Category Archives: Spiritual Warfare

Our kids are baptized — then what?

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You don’t have to search very far to find some “doom & gloomer” tell you the church is dying. You also don’t have to go very far to see a church in which many of its young people “give their lives to Christ”, then a year or two after they leave home, most of those have also left the church.

Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it. (Proverbs 22:6)

I think we all believe that. I certainly do. But are the Proverbs “absolute, unbreakable rules”, just as the Law of Gravity is absolute and unbreakable? Or are the Proverbs “general principles” to guide our life, that will generally result in a positive outcome if followed? Is it possible to believe the latter without denying the sovereignty of God and the infallibility of His inspired Word?

Consider this Proverb:

The fear of the LORD adds length to life, but the years of the wicked are cut short. (Proverbs 10:27)

Is that really always true — will a true believer always live longer than a heathen? Of course not. “Oh, but he’s talking about eternal life”, you say. Read the chapter. I don’t think the context suggests that. How about:

Good people know the right thing to say, but evil people only tell lies. (Proverbs 10:32 NCV)

Really? I think I’m a pretty good person, by human standards, but I guarantee you I don’t always know the right thing to say. And evil people tell only lies? One hundred percent of the time? We all know Solomon meant this as a general principle — that you shouldn’t trust an evil person because you never know when he’s telling the truth or telling a lie.

Likewise, the Proverb at the beginning of this post is a general principle as well. To deny such is to deny human free will.

In a recent article in The Christian Chronicle, author Dudley Chancey points to research that shows that not only are our kids leaving the church when they leave home, but they stay away. He writes, “While many teens ‘commit’ their life to Christ, not much happens before or after that for many of our ‘churched’ teens. In sociological studies, a majority of moms and dads report that religion and faith are among the most important influences in their lives. And yet, over and over again, this is not lived out. The church — and particularly youth workers — get the blame for teens not being spiritual enough to make it on the outside.”

I’ve seen that; haven’t you? “If we only had a youth minister, …” Finish the sentence yourself. (Or “If we only had a better youth minister, …”)

Chancey also suggests we [parents] are not living out Deuteronomy 6:4-9, part of which I quote here:

6These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. 7Impress 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.

Again, I have to agree. I can remember having family devotionals as a kid. Granted, we didn’t continue that practice as my sister and I grew older, but I vividly remember the devotionals and to this day I remember my dad teaching me Hebrews 11:6, which I can still quote from memory. Yet I did not continue that practice with my own family when I got married and had kids of my own. In how many Christian households today does real Bible teaching take place? It takes place in 100% of them by lifestyle example, I hope, but I mean real sit-down, open-the-Bible-type teaching? This is one area where I fell short as a parent. We talked about Scripture for sure, and we took advantage of as many “teachable moments” as we could, but we could have done more teaching.

Near the end of the article, Chancey makes these statements and these pleas:

Parents, bottom line, it is still your job to rear your children and teach them to have faith in God. Elders, it is your job to shepherd our souls. Please stop sending money to Africa, Brazil, Honduras and other foreign countries to save souls when our own children are walking out on God. Please rethink church and ministry as equipping people to become mature in Christ.

I agree 100% with his statements — it is the job of the parents to raise Godly children and the job of the elders to guide us in doing that. I’d disagree with his third sentence in this quote if I really thought he meant to completely stop sending money to support foreign missionaries. I hope he doesn’t really mean that. His last sentence, I think, is the real point he’s trying to make. We do need to rethink how we should go about equipping young-in-Christ people (whether they’re young in age or not) to become more mature. If that means shifting budgets to do it, that’s what we need to do.

Response to the Gospel

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There you are, near the end of the worship service, when the congregation stands to sing the invitation song. Someone walks down the aisle to respond to the Gospel. What’s your response?

I know we all respond differently, and no doubt we may even respond differently in this situation compared to how we responded the last time. On at least two occasions, I’ve been so affected that I couldn’t sing. I mean my voice just didn’t work! What was it that caused me to respond so emotionally when I wasn’t even the one walking down the aisle?

In both cases that I recall, it was a combination of factors. One, I knew the person well enough to know why she was responding. Two, I could see the power of God working in the lives of both of these individuals so undeniably that I could respond no other way.

In a way, I hesitated to write this post because I know a lot of people have difficulty seeing any response of ours to God as being anything but emotional. I don’t mean to imply that if you don’t feel something inside when you see God working, that there’s something wrong with you. But think about it. When you see the work of God, how should a Christian react? Should we act with an attitude of complacency, and that it’s “just God’s job” to work wonders through people? Or should we react in an attitude of praise, being thankful that God still moves the hearts of sinners? (Those are rhetorical questions, by the way.)

We know the word of God is living and active, and is sharper than any double-edged sword (Hebrews 4:12). We also know God’s word will not return to Him without effect (Isaiah 55:11).

Are you able to see Him working in others? Just as importantly, can others see Him working in you? (Matthew 5:16)

Go to the Light

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Have you ever checked into a motel room and wondered why the only light in the room is one small lamp, or perhaps a couple wall-mounted lamps over the bed? There never seems to be enough light in a motel room. Maybe you feel the same way about your house — never enough light. We want and need plenty of light in our lives, and often turn into a sourpuss after days of not seeing the sun. Our family formerly lived in an area of the U.S. where during the 120 days of November through February, it seemed like 100 of those days were characterized by fog or low clouds. I’m sure the number wasn’t that severe, but there was an awful lot of fog, so it seemed like that much. It was nice to be in a job where I could fly above the clouds and see the light and feel the warmth of the sun.

How about on a spiritual level? Does the economic climate get you discouraged and depressed? Things at work not going well? Where do you look for strength and encouragement? During a time of year where much of the world is focused on Jesus and His birth, it also offers an opportunity to remind ourselves of our true source of Light.

“In him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness…The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world” (John 1:4-5 & 9).

“…because of the tender mercy of our God, by which the rising sun will come to us from heaven to shine on those living in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the path of peace.” (Luke 1:78-79).

What’s your picture of Jesus as The Light? Someone has pictured Him as a glorious sunrise, flooding light, truth, and grace wherever He went: into the dank corners of the stable where He was born; into the vast, lonely blackness of the wilderness; and into villages and the dusty, shadowed streets of Jerusalem. However you picture Him, He certainly shines the light of forgiveness into our lives, and brightens our eternal future.

Is there darkness in your life where you just yearn for light? We heard a lesson tonight about fear, and how fear prevents us from fulfilling our purpose on earth — to give glory and honor to the One Who put us here. Let the Light of the World truly shine into the darkness of your life, and let the true Light shine through.

(I got the idea for this post from someone else’s blog, but I forgot to take note of where it came from. If these are your words I quoted in the next-to-last paragraph, please write and let me know; I’d like to give you credit.)