboard.

9-11. Need I say more? These simple numbers render back images, emotions, and memories of that horrific day. Images of flames and smoke billowing from towers, the pentagon cut in two, and wreckage piling up everywhere. The streets overflowing with people consumed with fear and questions. Rescue workers franticly trying to help the injured and trapped as they helplessly watched desperation set in, and dozens of people jumped to their death from the highest stories of the twin towers. These are the snapshots that are forever engraved in our memories.

9-11. Who would have ever thought numbers could cast such powerful imagery, carry such a massive weight,  trigger a collective memory, and connect and unite people together from all backgrounds and corners of life. Who would have thought that numbers could remind us of death, destruction, love, sacrifice, and hope? But they do.

Yet here are another set of numbers which do the same thing, have been doing so for much longer then a decade. 3-16.  These number remind us of love, sacrifice, death, hope and redemption. These numbers carry a great weight - the weight of sin, our sin. These numbers have the power not only to trigger our collective memories, but transform our mind. These numbers have the power to connect and truly unite anyone anywhere under one banner for all eternity.

3-16...or should I say 3:16. These numbers tell us the true hope is found not in the rebuilding of destroyed buildings, or the relentless American spirit. No, They remind us that true hope, unconditional love, and complete redemption is found in the person of Jesus Christ.

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” - John 3:16.

In the verses following, Christ explains that for all who believe, true life, everlasting life, and true peace, His peace, will be given. Ten years later the loss is still great, the wounds are still raw. Many still grieve. Yet healing will never come by simply remembering the sacrifice and death of the many, but rather through recognizing and responding to the death and sacrifice of the One.

As we gather on the anniversary of the worst terror attack on US soil, let us not only remember the 3,000 people who died that day; but also The One who died for them, and us. True peace, hope, redemption, and healing will only come as we embrace Christ.

“Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men” - Colossians 3:23

T.G.I.F. Thank Goodness it’s Friday. Most American’s not only have their eyes set on the weekend, but tend to organize their entire life around these two days. I believe the pop rock hit of the eighties band Loverboy stated it best. “Everybody’s Working for the Weekend.” 

However, there are many reasons to work; and the weekend is just one of them. Working for the… Money? Escape? Glory? Benefits? These are just a few reasons why people work. How about you? Why do you go to work? 

Colossians 3:23 provides a different perspective. We are to work for the Lord. 

But what does that mean? For some it is obvious. Pastors, Missionaries, and parish workers obviously “work for the Lord.” Even those involved in maintenance, bookkeeping, or other types of church work are apparently “working for the Lord.”  It’s easy to see teaching Sunday Sschool, serving on a ministry team, or cleaning up the church grounds as “Holy Work” but  Colossians 3:17 is even more all inclusive. “And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”

Everything we do in name of the Lord - “How do I Work for the Lord? What’s so sacred about my job as a  salesman, farmer, clerk, machinist, teachers, factory worker - I’m in the secular field not the Sacred.”

Yet Christ transforms the Secular into the Sacred - He does not separate them. Christ not only purifies our soul, but our entire life! God desires us to see our entire life is set apart, as holy. So that in all we do, wherever we are, in thought, word & deed we’re engaged in service to Him. 

Take Zacchaeus (Luke 19:1-10). After spending time with Christ, he sees his sin, repents and begins living for and serving Christ. However Christ never called Him to leave and follow Him like Peter, John, or Matthew (who was also a tax collector). No. Instead he stayed in his current job as a tax collector and served Christ by treating people fairly and paying back anyone whom he had cheated. He was working for the Lord. 

Christ doesn't call everybody out of their life, into full-time Christian Service! God didn’t call every Old Testament saint to be a prophet, Levite or priest. Christ didn’t call everyone to be an apostle, nor does he call everyone to be a Pastor, Missionary, or serve in church leadership. But he does call each of us to discipleship,  to learn from Him, and serve Him wherever he has placed us. “Nevertheless, each one should retain the place in life that the Lord assigned to him and to which God has called him.” 1 Corinthians 7:17

God doesn't call everybody out of secular professions into Ministry, but rather He calls us out of a life of sin to the life of a saint. One whom loves, trusts, follows, and serves Christ within the job they have; conducting their daily business with the utmost integrity and sincerity. 

We’re not always called to leave the Secular for the Sacred, but rather treat the Secular as if it is Sacred, doing your best unto the Lord - this is your Spiritual Act of Worship (Romans 12:1-2).