Rise up and call her blessed!

Psalm 128:1-4

¹ Blessed are all who fear the LORD,
who walk in obedience to him.
² You will eat the fruit of your labor;
blessings and prosperity will be yours.
³ Your wife will be like a fruitful vine
within your house;
your children will be like olive shoots
around your table.
⁴ Yes, this will be the blessing
for the man who fears the LORD.

In an effort to instill in my boys a sense of love and respect for their mother, as well as a sense of security that their mommy and daddy love each other, I will occasionally break out into some kind of spontaneous public display of affection.  For example, I might say “Boys, isn’t your momma beautiful!”  Or if the misses and I are exchanging a quick kiss, I might decide to point it out – “Corbin, Tripp! I’m kissin your momma!”  Since my boys are five and four, they still find this amusing and sweet, brandishing those little smiles of theirs.  I’m sure one day, this same kind of display will elicit different reactions from my boys.

Gross dad!  Yall love each other, we get it!  Cut it out!

So, this morning I was sitting at the breakfast table with the family, and was reminded of something Mark Driscoll pointed out in the parenting section of his book Trial: 8 Witnesses from 1&2 Peter. He quotes the reference in Psalm 128 to wives and children, saying that this comes to his mind every time he sits down at the table to eat.  This morning, I was struck by my wife’s beauty, and decided to engage in some pastoral parenting.  Here’s the rundown:

Me: Tripp, you know what I love?

Tripp: What?

Me: (putting my hand on Keelie’s arm) THIS GIRL!

Tripp: (pointing enthusiastically at his mommy) I love her TOO!

Corbin: (hugging his mommy) MOMMY!

Sometimes we’re loud at the table.

I’m sure all of this made Keelie feel appreciated and loved.  It also made me feel pretty good about my efforts to teach my boys to love and respect their mom.  Like the husband of Proverbs 31:28-29, I want to set the example in my home of praising my wife.  I want my children to grow up treasuring their mother, and aware of all that she does for them.

How about you, husband?  How about you, dad?  Have you told your wife lately how much you love and appreciate her?  Have you told her in front of the kids?  Why not send her an email or text right now?  Why not embarrass your teenagers when you get home tonight by kissing her in front of them?  Compliment her cooking, and ask the kids what they think.

Cherish your wife, and learn all you can about her, and honor her (1 Peter 3:7), and do so in front of the kids.

The Original Dirt Ball

image courtesy of Penny Mathews at sxc.hu/profile/ZoofyTheJi

So, yesterday I mentioned that one of my goals this year was to start a family worship time in my home.  We’re off to a great start so far, and I thought I’d share some of the experience we’ve had so, including what is probably going to go down as the funniest moment at our dinner table in 2011. I’ve wanted to start a family worship time for years, ever since my Marriage and Family course in seminary where my professor taught me about it for the first time.  You see, I didn’t grow up in a church-going home and had never even heard of such a thing as worshiping with your family in your home.  The problem, then, was that I didn’t know how to do a family worship time, so it kinda fell by the wayside.  A few weeks ago, I was listening to a sermon on Mark Driscoll’s podcast and he referenced a book that could be downloaded to accompany his 1&2 Peter series that included questions for use during family devotions.  I downloaded it, and thankfully it included a how-to section starting on page 68.  It seemed like a good pattern, so we’re using it. Now, one major change we made is the reading plan.  Obviously, we don’t attend Mars Hill Church and don’t listen to the sermons as a family, so some of the punch is lost.  I opted instead to use Zondervan’s 180 Day Guided Tour of the Bible.  This gives us a plan to our reading so we don’t sit down to dinner and say “What do you wanna do tonight?” “Oh, I dunno, what do you wanna do tonight?”

I like this plan because it will take us through the highlights of the Bible in six months.  After that, I’ll consider where we want to head next as a family and create a new plan.

Today was day 2 of our new habit, and we’re off to an amazing start.  I started out today, like I’ve done every Sunday for the last year or so, by asking the kids what they learned in Sunday School.  This helps me to know what my boys are learning, review it to help them retain it, and clear up any misunderstandings they may have had.  Then, we moved into our Bible reading for the day, which was Genesis 2.

I read the passage, and then started asking basic questions.

• What did we read about? Adam and Eve
• Where did Adam come from? God created Adam
• What did God make Adam out of? Dust/dirt

Here’s where it got fun.

I made a quick little quip that Adam was a dirtball, and my 5-year old fell apart!  He started laughing one of those laughs that only he can do, and he only laughs this way when he’s been particularly amused.  He laughed like this for a good thirty seconds!  I looked at my wife, and she lost it!  I couldn’t take it anymore, and started laughing hysterically.  Our 4-year old, of course, was already laughing quite loudly.  We all laughed for a couple of minutes, and it was the best fun we’ve had in a long time.

Now, it took some doing to get back to the point, and I was careful not to force it.  In fact, I almost gave up on any more attempts to be serious, but it eventually came back around, with some snickering and smiles sprinkled throughout.  It was great, we had fun and had a lot of biblical conversation as well.  I made the comment to Keelie that this is exactly as it should be, enjoying each other.

What do you do for family worship?  Have you done anything that worked particularly well?  Anything that bombed?  Do you have a fun story to share?  Leave your feedback in the comments below.

It’s the little things…

Psalm 127

¹ Unless the LORD builds the house,
its builders labor in vain.
Unless the LORD watches over the city,
the watchmen stand guard in vain.

² In vain you rise early
and stay up late,
toiling for food to eat—
for he grants sleep to those he loves.

³ Sons are a heritage from the LORD,
children a reward from him.

⁴ Like arrows in the hands of a warrior
are sons born in one’s youth.

⁵ Blessed is the man
whose quiver is full of them.
They will not be put to shame
when they contend with their enemies in the gate.

So technically my birthday is tomorrow, but my wife and kids wanted me to get the most out of my present, so they sprung it on me this morning!  I opened the bag my oldest son gave me and found a picture of him in a frame he made.  This has become a bit of a tradition with my kids, but this one was different.  The frame (made of fun foam) was decorated with goombas, koopa troopers, and of course the Mario Brothers.  It gets better.

My wife had devised Mario and Luigi costumes for my boys.  I was laughing so hard and enjoying the creativity that I never saw it coming.  I opened the bag from my wife, and there was Super Mario Bros. Wii!  We’d been talking about getting this game for months.  I’m thrilled to get the game, but even more thrilled/impressed with my wife’s incredible creativity.  Long after I’ve beaten the game, I will still have these pictures to make me smile and laugh, and hope that not too much of my geek gene was passed onto the boys.

My kids truly are a blessing from the Lord.  I never knew how much a kid could impact a grown man until these two came along.  I am incredibly thankful for my wife, Keelie, and my little monkey and big ox, AKA Luigi and Mario.  My prayer is that I will live up to the ideal of Psalm 71, and faithfully declare God’s love to the next generation, starting with my own children, teaching them that God loves them even more than I do.  God help me reach this goal!

Psalm 71

¹⁵ My mouth will tell of your righteousness,
of your salvation all day long,
though I know not its measure.

¹⁶ I will come and proclaim your mighty acts, O Sovereign LORD;
I will proclaim your righteousness, yours alone.

¹⁷ Since my youth, O God, you have taught me,
and to this day I declare your marvelous deeds.

¹⁸ Even when I am old and gray,
do not forsake me, O God,
till I declare your power to the next generation,
your might to all who are to come.

Bible in 90, Day 08: A Father’s Dilemma

Leviticus 1-14

*image courtesy of doriana_s at stock.xchng

Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress 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. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.  ~ Deuteronomy 6:4-9

One of the heaviest burdens I carry as a father is the spiritual state of my boys.  My wife is my first priority, but I know without a doubt where her faith lies, and that she is eternally saved by grace through her faith in Jesus Christ.  My boys, however, are not yet saved.  They are young still, but it haunts me daily that they do not yet know Jesus personally and are not yet Christians.

Every father worries about his kids in some way or another.  No doubt Aaron had great concern for his four sons.  But like all fathers, he had to come to grips with the fact that they stood before God on their own.  I’ve mentioned on this blog before that God has no grandchildren.  Every person must give an account of their own actions to God.  This is hard for a father to accept because we desperately want to protect our children and keep them from harm.  Most of us would gladly take the heat in place of one of our kids.

In a stunningly tragic passage from today’s reading, two of Aaron’s sons, Nadab and Abihu, were punished for their sins against God (Leviticus 10).  We don’t know what exactly is meant by “unauthorized fire” (literally in Hebrew, “strange fire”), but it’s clear from God’s response that they had violated some aspect of the requirements recently laid out for the priests.  In a moment that is gut wrenching for any dad reading, Moses tells Aaron not to mourn the death of his two sons.  They knew what was expected by God, and they had sinned in some way.  They stood before God, and were judged according to their own actions.  Aaron could not allow this tragedy to cause him to sin and incur God’s wrath himself.

I can’t imagine how he must have felt.

It’s interesting that with the preliminaries of this article floating through my head, I sat down to dinner tonight and found myself in the midst of an intensely spiritual discussion with my boys.  We started out talking about Grandaddy and how he’s going to have to have another surgery in a few weeks.  We talked about how our bodies sometimes breakdown, kind of like our toys do when they get old or we don’t take good care of them, or sometimes they just break!  I saw a teachable moment for my boys, and went into discussing how illness and death are the result of sin being in the world.  I read Genesis 3 to them and we discussed Adam and Eve and the first sin and how it lead to their eventual death.  I read Romans 6:23 and talked about the payment we earn when we work hard at sin.  I asked Tripp (my 3 year-old) if what I was saying was making sense to which he quite enthusiastically said, “No!”

Somehow I wasn’t surprised.

However, Corbin (4½ year-old) my got a sad/scared look on his face and said that when he dies and Jesus makes him alive again he wants to come to his house, meaning our place here in Crewe.  So I read John 14:1-7 to him and talked about the many rooms in heaven that Jesus is preparing for all those who believe in him.  I read Romans 10:9 to him, and told him that we love him and Tripp very much and that’s why we teach them about Jesus because we want them to be in heaven with us one day.

It’s very hard for me to teach my 4½ year-old these hard and sometimes scary truths.  But I know that one day my little preschooler will stand before a righteous God (hopefully after a long, long life) and give an account for his actions and his faith.  I want him to be ready.  For an agonizing span of about 5 minutes, I began to think that tonight might be the night Corbin got saved.  He knows what sin is, and he knows he’s a sinner.  He knows (mostly) that sin leads to death.

I don’t think he’s got the rest yet, and it was painful to realize that the conversation had gone as far as it could tonight.  It’s that terrible dilemma that I find myself in, where I so desperately want someone to understand and believe the gospel, but I can’t make them do either.  I have to let the Holy Spirit do His work.   I am glad that he’s a few steps closer to understanding his personal guilt before a Holy God and his need for a personal Savior, Jesus.

I’m excited about the days ahead, and yet I’m still filled with that dread knowing that his eternity is not yet secured.  It pushes me to take advantage of every chance I get to tell my boys about Jesus, about their sin, about their need for Jesus, and about His wonderful gift of eternal life by grace through faith (Romans 6:23, Ephesians 2:8-10).

Let’s always remember that no one lives on borrowed faith.  Each man and woman must stand before God in judgment one day.  Let’s let this spur us on to tell others about Jesus’ salvation, especially our kids.

Originally at Words of Reason

Bible in 90, Bonus 01: Identity crisis

*image courtesy of coscurro at stock.xchng

First, I’d like to note that I usually link up as much stuff as I can (including linking Bible citations to biblegateway.com), so if you notice something in red, click it for more info.

The following comes from a friend at church who is doing the challenge:

So a couple things I need clarified in the 1st days reading.  This may seem like “small potatoes” but I’m such a stickler for needing to “picture” what I read.  Your help would be greatly appreciated.

1 – Lamech referenced in Genesis 4:18-19 and 5:28.  Same man?

2 – Milcah (daughter of Haran) referenced in Genesis 11:27-29.  Is she Lot’s sister?  Did Nahor marry his brother’s child?

Ok, that first one really freaked me out for a minute!  However, two key verses (4:17 & 5:6) unlock the mystery.  These two verses tell us that the two passages are following two different genealogical lines.  The first Lamech, the murderer, is in the line of Cain.  The second Lamech, Noah’s father, is in the line of Seth.  Seth’s line of course is the righteous line that we follow down to Noah, Abraham, David, and eventually Jesus.

As for the second question, you’re spot on.  Nahor and Haran were brothers, and Milcah was Haran’s daughter.  So yes, she was lot’s sister (though we don’t know if they were full or half-siblings, Haran may have had multiple wives) And yes, she was Nahor’s wife.  So, Nahor married his niece.  Keep two things in mind here –

1. Abram married his half-sister (see 20:11-13) and
2. Neither of these marriages was forbidden yet.  The commands against marrying close family came hundreds of years later (see Lev. 18:6-18).  One of the classic questions about Genesis is “Who was Cain’s wife?”  Gen. 4:17 says that Cain knew his wife and she bore him children.  Well, the answer is, one of Adam and Eve’s daughters (possibly granddaughters) was his wife.  This was not forbidden by God until later in the course of His revelation to mankind.

Bible in 90, Day 64: Did she ever say, “Shazam!”?

Daniel 9-Hosea 14

image courtesy of xymonau at stock.xchng

I married the most amazing woman I’ve ever known on June 7, 2003.  Since that time, we have prayed that God would glorify Himself through our marriage and through our family.  We want to have a home that displays God’s glory.  Keelie and I want our marriage to accurately reflect the relationship to Christ and the church as much as is possible within our limitations as fallen people.  In this way, we hope that our marriage and family are a picture of the gospel to everyone we meet.

God had a different plan for Hosea’s family.  He commanded Hosea to take an adulterous woman, Gomer, as his wife.  He then had him give his three children names that reflected the coming judgment of God.  When Gomer chased after other men, God had Hosea go and redeem her and bring her back into his home.  Hosea continued to show love to a woman who blatantly abused his love.

Surprise! Surprise! Surprise!

Much like Ezekiel, God used Hosea’s life and actions to paint a vivid picture for Israel.  Hosea’s marriage to Gomer represented God’s relationship to Israel.  Just as Gomer chased after other men and committed adultery with them, so Israel had chased after other gods to commit spiritual adultery with them.  Just as Hosea remained faithful to Gomer and even wooed her back, so God continued to love Israel, calling her back to repentance.

God’s love for His people is greater than we can imagine.  Many of us would not fault Hosea if he had forsaken his adulterous wife and started over again with a woman who really loved him.  But God deliberately put Hosea into this position to demonstrate the depths of His love and the lengths to which He will go to bring a wayward sinner back into His love.  I believe that marriages can be saved more often than we give them a chance to be saved, but God’s love is greater than even the love of a man and wife.  His love is faithful and endures forever (1 Chronicles 16:34, etc.).

Let’s never forget the depths of God’s love.  Let’s remember that no matter how unfaithful we’ve been, if we turn back to Him, He will show His love and forgiveness for us again.  Let’s also remember that God expects us to show that same love to others.  If we’ve experienced the grace and forgiveness of God for all of our sin, how can we withhold forgiveness from someone who has wronged us (Matthew 18:21-35)?

couldn’t resist the Gomer Pyle references! 😉

originally at Words of Reason

Bible in 90, Day 42: Passing it on

Psalms 69-89

“Even when I am old and gray,
do not forsake me, O God,
till I declare your power to the next generation,
your might to all who are to come.” (Psalm 71:18)

One of the most important themes in the Old Testament was that of passing on the knowledge of God to the next generation.  Those things which God has chosen to reveal about Himself belong to those to whom He reveals it, and to their children (Deuteronomy 29:29).  We recall Deuteronomy 6, where the people are instructed to make the Law a part of everyday life in the home and family.  It is both a sacred duty, and a blessed privilege to be able to teach the next generation those things which we have learned, especially the things of God.  Psalm 71 shows us the passion of the author to do just that.  He asks God to give him enough time on earth to teach the upcoming generation about Him.  Psalm 78 gives us a demonstration of this.  Asaph gives a run-down of the highlights of the Old Testament from Jacob, through the time in Egypt, the Exodus, the wilderness wandering, the conquest of the Promised Land, the period of the Judges, right through the kingship of David.  One cannot read this psalm and walk away without knowing the power and might of God.

We have this same responsibility and privilege today.  It is up to us to pass on the knowledge of God to the next generation.  We must pass on the responsibility of carrying the truth to a new generation.  It is odd for me to say this, because in many ways I am the next generation.  I am not yet shouldering the full burden.  And yet, I am already in the process of passing on what little I’ve learned to my sons and to the children and youth in my ministries at church.  Paul told Timothy to take what Paul had entrusted to him, and entrust it to faithful men who would entrust it to others (2 Timothy 2:2).  This represents four generations!  Take what you’ve heard, pass it on, and train them to pass it on as well.  I’ve heard it said that the parenting process isn’t done until you’ve taught your children to be parents.  This is so true, and it is true of the Christian life as well.

Let’s seek God’s sustaining power to see us through enough years that we may pass the baton to another generation.  Let’s not neglect our duty and privilege to do just this by not using our long life to declare God’s power.  Let’s pass it on!

*originally at Words of Reason

Bible in 90, Day 40: Our Father, which art in heaven

Psalms 25-45

*image courtesy of nem youth at www.sxc.hu

My dad and I don’t always see eye to eye.  No father and son do.  We’ve had times when we were closer, and times when we really weren’t getting along very well.  One thing has never changed – I’m his son, and he’s my dad.  Dad used to play this song for me when I was a kid.  It was Love Without End, Amen by George Strait.  I don’t think I got it when he first played it for me, but the older I get, the more the song clicks with me, especially now that I’m a father.

I’m fortunate.  I know my dad, and I talk to my dad.  Not everyone does.  Not everyone has an earthly father they can look up to.  But, for those of who are in Christ, we have a heavenly Father.  David reminds us of this, in a way, in Psalm 27.

This is another one of those psalms where David is seeking help from God against his enemies.  But this one starts out with confidence and hope in God.  This psalm’s theme is definitely focused on God’s presence and faithfulness.  His heart’s desire is to seek God, and he knows he will find Him.  He is confident in this because of God’s faithful love.  He proclaims that even if his own father and mother were to forsake him, God will receive him.

God promises us that He will never leave us nor forsake us (Hebrews 13:5).  This is part of His love for us as our Father.  We don’t talk nearly enough about the Fatherhood of God.  We talk about God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit, as though that’s the Trinity.  While there is some precedent for this in the New Testament, it’s hard sometimes to remember that the Trinity is made up of Father, Son, and Spirit.  We have a Heavenly Father!  Those of us who are in Christ have been adopted by the Father (Ephesians 1:4-5)!  Because of this, we can call God, “Father.”  Not only this, but we can call Him “Abba” (Romans 8:15; Galatians 4:6).  Abba is the Hebrew/Aramaic equivalent of “daddy.”  It is one of the first words a first-century Jewish boy or girl would learn.

We have a Father who loves us and will never leave us!  Some have seen this modeled in their own fathers, and some have seen just the opposite.  For those who have a faithful father who has been the rock of their lives, take comfort that God is even more faithful than him!  God can come through even when your father might fail.  For those who have a less than faithful father, or maybe don’t even know their father, know that God the Father adopts all those who come to Him through faith in His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ.  This Father will never leave you, never fail you, always loves you.  If everyone in your life forsakes you, if everyone else lets you down, the Father will still receive you.

I never noticed this before, but George Strait sings, “When I became a father, in the spring ’81…”  I was born May 1981, so this must’ve really connected with my dad!

*originally at Words of Reason

Bible in 90, Day 13: I believe the children are our future… seriously

Numbers 32-Deuteronomy 7

*image courtesy of jayofboy at www.sxc.hu

So, they finally made it to the Promised Land!  Some of these people were teenagers when they left Egypt, and now they’re in their 60’s and 70’s!  That’s a long time to wait on a promise to be fulfilled!  But God is faithful.  Before they go in, Moses lays down some ground rules: tribal allotments and boundaries, cities of refuge, Levitical towns, and inheritance standards.  This brings us to the end of Numbers.

Deuteronomy begins with a recounting of the last forty years, right up to the defeating of Sihon and Og.  Here, Moses reminds the people of God’s faithfulness, the unfaithfulness of their parents’ generation, and the reason behind the forty years of wandering.  Then begins one of the foundational passages of Judaism.  Chapters 4-6 of Deuteronomy are amazingly important chapters in the Old Testament.  In chapter 4, Moses commands the people to obey God and reminds them of their incredibly unique situation.  They are God’s chosen people and have heard His very voice speaking to them from the fire.  This prepares them to hear once again the Ten Commandments in chapter 5.  In chapter 6, we encounter the Jewish declaration of faith.  It is known as the Shema.  Shema is the first Hebrew word in v. 4 and it translates to “Hear!”