2023-07-30
Genesis 33:14 ESV
Today there is a tendency on the part of some parents to try and make their children grow up too quickly. They rush them through the milestones of childhood and thrust them into the turmoils of adolescence. This is the conclusion of developmental psychologist Dr. David Elkind, who called this cultural phenomenon the “Hurried Child Syndrome.” It happens when parents encourage their children to act like teenagers, such as buying makeup for preschool girls, allowing early-teenage dating, treating kids more like grown-ups, expecting them to make adult-level choices, dressing them in designer clothes, and especially, subjecting them to graphic sexuality in television, music videos, movies, and the internet.
Years ago, parents understood the necessity of a safe and orderly progression through childhood. There were cultural markers that defined the ages at which specific behaviours and activities were deemed appropriate or inappropriate. Today these markers have vanished, or they have been moved downward. And it can be a big mistake. When you treat your children as if they’re already grown, it becomes very challenging to set limits on their adolescent behaviour in the near future. How can you establish a curfew for a thirteen-year-old, for example, who has been taught to view himself or herself as an adult?
In short, the “Hurried Child Syndrome” deprives our kids of childhood and puts them on an unnatural timetable that’s detrimental to their mental and physical health. If you’re wise, you will heed the advice of Jacob to his brother Esau: “I will lead on slowly, at the pace of… the children.”
Soul food: 1 Sam 5:1-6:16; Rev 11:15-19
2023-07-29
Psalm 139:14 NLT
Do you remember the old TV series The Six Million Dollar Man? He was built and equipped with nuclear-powered bionic limbs and implants. Well, he has nothing on you! You’re unique… one of a kind… a genuine marvel of God’s creative genius. For example, your tongue; four hundred little taste buds, each one capable of discerning the difference between asparagus and lemon meringue pie. And how about your intestinal system? Twenty million little mouths capable of digesting almost anything. Then, there is your cooling system. Frigidaire has nothing like it; three hundred fifty thousand sweat glands per square inch. And how about your sensory system? A network of ten million nerves, the branches of which send and interpret messages and also formulate a response for each. You’re one in seven billion! Nobody else has your voice pattern, fingerprints, or DNA.
When you were born, God didn’t stop and say, “What are we going to do with this one?” No, you were given your father’s name (See Isaiah 43:1). You were bought with a price (See 1 Corinthians 6:20). You were made a member of His redeemed family (See 1 John 3:2). Your steps are ordered by him (See Psalm 37:23). He has already planned your success (See Jeremiah 29:11). He loved you when you were unlovable and chose you before you could do either right or wrong. Doesn’t that give Him the right to say, “I want your praise and obedience, I want you to spend time with Me, I want you to read the letters I’ve written to you, and I don’t want anybody or anything to come between us”? The word for you today is – you belong to God!
Soul food: Acts 24-26; Mark 1:1-8; Ps 78:1-8; Prov 16:23-24
2023-07-28
Isaiah 46:10 NKJV
How can you be sure the Bible is divinely inspired and therefore worthy of your trust? By prophecy fulfilled! No other religion has specific, repeated, and unfailing fulfillment of predictions made many years in advance of events over which the predictor had no control. Finite human beings know the future only if it’s told to them by an infinite being. And God provided this evidence for us so we would know that the Scriptures have a divine author: “For I am God… Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things that are not yet done” (vv. 9-10 NKJV). The Bible’s sixty-six books, written between 1400 BC and AD 90, contain approximately 3,856 verses concerned with prophecy. And here is the best part! Over 25 percent of the entire Bible contains specific predictive prophecies that have already been fulfilled – literally. Sir Isaac Newton said, “I find more sure marks of authenticity in the Bible than in any profane history whatsoever.”
You ask, “Then how come some people don’t believe the Bible?” Because they haven’t opened their hearts to God! Paul writes: “No one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God. These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches… the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned” (1 Corinthians 2:11-14 NKJV).
Soul food: Acts 22-23; Matt 28:11-20; Ps 46; Prov 16:20-22
2023-07-27
Proverbs 17:14 NLT
Have you seen the bumper sticker that reads, “People who think they know it all are especially annoying to those of us who do?” You will find know-it-alls everywhere. Older people afraid of uselessness struggle to prove they still have some superior amount of knowledge. Religious people use their convictions like a club to beat others over the head. The Bible says, “Earnestly contend for the faith” (Jude v. 3). But there is a difference between contending and being contentious.
Paul writes: “Don’t have anything to do with foolish and stupid arguments, because you know they produce quarrels. And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but must be kind to everyone, able to teach, not resentful” (2 Timothy 2:23-24 NIV). Note these four phrases:
(1) “Must not be quarrelsome.” Don’t argue, just plant the seeds of God’s Word and trust the Holy Spirit to work in people’s hearts.
(2) “Be kind to everyone.” There is no need to be hostile, demeaning, or disagreeable with someone who doesn’t share your viewpoint. What’s driving you toward such unkindness? Must you prove people mistaken to validate your self-worth?
(3) “Able to teach.” Instead of trying to force your opinions on someone, simply say, “Here is what I have discovered in God’s Word, and here is the difference it has made in my life.” Your experience is never at the mercy of someone else’s argument.
(4) “Not resentful.” Only when your own hurts have been healed can God use you to heal the hurts of others.
So, pray: “Father, make me an instrument of peace so that people will be open to the truths you reveal to them through me. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.”
Soul food: Acts 20-21; Matt 28:1-10; Ps 42:6-11; Prov 16:17-19
2023-07-26
Romans 12:10 AMPC
One of the first signs of trouble in a marriage is taking each other for granted. And it happens subtly, like a weed growing up and choking a rose.
Dr. James Dobson writes: “One of the best ways to keep a marriage healthy is to maintain a system of mutual accountability within the context of love. This is done by protecting what I call the ‘line of respect’… Let me illustrate. Suppose I work in my office two hours longer than usual… knowing that my wife, Shirley, is at home preparing a special candlelight dinner. If I don’t call to let her know I’ll be late, you can bet that I’m going to hear about it when I get home. Shirley would see my behaviour as insulting – and she’d be right. So she’d say, in effect, ‘Jim, what you did was selfish, and I can’t let it pass.’ In those few words, and probably a few more, she would have spoken her mind in love and held me accountable for my disrespect. Then we would move on together. In a healthy marriage, some things are worth defending, and mutual respect is at the top of the list. This doesn’t mean you should nag, insult, publicly embarrass your mate, or point out insignificant indiscretions that should be overlooked. But a workable system of ‘checks and balances’ can keep your marriage on course when issues of respect are at stake. This kind of mutual accountability is the best way I know to avoid an unexpected explosion when stored resentment and anger reach a critical mass.”
So: “Love one another… giving precedence and showing honour to one another.”
Soul food: Acts 18-19; Matt 27:57-66; Ps 42:1-5; Prov 16:16
2023-07-25
Proverbs 22:6 NLT
When your child begins to toddle and talk, plant God’s Word deep in their heart. That doesn’t guarantee they won’t go astray. Many of us got it wrong before we finally got it right. Just make sure they know where “the right path” is.
Picture a salmon being spawned in a hatchery in Northern California, released into a channel which leads to a creek, the creek to a river, and the river to the Pacific Ocean. The salmon swims for thousands of miles. Then, as if by command, it begins the long journey back to its place of spawning. And it not only locates the spot where it entered the ocean, but the river, the creek, and the exact inlet from which it had been released. In one documented story, a salmon worked its way up through a drain and pushed through a hefty, screened lid atop a three-foot vertical pipe, and ended up in the same tank where it was hatched. Unique markings on its fin confirmed this.
“Direct your children onto the right path, and when they are older, they will not leave it.” That Scripture means, give your children a taste of the things of God when they’re young, and when they grow older, the world won’t satisfy their taste and they will return to their spiritual roots. Faithfully do your part, and trust God to do His. Your part now is to instruct, love, and pray for them. God’s part is to draw them back. And He will, for He loves them even more than you do!
Soul food: Acts 16-17; Matt 27:45-56; Ps 1; Prov 16:10-15
