This morning's ramblings were partly inspired by the coffee table set up outside one of our classrooms, partly by Proverbs 22:6, "Train up a child in the way he should go, even when he is old he will not depart from it" that I read yesterday and then again this morning with my Cheerios. (Hmmm...I wonder if the namers of that cereal were British or wanted to make you think their product was going to cheer you up?)
For those of you with children in any of those "difficult" periods of life...like from 0-100...be encouraged of the truth of Pv.22:6; especially if you're dealing with Teens or Tweens (20-somethings in Hobbiton). If you've trained them up Biblically as children (which I think ends at age 12 technically, but which extends the rest of your life as a parent) and they are rebelling against this...hold fast, keep praying for them using Psalm 119:9-18/Mt. 6:33, 34 as the basis of your requests, and wait to see when the Lord returns them to what you consider His Path for them. (If they're Christians, they're never out of His grip, but they may need a good spiritual wedgey to bring them around.) Oh...and NEVER, EVER pray for patience...you've already got the trial causing you to exercise the patience you've got as part of the fruit of the Spirit mentioned in Galatians 5: 22,23.
Now, for the rest of you Christian Addicts...did you ever notice how at Christian conferences or retreats (a term that's annoyed me for 28 years, since I think we should be "standing firm" in Him, not retreating in any way) coffee/drinks and some kind of food ABSOLUTELY HAVE to be served?!! If you want to get a bunch of supposedly "spiritual giants" whining and complaining as a group, take away their drugs of choice...caffeine and sugar!! ;P Or, for those pastoral types, make a book table available to them, but only for display and ordering purposes and you'll hear them grousing and complaining that the books are not IMMEDIATELY available, but ordering a ton of them anyway. (I've found that the best way to cure Book Lust is to move 10-12 times in your life and have to do the moving yourself!!...Oh, and you're never actually cured...the process is just continually choosing the lesser of two weevils, as Captain Jack Aubrey says in "Master and Commander!!")
Well, I don't know what's got its claws in your hide these days that's controlling you, but the solution for EVERY addiction...remember, being "born dead in trespasses and sins" is the primal addiction with multiple outworkings...is to become a Jesus Addict...get born again and use His resources to deal with all your Natural Man addictions. And while you're in the process, ask Him to show you how to transform the addiction into some useful activity for the Kingdom...like using Facebook to "blurb" the Gospel to your friends through your profile and status options.
Got ideas how?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment