Did you miss me last Sunday? I was traveling home from Indiana and I am not tech savvy enough to post from the road. Maybe when I get a smart phone, right?
I sat on the remote this morning when I sat down in the dark with my first cup of coffee before church.
Totally scared myself.
Really.
Charles Stanley was on reading this scripture. John 3:17-21,
For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. 19 This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. 20 Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. 21 But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.
I decided in my head that God really wanted me to hear that verse, if he helped me time my getting up, my kitchen busyness before I sat down...and then the actual sitting down upon the remote. (Little secret: I have so much padding, I didn't "feel" the remote. I realized what I had done after it turned the t.v. on!)
I made a note of the Bible verse and went on with my morning getting ready and attending church. The sermon today was based on Galatians 4:1-8,
What I am saying is that as long as an heir is underage, he is no different from a slave, although he owns the whole estate. 2 The heir is subject to guardians and trustees until the time set by his father. 3 So also, when we were underage, we were in slavery under the elemental spiritual forces of the world. 4 But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship. 6 Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.” 7 So you are no longer a slave, but God’s child; and since you are his child, God has made you also an heir. 8 Formerly, when you did not know God, you were slaves to those who by nature are not gods.
Here is what I took from both of the scriptures today:
God loves us. He really, really loves us.
He truly does think of us like his children.
Then, I went to my Sunday School class where we are still talking through Jen Hatmaker's
For The Love.
We had kind of a sobering talk about the post modern world and raising children, especially Godly children, in a post modern world. A world where there are really no rights and wrongs and things are all shades of gray, with no black or white. Where is there room (or reason) in that kind of world for God? The God. My God.
Our discussion ended up boiling down to really just trying to love like Jesus loved. In Jen's words: The best we can do is to give them Jesus. Not rules. Not behaviors. No entertainment. Not shame.
It gave me something to think about today. I came home and asked my kids if they felt like they were living in a post modern world. Once I explained to them what I meant by that question, they said that they did. That most of the world seemed to think that nothing is wrong. No choice. No behavior. Anything goes.....unless it is something that they think is wrong.
We talked about how sad that was. Not that we wanted to be all judgmental and tell people what is right and wrong, but that the concept of right and wrong was such a foreign concept to most people. It made me scared for our world. It made me afraid of who my kids are going to end up marrying.
Then, I had to stop myself and remember not to live out of fear, but of love.
I am going to go try to be the light that Jesus was when he first came. To love the way a parent loves their children. I will really, really try to do it in a way where it makes it look attractive to be a follower of Christ. Where it doesn't look like something only hypocrites do. Where it doesn't look like drudgery. Where my face reflects joy and not a pinched face of condescension for people who aren't like me.
What do you think? Are we living in a post modern world where there is no room for actual "right" and "wrong"? Will our kids all fall away from church and a relationship with Jesus? Is there a better way to....(I hate to use this word, but)....."market" Christianity?
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