Teach Thy Children

Do not save/use this graphic - it has a copy right

Doesn't she look studious? She is. I know this young lady, and while I wasn't much of a teacher, she is excelling in her studies. It is a blessing to know her, and her family. For awhile they lived just a few miles down the road. We've had the pleasure of dining with them, enjoying the pleasure of their hospitalitiy. Her mother participated in all of our Ladies events and traveled with us to retreats. Their hospitality was well shared and their company was uplifting.

This is a family who believes:

And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. (Deuteronomy 6:5-7 KJV)

Her father dedicated his life to sharing the gospel, the good news that Jesus was born, was Christ, was crucified, and is risen! The family's children just got a bit more of the rest of the story, which is how to honor and serve with those who love the Lord.

She, as all other PK's (preacher's kids), also discovered that Christians are the same as other people - they make mistakes. PK's find that their parents are very good at owning up to errors and correcting them. Any parent that does that is extra helpful to their child. It is always a blessing to others when errors are corrected, especially by the people who make them.

Spiritual Christians are much better at than that what can be termed "carnal Christians." There are times a person thinks being a Christian is a label applied for attending church services. It's not. A carnal Christian has been defined by Paul:

And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able. For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men? (1 Corinthians 3:1-3 KJV)

Carnal Christians as described keep doing things that people who are not believers continue to do. Here Paul lists envy, strife, divisions - which in the Amplified Bible is described as:

For you are still (unspiritual, having the nature) of the flesh - under the control of ordinariy impulses. For as long as [there are] encying and jealousy and wrangling and factions among you, are you not unspiritual and of the flesh, behaving yourselves after a human standard and more like mere (unchanged) men?

We need to go back to other verses, beginning with:

But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. (John 4:23-24 KJV)

Jesus spoke those words to a Samaritan woman He met at a well. Actions with our body do not always show what is in our mind, our thoughts, the spiritual part of us. We need to be changed from impulsive actions that do not reflect the reality of our worship of God with our heart, soul and might. The flesh comes easily. The spirit must be sought and taught, as again Paul wrote in Romans 10:8-17, and sums up with:

So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. (Romans 10:17 KJV)

That faith is an absolute necessity for believing God's salvation is needed and given:

For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. (Ephesians 2:8-9 KJV)

In Romans 10 Paul explains to us tht someone must be sent to teach/preach, and someone must hear/learn. That graphic above shows a young woman who purposed in her heart to learn. I know that she has been given the teachings of Jesus, I also have witnessed her faithfulness in action as well as her testimony to serving the Lord. I do admire that faithfulness at her age, and pray the young people in my own family would do as well.

The book she is studying here is not the Bible. She is as dedicated to learning skills and career choices for her future. She has a future and is preparing for it. She also has an eternal, spiritual future and is as spiritually prepared as she is academically. I encourage both for all young people. It's much easier to "find yourself" if you've already found Jesus as Christ, our Savior. Ask me - I'll share more good news of Him. Read your Bible, all you need is a desire to learn with a prayerful spirit seeking God and truth.