Tag Archives: following Jesus

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Be Alert!

Super hero 1

“You be the bad guy and I’ll be the good guy.”

Have you heard your children say this or something similar? It doesn’t take long for very young children to begin to distinguish between good and bad behavior.

This is not a current phenomena. In fact, in the very the beginning, in the Garden of Eden, mankind made a choice that determined that every human since faces a choice. Each of us must choose to behave in a way that pleases our Heavenly Father, or make the choice to go our own way.

Every era and culture in recorded history has it’s heroes. As one who teaches art, I’ve taught about many of these heroes from the past immortalized in great works of art. The Sphinx, the Greek sculpture called the Discus Thrower, Michelangelo’s David, and the sculpture of President Abraham Lincoln inside the Lincoln Memorial are just a few of countless heroes depicted.

Children love to hear stories of heroes triumphing over evil. All of our grandsons have been taken with Robin Hood at one time or another, even though it is challenging as parents to celebrate Robin’s stealing, even if he did give to the poor. In fact, most all heroes have “feet of clay”, even those in the Bible.

Our granddaughters played princess and there was an evil stepmother or mean fairy princess. Yet, do not despair! There was always a knight or prince to rescue the damsel in distress, even if he was burned by a dragon.

Children love the story of David and Goliath, yet David and Bathsheba is a difficult story for adults to process, much less children.

There are fallen heroes brought to light regularly in our current culture. Sometimes these fallen heroes are individuals our children have looked up to and they may be deeply wounded by their transgressions, even to the point of feeling betrayed.

It is important that we start early teaching our children that the only person to ever live on this earth who was perfect is Jesus. “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”. Jesus did not sin because He is God. We want our children to look up to worthy individuals as role models. At the same time, we must help them keep their “heroes” in perspective.

1 Peter 5:8-10 (NLT)

8 Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. 9 Stand firm against him, and be strong in your faith. Remember that your Christian brothers and sisters all over the world are going through the same kind of suffering you are.

10 In his kindness God called you to share in his eternal glory by means of Christ Jesus. So after you have suffered a little while, he will restore, support, and strengthen you, and he will place you on a firm foundation.

The BAD GUY is the devil. These verses say he is like a roaring lion. Lions roar to proclaim their territory. The analogy may then be drawn that the devil is prowing around, seeking those who he may claim and then devour.

It is a battle. There is a real enemy and he is the bad guy.

Verse 9 is our battle plan:
* Stand firm
* Be strong in the faith
* Remember you are not in this battle alone

God’s promise is that He will RESTORE, SUPPORT, STRENGTHEN, and PLACE YOU ON A FIRM FOUNDATION.

We can be heroes of the faith and we must encourage our children to be heroes of the faith as well.

Super Heroes of the Kingdom! Won’t that bless God?

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“Look at Me”

look at me
“Look at me, Gayle. Did you hear what I said?” My mother often said this to get my attention. She wanted to make sure that I listened to what she had to say.

“Look at my eyes, Hannah. Did you hear what I said?” I used similar words to get my daughter’s attention and communicate vital information.

Why look at my eyes? Because our eyes communicate as well. There is the look that says:
* I have said this before – but here it is again
* you are in BIG trouble if you don’t listen
* you have disappointed me.
* you are dangling from my very last nerve
and finally –
* the look that kills. (this look does not actually kill, it just
makes the recipient wish they were dead)

As a teacher I wait to give instructions until all my students’ eyes are on me. (Heaven forbid that one is glancing down between their legs to read the latest text message!) If I don’t have their full attention – invariably a student will ask – after I have given detailed instructions – “What are we doing today?” Time for the look that kills.

There are so many things that distract us in life. We immediately think about technology in this current age, but I propose there have always been distractions for humans. Think about leaving your log cabin and having to watch for bear, snakes, or a hungry wolf.
The point is that because we are thinking beings – we become distracted.

The God who created us knows this. He also gave us the ability to concentrate, yet it often takes an act of our will.

Hebrews 12:1-3 Amplified Bible

12 Therefore then, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses who have borne testimony to the Truth, let us strip off and throw aside every encumbrance and that sin which so readily clings to and entangles us, and let us run with patient endurance and steady and active persistence the appointed course of the race that is set before us,

2 Looking away from all that will distract to Jesus, Who is the Leader and the Source of our faith and is also its Finisher, bringing it to maturity and perfection. He, for the joy of obtaining the prize that was set before Him, endured the cross, despising and ignoring the shame, and is now seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

3 Just think of Him Who endured from sinners such grievous opposition and bitter hostility against Himself, so that you may not grow weary or exhausted, losing heart and relaxing and fainting in your minds.

The solution is to “look away from all that will distract”. Being the queen of distraction – this is a challange to me. Yet, when I keep my eyes on Jesus – when I “look at Him”, I am able to understand clearly what He is speaking to me.

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Learning to Walk

Number 4, off and away!Our youngest grandson has recently begun walking. It would have come as a surprise (he is just 10 months old) except for the fact that he has done everything sooner than his three older brothers. I’m sure that watching them has had an impact on his development.  But I , Nana, have another theory that is based on personal observation – NOT scientific research. He is a born leader.

I want to postulate that the rate at which a child begins certain developmental tasks is not based on birth order as much as personality. A first-born child that is a natural leader will tend to do things like walk, talk, and feed themselves at an earlier age. These children know what they want and they want to get moving! They want to feed themselves and are often heard saying  – “I can do it!” ( or “me do it!”) Yet, this child may be the middle child or even the youngest born. Their outgoing personality may result in them telling the older siblings what to do – and surprisingly – those older siblings do it! These assertive children may fall a lot, or make big messes eating – but they will get it done – by themselves.

The quiet, less outgoing child, whatever the birth order, will wait to try new skills until they are sure they can do it. They will walk later – but rarely fall. These children will let the parent feed them and only start doing it themselves when they are sure they won’t spill. They are careful learning new tasks and want help along the way. Once they master something, they do it well by themselves.

The insecure, tentative child is the one who needs consistent help and assurance that they can master a new skill. Even when they can walk – they want to be carried. They are able to feed themselves, but they want to be fed. They seem to require constant attention to insure that they are able to do things.

As parents it is important to recognize the personality of our child and encourage them to grow and develop in positive ways. Each of these personality types have positive and negative qualities. As parents we can help our children develop the positive aspects and minimize the negative ones.

I am studying Scriptures on following Jesus. I believe that as God’s children we have various spiritual personalities just like our natural ones. God has created us this way. As we make the decision to follow Jesus, each of us follows Him using our individual personality.

This can be positive and negative. For example:

  • An outgoing, leader type personality may start to follow with sincere enthusiasm. They actively follow for a time and then run ahead – thinking they don’t have to wait – they know the path to follow.
  • The quieter, more careful personality might wait and study for a long time, not wanting to miss the path. That time spent studying is good. But while waiting, they lose sight of Jesus as He moves ahead.
  • The insecure personality wants to follow, but isn’t sure and second guesses themselves about when to move.  Do they have all they need  to follow? They want to follow but they aren’t sure how, they want someone to carry them.

This is why we must die to self to learn to walk with Jesus. God has created us with various personalities. He has a purpose for each of these qualities in our lives. Yet if our personalities prevent us from following Jesus, we must put those traits to death.

Jesus said:

Luke 9:23

Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.

The only way we can learn to walk like Jesus is to follow Him.