Will you?
Alarm sounds. Wake up just like every other day. Some days you wake up five minutes behind schedule, but who's perfect right? Your spouse has already gotten up and left for work or hasn't gotten home yet because they work nights. That's assuming that you are a two parent household. So, you know that its just you. Your job to get up, in-five-more-minutes.......*click*....... (snooze.)......
.......Twenty-two minutes later your eyes open and you look at the time. WHAT? How could this happen. You now only have twenty-three minutes to get up, wake your children up, get yourself dressed, stop them from killing each other and ready for school. The time is slipping away. You think. Why didn't I get up when I woke up the first time? Why do my kids have to be so mean to each other in the morning? What are their teachers going to think of me? If we are late two more times they will be counted as absent. Which one can I get to school on time and which one will be late? While all of this plus more runs through your head you grab your keys and announce very loudly, "Get in the car!" You open the door and your oldest is right behind you and heads out first... but where is the other one? You turn the corner and there sits your youngest with one sock on and one left to go. "Where are your shoes?" They shrug their shoulders! How can this day get any worse?
Once in the car you tell your children, "You need to be faster! Did you brush your...?" Your oldest hands you a paper from the back seat. You glance at it an know that it is something for you to sign. "How am I supposed to sign something while I'm driving?" you say. Your oldest insists that it has to be turned in today. "Why didn't you give this to me last night?" you ask. They don't say anything. Your patients is gone, "Well?" They shrug their shoulders. You can't see or hear their response. So you say, "Well", once more. They quietly say, "I tried to." You come back with, "Really! When?" Your child tells you, "it was when you where watching TV. You told me to sit down and not stand in front of you, that you couldn't see." You don't want to hear this because it frustrates you. You make up your mind that you can sign it when you are in the drop off line at school, and so you do.
With the kids all dropped off and no one late... thank goodness! You feel a little better. You go on to work or go back home to finish getting ready for work. That's assuming that you are blessed enough to have a work to go to. You busy yourself throughout the day. There are conflicts here as well. You try to ignore the frustration building up. Just do what you are supposed to. Nothing more, nothing less. You switch to auto-pilot and finish the day storing up all kinds of hurts.
Once work is over and you pick up the kids from the after school program or your parents house and head home. Oh home! The place you wanted to be at while you were at work. Once you get there with the kids you just want a little (me time), so on goes the TV. Your kids have learned to leave you be for at least the first five minutes. Then you get up and clean something, maybe, maybe not. It's up to you. Dinner is also up to you. Cook or not to cook, that is the question.
This sounds like a Mom or Dad's worst nightmare, right? Wrong. Unfortunately this is just one long day for some parents. Some will think this is a walk in the park compared to their day. That's how it is for so many parents. The day to day living is just tiring.
After reading this, I believe that everyone has formed an opinion of this family. Some have pegged the parent as a mom, some have cast the parental role on a father. Some believe that if this family had Jesus in their home that they would be happier, and some believe that this home claims Jesus but is just another example of a hypocritical christian family. I would say that your all right. No fruit so far in the story.
This could be a mom or a dad with multiple sons, multiple daughters, or a mixture of sons and daughters. This could be a home in desperate need of Jesus and a new prospective. It could also be a hypocritical christian family with Jesus missing from the scene. I stand firm on one point. Jesus is the missing piece to having peace.
If you would read the story with a different prospective it might change your opinion on some of it. Apply the word disobey to the parent and children. From the start of the story the first thing that happened was disobedience. The parent had an alarm and ignored the goal they set for themselves. It had an effect on the entire day. One thing is enough to make that big of a problem? Yes! It's been happening from the start when sin entered the world back at Adam and Eve. Read the book of Genesis if you don't believe me. The whole Old Testament for that matter. One thing started it all and one thing leads to another. Disobedience. You would be surprised at the frequency that we disobey.
A fact about sin. Sin brings forth death. Let me take out the "forth" from the language. When sin occurs, something must die. When a lie is told something dies. You ask how can something die from a lie, really?
Listen, it's true! When sin occurs, something dies. When a lie is told, trust dies. When something is stolen someones lively-hood dies. When adultery occurs, a relationship dies. Murder, that one is self explanatory. If you name a sin, something is lost in exchange for that sin. This example family is living proof that we are not perfect. We are in need of something, but what is it? What is this family missing? I can tell you one thing, and that is obedience. If this family goes to church or not is not the point. We can tell by the fruit or lack of fruit that obedience is a missing part of the puzzle. We all agree that the day to day grind can wear out a person. Just like parts on a car wear out. How are you supposed to last if you are never having any maintenance done.
If you have been to church and (played a part), lets try something new. Be obedient. See what a difference it can make. If the Lord has laid something on your heart to say, then say it. A song, then sing it. If the Lord has convicted you of a job in His kingdom, take it. If the Lord is teaching you how to crawl trust Him. Walk, run, jump, put your words into action. Be sure that it is of Him and not ourselves!
Now for the other side of things. If your opinion of this example family was that they don't attend a church, what do you think would be different if they went? If they just go to church, nothing will change. What makes the difference is obedience. Sin is not doing bad things. Sin is doing things our way instead of God's way, disobedience. So I guess you could say that if obedience is the thing that's missing then it is sin that is keeping us away from peace.
Romans 3:23 says: "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God." If you read right before and right after that you will find peace. It tells us that there is no difference. Sin is sin. Disobedience is disobedience. A person is a person. If you believe then you believe and if you don't then you don't. What you believe doesn't change the fact that grace became a part of the solution. Redemption for our disobedience was offered to anyone willing to be redeemed. You have to be obedient, willing to claim it. Will this family claim it? Have they already and this is just a story from the past? Will you?
I'll leave you with this thought. Do you have peace? Be honest with yourself. Don't deceive yourself, remember lies kill trust. If you've lost trust in yourself, then I know someone trustworthy that will never leave you. If you've lost trust in your spouse or your family, I know a groom who is expectantly waiting and a royal family that is adopting. Lay down your cares, your hurts, your troubles. Let someone have them that can sort them out. Will you?
If you have questions visit your Bible. It has better answers than any man can give.
Joshua 24:15 And if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.
.......Twenty-two minutes later your eyes open and you look at the time. WHAT? How could this happen. You now only have twenty-three minutes to get up, wake your children up, get yourself dressed, stop them from killing each other and ready for school. The time is slipping away. You think. Why didn't I get up when I woke up the first time? Why do my kids have to be so mean to each other in the morning? What are their teachers going to think of me? If we are late two more times they will be counted as absent. Which one can I get to school on time and which one will be late? While all of this plus more runs through your head you grab your keys and announce very loudly, "Get in the car!" You open the door and your oldest is right behind you and heads out first... but where is the other one? You turn the corner and there sits your youngest with one sock on and one left to go. "Where are your shoes?" They shrug their shoulders! How can this day get any worse?
Once in the car you tell your children, "You need to be faster! Did you brush your...?" Your oldest hands you a paper from the back seat. You glance at it an know that it is something for you to sign. "How am I supposed to sign something while I'm driving?" you say. Your oldest insists that it has to be turned in today. "Why didn't you give this to me last night?" you ask. They don't say anything. Your patients is gone, "Well?" They shrug their shoulders. You can't see or hear their response. So you say, "Well", once more. They quietly say, "I tried to." You come back with, "Really! When?" Your child tells you, "it was when you where watching TV. You told me to sit down and not stand in front of you, that you couldn't see." You don't want to hear this because it frustrates you. You make up your mind that you can sign it when you are in the drop off line at school, and so you do.
With the kids all dropped off and no one late... thank goodness! You feel a little better. You go on to work or go back home to finish getting ready for work. That's assuming that you are blessed enough to have a work to go to. You busy yourself throughout the day. There are conflicts here as well. You try to ignore the frustration building up. Just do what you are supposed to. Nothing more, nothing less. You switch to auto-pilot and finish the day storing up all kinds of hurts.
Once work is over and you pick up the kids from the after school program or your parents house and head home. Oh home! The place you wanted to be at while you were at work. Once you get there with the kids you just want a little (me time), so on goes the TV. Your kids have learned to leave you be for at least the first five minutes. Then you get up and clean something, maybe, maybe not. It's up to you. Dinner is also up to you. Cook or not to cook, that is the question.
This sounds like a Mom or Dad's worst nightmare, right? Wrong. Unfortunately this is just one long day for some parents. Some will think this is a walk in the park compared to their day. That's how it is for so many parents. The day to day living is just tiring.
After reading this, I believe that everyone has formed an opinion of this family. Some have pegged the parent as a mom, some have cast the parental role on a father. Some believe that if this family had Jesus in their home that they would be happier, and some believe that this home claims Jesus but is just another example of a hypocritical christian family. I would say that your all right. No fruit so far in the story.
This could be a mom or a dad with multiple sons, multiple daughters, or a mixture of sons and daughters. This could be a home in desperate need of Jesus and a new prospective. It could also be a hypocritical christian family with Jesus missing from the scene. I stand firm on one point. Jesus is the missing piece to having peace.
If you would read the story with a different prospective it might change your opinion on some of it. Apply the word disobey to the parent and children. From the start of the story the first thing that happened was disobedience. The parent had an alarm and ignored the goal they set for themselves. It had an effect on the entire day. One thing is enough to make that big of a problem? Yes! It's been happening from the start when sin entered the world back at Adam and Eve. Read the book of Genesis if you don't believe me. The whole Old Testament for that matter. One thing started it all and one thing leads to another. Disobedience. You would be surprised at the frequency that we disobey.
A fact about sin. Sin brings forth death. Let me take out the "forth" from the language. When sin occurs, something must die. When a lie is told something dies. You ask how can something die from a lie, really?
Listen, it's true! When sin occurs, something dies. When a lie is told, trust dies. When something is stolen someones lively-hood dies. When adultery occurs, a relationship dies. Murder, that one is self explanatory. If you name a sin, something is lost in exchange for that sin. This example family is living proof that we are not perfect. We are in need of something, but what is it? What is this family missing? I can tell you one thing, and that is obedience. If this family goes to church or not is not the point. We can tell by the fruit or lack of fruit that obedience is a missing part of the puzzle. We all agree that the day to day grind can wear out a person. Just like parts on a car wear out. How are you supposed to last if you are never having any maintenance done.
If you have been to church and (played a part), lets try something new. Be obedient. See what a difference it can make. If the Lord has laid something on your heart to say, then say it. A song, then sing it. If the Lord has convicted you of a job in His kingdom, take it. If the Lord is teaching you how to crawl trust Him. Walk, run, jump, put your words into action. Be sure that it is of Him and not ourselves!
Now for the other side of things. If your opinion of this example family was that they don't attend a church, what do you think would be different if they went? If they just go to church, nothing will change. What makes the difference is obedience. Sin is not doing bad things. Sin is doing things our way instead of God's way, disobedience. So I guess you could say that if obedience is the thing that's missing then it is sin that is keeping us away from peace.
Romans 3:23 says: "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God." If you read right before and right after that you will find peace. It tells us that there is no difference. Sin is sin. Disobedience is disobedience. A person is a person. If you believe then you believe and if you don't then you don't. What you believe doesn't change the fact that grace became a part of the solution. Redemption for our disobedience was offered to anyone willing to be redeemed. You have to be obedient, willing to claim it. Will this family claim it? Have they already and this is just a story from the past? Will you?
I'll leave you with this thought. Do you have peace? Be honest with yourself. Don't deceive yourself, remember lies kill trust. If you've lost trust in yourself, then I know someone trustworthy that will never leave you. If you've lost trust in your spouse or your family, I know a groom who is expectantly waiting and a royal family that is adopting. Lay down your cares, your hurts, your troubles. Let someone have them that can sort them out. Will you?
If you have questions visit your Bible. It has better answers than any man can give.
Joshua 24:15 And if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.