Deuteronomy 6:6-7

Proverbs 22:6 tells us, “Train up a child in the way he should go, even when he is old he will not depart from it.” What a great responsibility this places on parents. Records of royal lineage (1 Kings 15-16) illustrate that one’s level of submission to God is often mirrored in the offspring’s life.

Now, it’s true that children eventually grow and make their own decisions. There are godly parents who are heartbroken by their kids’ poor choices. Similarly, some from backgrounds full of sinful bondage become righteous people of integrity.

As mothers and fathers, we are given a momentous task: to model and teach how to live according to God’s Word. Thankfully, we don’t have to rely on ourselves for wisdom. Good parenting involves prayerful self-evaluation, godly counsel, and thoughtful course corrections.

Start by considering how you’d answer the following questions if your children were to walk in your way: What place will Jesus, the Word of God, and the church have in their lives? Will they seek God’s direction as the ultimate guide for decisions? Will they develop strong godly relationships? Will they know how to handle money wisely? Will they do their best in their vocation? As you seek answers, ask God to reveal truth, since self-examination can be difficult.

In prayerfully considering your impact as a parent, expect to see positives and negatives. The goal isn’t self-condemnation, so keep in mind 1) there’s no perfect parent and 2) it’s never too late. Even if the kids are grown, you can ask forgiveness, share what you’ve learned, and model a godly life starting now.

I was on a plane when the hype of Dan Brown’s Da Vinci Code was still on the upswing. Several seats ahead of me, a conversation about the scandalousstory was drawing otherwise subdued travelers out of their newspapers. “It makes you look at the church differently,” one voice said, triggering a quick “yes” from the woman beside her. Meanwhile, the passenger on my left, inspired by the conversation in front of us, described his distaste for Christianity as if it were a flavor of ice cream.  “Buddhism is far more interesting.”

The world we live in is globalized, pluralistic, and post-secular. It is also more like the first century than any of the previous centuries the church has lived through. In the centuries leading up to the time of Jesus, Jewish, secular, and pagan worldviews were living side by side then as they are now—and “Hellenism” is the term that denotes they were not living as wholly separated entities of thought. Much like the merging worldviews we find today, there was an embracing of various strands and streams of thought and life. Hellenism was everywhere, and it set the agenda for the pluralistic culture that would continue to develop under Roman rule. By the time Rome took power there was an unparalleled flow of people, resources, and philosophies central to one location. Cities became international stomping grounds for a wide variety of religions and ethnicities, as they similarly exist today.

As in the Roman world, people who confess belief live in an environment where there are not only multiple faith communities around them, there are faith communities spilling over into other faith communities, and worldviews embracing strands and fragments of other worldviews. In every society there are multiple, viable options for religious preference, and every hybrid option in between. Like a cafeteria of religious and non-religious choices, the consumer is able to choose based on appetite, comfort, or convenience.

For those whose beliefs are rooted more in conviction than comfort, it is easy to feel that we must inherently be cultural naysayers, gypsies who wander through this world unattached and (hopefully) unaffected. Where I live in Atlanta, I can see the effects of postmodern and pluralistic philosophies in the daily life of an international city where traditional southern values coexist with the voices of secularism, atheism, and every minor and major religion. But as a Christian like the apostle Paul within first century Rome, I don’t believe all is lost in the fog of a thousand religions. Far from this, as Paul discovered among the people of Athens, such a cultural context presents me with both risk and opportunity.

Of course, pluralism can indeed make us all something like the believers in Laodicea, and our apathy and illogic in making all religions the same can make us indistinct and irrelevant, neither hot nor cold, Christian, Jewish, or pagan. But pluralism can also present great opportunity for believers, as it did for Paul who used the signs of all religions to point specifically to one. Likewise, globalization can bring about questions that may not otherwise have been asked. Is Islam any different than Christianity? Is this particular tenet of my faith something scriptural or something cultural? Does American Christianity have anything in common with the practice of Christianity in China, Uganda, or Europe? So often it is the recognition of life outside our familiar worlds that brings the first glimpses of our own worldviews into focus. For those willing to receive it, our current context can be a provocative gift.

The world in which we find ourselves is full of fog and fallacies, but I believe it is also full of the unfailing love of God. For Christians who are aware of the kingdom of God among us, we need not be confined to cultural naysaying, but can live as visionaries of God’s grace, harbingers of hope, and catalysts for transformation. For we testify to the radical work of the cross in the world and in our hearts, and to the uniqueness of Jesus Christ who, unlike any other, exchanges guilt for grace, ashes for beauty, and sorrow for joy.

Jill Carattini is managing editor of A Slice of Infinity at Ravi Zacharias International Ministries in Atlanta, Georgia.

Morning   “Who giveth us richly all things to enjoy.”   1 Timothy 6:17

Our Lord Jesus is ever giving, and does not for a solitary instant withdraw his

hand. As long as there is a vessel of grace not yet full to the brim, the oil

shall not be stayed. He is a sun ever-shining; he is manna always falling round

the camp; he is a rock in the desert, ever sending out streams of life from his

smitten side; the rain of his grace is always dropping; the river of his bounty

is ever-flowing, and the well-spring of his love is constantly overflowing. As

the King can never die, so his grace can never fail. Daily we pluck his fruit,

and daily his branches bend down to our hand with a fresh store of mercy. There

are seven feast-days in his weeks, and as many as are the days,

so many are the banquets in his years. Who has ever returned from his door

unblessed? Who has ever risen from his table unsatisfied, or from his bosom

un-emparadised? His mercies are new every morning and fresh every evening. Who

can know the number of his benefits, or recount the list of his bounties? Every

sand which drops from the glass of time is but the tardy follower of a myriad of

mercies. The wings of our hours are covered with the silver of his kindness, and

with the yellow gold of his affection. The river of time bears from the

mountains of eternity the golden sands of his favour. The countless stars are

but as the standard bearers of a more innumerable host of blessings. Who can

count the dust of the benefits which he bestows on Jacob, or tell the number of

the fourth part of his mercies towards Israel? How shall my soul extol him who

daily loadeth us with benefits, and who crowneth us with loving-kindness? O that

my praise could be as ceaseless as his bounty! O miserable tongue, how canst

thou be silent? Wake up, I pray thee, lest I call thee no more my glory, but my

shame. “Awake, psaltery and harp: I myself will awake right early.”

 

Evening   “And he said, Thus saith the Lord, Make this valley full of ditches. For thus

saith the Lord, Ye shall not see wind, neither shall ye see rain; yet that

valley shall be filled with water, that ye may drink, both ye and your cattle,

and your beasts.”    2 Kings 3:16-17

The armies of the three kings were famishing for want of water: God was about to

send it, and in these words the prophet announced the coming blessing. Here was

a case of human helplessness: not a drop of water could all the valiant men

procure from the skies or find in the wells of earth. Thus often the people of

the Lord are at their wits’ end; they see the vanity of the creature, and learn

experimentally where their help is to be found. Still the people were to make a

believing preparation for the divine blessing; they were to dig the trenches in

which the precious liquid would be held. The church must by her varied agencies,

efforts, and prayers, make herself ready to be blessed; she

must make the pools, and the Lord will fill them. This must be done in faith,

in the full assurance that the blessing is about to descend. By-and-by there was

a singular bestowal of the needed boon. Not as in Elijah’s case did the shower

pour from the clouds, but in a silent and mysterious manner the pools were

filled. The Lord has his own sovereign modes of action: he is not tied to manner

and time as we are, but doeth as he pleases among the sons of men. It is ours

thankfully to receive from him, and not to dictate to him. We must also notice

the remarkable abundance of the supply–there was enough for the need of all.

And so it is in the gospel blessing; all the wants of the

congregation and of the entire church shall be met by the divine power in

answer to prayer; and above all this, victory shall be speedily given to the

armies of the Lord.

What am I doing for Jesus? What trenches am I digging? O Lord, make me ready to receive the blessing which thou art so willing to bestow.

 

. . . made perfect.   Hebrews 12:23

Remember that there are two kinds of perfection that the Christian needs—the perfection of justification in the person of Jesus, and the perfection of sanctification accomplished in him by the Holy Spirit. At present, corruption still remains even in the hearts of the regenerate—experience soon teaches us this. Within us there still are lusts and evil imaginations. But I rejoice to know that the day is coming when God shall finish the work that He has begun; and He will present my soul not only perfect in Christ, but perfect through the Spirit, without spot or blemish or any such thing.

Can it be true that this poor sinful heart of mine is to become holy even as God is holy? Can it be that this spirit, which often cries, “Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?”1 shall get rid of sin and death—that I will have no evil sounds to vex my ears, and no unholy thoughts to disturb my peace? May this happy hour come quickly! When I cross the Jordan, the work of sanctification will be finished; but not until that moment shall I ever claim perfection in myself. Then my spirit will have its last baptism in the Holy Spirit’s fire.

I think I long to die to receive that last and final purification that will usher me into heaven. An angel will not be any purer than I shall be, for I shall be able to say, in a double sense, “I am clean,” through Jesus’ blood and through the Spirit’s work. We should extol the power of the Holy Spirit who makes us fit to stand before our Father in heaven! Yet we must not allow the hope of perfection there to make us content with imperfection now. If it does this, our hope cannot be genuine; for a good hope is a purifying thing, even now. Grace must be at work in us now or it will not be perfected in us then. Let us pray to “be filled with the Spirit,”2 that we may increasingly bring forth the fruits of righteousness.

1Romans 7:24 2Ephesians 5:18

The family reading plan for May 15, 2012

Isaiah 14 | 1 Peter 2