I just love baby dedications. A few times during the year our church sets aside part of the regular Sunday morning service to dedicate babies to God. It’s fun because you never know how those little ones are going to behave. As our pastor takes the babies in his arms one by one, I always watch closely to see how they will react to him. Sometimes they play with his mustache, sometimes they are content and other times they get scared and start to cry.
No matter how they react, the pastor always prays over the baby and its parents. I love watching each family commit to raise their child in a godly home and promise to teach them about Christ’s love.
However, what I love most about baby dedications is when the pastor turns to the congregation and asks us if we are willing to live a life that will point these children to the Lord. He asks if we are willing to be part of the group of people who will ultimately help these children come to know Jesus in a personal way.
Each time there is a baby dedication, it is a time of personal reflection for me. It’s a time for me to recommit my life to the Lord as I realize that I have an important job to do – not only for my own family – but for the kids in our congregation and community. You see, it’s not only each individual family’s job to point their children to Christ, it’s the responsibility of the entire church body.
My devotions right now are taking me through the book of Leviticus. It’s a strange book to read, full of rules and regulations for the Israelites. However, one phrase stood out today – “generation to generation.” The Lord is clear that what He’s telling them is not just for them at that one point in time; it’s to be passed on from generation to generation.
Just as the Israelites were responsible to pass their laws, customs and traditions to future generations, today we are responsible to pass our love for the Lord and knowledge of His Word to the children around us.
There are so many ways to encourage kids in our community. To name a few; you can coach a little league team, volunteer at church in the kids program, help at a VBS, volunteer in a school classroom, buy some lemonade from the kids down the street, write a note of encouragement to a child you know, attend a program, school play or sporting event of a child in your community to support their talents. You can also financially support a child in another country, pray for them and correspond with them. All of the examples I just listed are ones that I’ve seen people in my community do.
Don’t forget, kids are always watching you. Most often they’re watching your actions. If they look up to you and they see you doing something inappropriate, they will think it’s ok for them to do it, too. This week, ask God for a specific way that you can impact future generations.
Scripture: Leviticus 23:9-14
Prayer: Dear Heavenly Father, we know you love children dearly. While your Son lived on earth, he took extra time to talk to the children whom He met. We want to follow Your example and show extra love to children. Please show us how we can do this. Holy Spirit, please lead us to the area of service where we can help children grow to love You more. We want to live our lives so that children have an example of how to love You. Amen
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
Monday, June 6, 2011
Fast Food gods
Life in America is definitely lived at a fast pace. We want what we want and we want it now! If you don’t believe me, just listen to some of the names of the local businesses in my area. Quick Clean Car Wash. Quick Mart. Quick Fix Massage Shop. Kwik Trip (gas station). Express Window Cleaning. Express Employment Professionals. Express Care. Fast Signs.
Do I even want to experience a “quick massage” or “express care”? Is an “express employment professional” really someone I want to hire?
If I’m being honest, I perpetuate this constant drive for quick results in my daily life. I get frustrated when my computer can’t run five programs at once. The other day I was actually berating my computer out loud (I bet you would have liked to hear that)! Yesterday when I came upon cars that were only going the speed limit, I looked for an opportunity to pass them. At the grocery store I always pace the isles looking for the shortest line. At McDonald’s this weekend I had to wait 10 minutes for my food and it seemed like an eternity.
I think you get the point! This morning as I read my devotions, I was surprised to see that the children of Israel also acted impatiently. When Moses was receiving the 10 Commandments, they decided they didn’t want to wait for him. Exodus 32:1 says that when the people of Israel saw how long it was taking Moses to come back down the mountain, they complained to Aaron. They said, “Makes us some gods who can lead us. We don’t know what happened to this fellow Moses, who brought us here from the land of Egypt.”
Allow me to paraphrase, “We are tired of waiting. We want fast-food gods and we want them now. We don’t care if the one true God has led us out of slavery and captivity and is taking us to the Promised Land. If God won’t do what we want right now, we just can’t be bothered to wait. Make us some false gods.”
We have to be careful that we don’t expect God to produce results for us like the quick results we expect at McDonald’s or the instant cash machine. God is not our express teller. God will answer us in His timing and His timing is always best. God wants us to be faithful to Him in prayer and patient in waiting for Him to answer.
Don’t get caught up in the fast food mentality when it comes to your relationship with God. We can’t develop a deep and lasting relationship with the Lord if we don’t spend quality time with Him. In other words, we can’t expect a Timber Lodge steak at Burger King. There’s no such thing as a fast food God.
Scripture: Exodus 32:1-29
Prayer: Oh, God, we know that You want to have a relationship with us. You sent Your Son Jesus to take on our sins so that we can know You personally. Please forgive us for taking You for granted. Forgive us for wanting a deep relationship with You, but not putting in the time to read Your Word and get to know You better. We don’t want to know you in a “fast food” way. We want to wait patiently to listen for You to speak to us.
Do I even want to experience a “quick massage” or “express care”? Is an “express employment professional” really someone I want to hire?
If I’m being honest, I perpetuate this constant drive for quick results in my daily life. I get frustrated when my computer can’t run five programs at once. The other day I was actually berating my computer out loud (I bet you would have liked to hear that)! Yesterday when I came upon cars that were only going the speed limit, I looked for an opportunity to pass them. At the grocery store I always pace the isles looking for the shortest line. At McDonald’s this weekend I had to wait 10 minutes for my food and it seemed like an eternity.
I think you get the point! This morning as I read my devotions, I was surprised to see that the children of Israel also acted impatiently. When Moses was receiving the 10 Commandments, they decided they didn’t want to wait for him. Exodus 32:1 says that when the people of Israel saw how long it was taking Moses to come back down the mountain, they complained to Aaron. They said, “Makes us some gods who can lead us. We don’t know what happened to this fellow Moses, who brought us here from the land of Egypt.”
Allow me to paraphrase, “We are tired of waiting. We want fast-food gods and we want them now. We don’t care if the one true God has led us out of slavery and captivity and is taking us to the Promised Land. If God won’t do what we want right now, we just can’t be bothered to wait. Make us some false gods.”
We have to be careful that we don’t expect God to produce results for us like the quick results we expect at McDonald’s or the instant cash machine. God is not our express teller. God will answer us in His timing and His timing is always best. God wants us to be faithful to Him in prayer and patient in waiting for Him to answer.
Don’t get caught up in the fast food mentality when it comes to your relationship with God. We can’t develop a deep and lasting relationship with the Lord if we don’t spend quality time with Him. In other words, we can’t expect a Timber Lodge steak at Burger King. There’s no such thing as a fast food God.
Scripture: Exodus 32:1-29
Prayer: Oh, God, we know that You want to have a relationship with us. You sent Your Son Jesus to take on our sins so that we can know You personally. Please forgive us for taking You for granted. Forgive us for wanting a deep relationship with You, but not putting in the time to read Your Word and get to know You better. We don’t want to know you in a “fast food” way. We want to wait patiently to listen for You to speak to us.
Friday, June 3, 2011
Where’s the Rest?
Last week was busy around our house. I’m sure you can relate to that. Activities, meetings, work and the responsibilities of everyday life seemed to take up every spare minute in the week. We were looking forward to a long Memorial Day weekend and hopefully an extra day to relax.
While I would classify the weekend as extremely fun, it was not necessarily relaxing. We enjoyed spending time with family and working on projects at our cabin, but when I got home I found myself exhausted.
We had experienced a strange weekend to say the least. Let me give you a brief recap. On our way up to the cabin (my husband’s first time pulling a trailer or boat) the boat cover flew off and we quickly needed to shift everything from the boat to our already full cars. We had to pull off to the side of a two-lane road with no shoulder and my heart raced as cars whizzed dangerously close. Did I mention it was raining?
The next day our brother-in-law helped us get the boat in the water, helped us figure out how to work the boat lift and helped us fix the boat cover that broke the night before. We were beyond excited to take the boat for a spin, so we loaded into the boat headed out on the water. The engine sputtered, but we kept going. We weren’t going to let a little sputtering ruin our first boat ride! Within minutes, we felt the boat hit something (we found out later it was a sunken island) and shredded our prop. Soon we were loading the boat back on the trailer and heading for the repair shop.
Ahhhh. Finally it was Sunday! We could go to church and fellowship with other believers. However, as we pulled into the church parking lot, we noticed something was wrong. The parking lot was full, but no one was milling around. As we entered the church we were surprised to see the pastor giving already giving the sermon. I looked at my bulletin and realized that this was the week that the time of service changed to half an hour earlier, which meant we were very late.
When I was reading my devotions this week, I realized why I came home so tired out from the weekend. It was not because of these situations I just mentioned – they are actually pretty funny now that I think back. I was tired because I didn’t take time to rest. In Exodus 20, God told the Israelites that they should work for six days and on the seventh they should rest. God followed this example when He created the world. He created the world in six days and on the seventh He rested.
God knew what He was doing when He created us. He didn’t create our bodies to go, go, go and never take a break. He created us to work hard and then take time away from work to regain our strength and focus on Him. I can see now that I wasn’t following God’s plan for my week. Sometimes we may even need to schedule rest into our week. If we don’t take time out of our week to dedicate to the Lord and give our bodies a break, God may ask us, “Where’s the rest?”
Scripture: Exodus 20:1-21
Prayer: Dear God, when You created the world. You set the example of how to work hard and how to rest. You want us to dedicate time out of each week to spend with You. We want to follow Your example and give our bodies time to relax and recuperate from the work week. Please forgive us for the times when we don’t follow this plan and overextend ourselves. Thank you for setting the example of how our weeks should look.
While I would classify the weekend as extremely fun, it was not necessarily relaxing. We enjoyed spending time with family and working on projects at our cabin, but when I got home I found myself exhausted.
We had experienced a strange weekend to say the least. Let me give you a brief recap. On our way up to the cabin (my husband’s first time pulling a trailer or boat) the boat cover flew off and we quickly needed to shift everything from the boat to our already full cars. We had to pull off to the side of a two-lane road with no shoulder and my heart raced as cars whizzed dangerously close. Did I mention it was raining?
The next day our brother-in-law helped us get the boat in the water, helped us figure out how to work the boat lift and helped us fix the boat cover that broke the night before. We were beyond excited to take the boat for a spin, so we loaded into the boat headed out on the water. The engine sputtered, but we kept going. We weren’t going to let a little sputtering ruin our first boat ride! Within minutes, we felt the boat hit something (we found out later it was a sunken island) and shredded our prop. Soon we were loading the boat back on the trailer and heading for the repair shop.
Ahhhh. Finally it was Sunday! We could go to church and fellowship with other believers. However, as we pulled into the church parking lot, we noticed something was wrong. The parking lot was full, but no one was milling around. As we entered the church we were surprised to see the pastor giving already giving the sermon. I looked at my bulletin and realized that this was the week that the time of service changed to half an hour earlier, which meant we were very late.
When I was reading my devotions this week, I realized why I came home so tired out from the weekend. It was not because of these situations I just mentioned – they are actually pretty funny now that I think back. I was tired because I didn’t take time to rest. In Exodus 20, God told the Israelites that they should work for six days and on the seventh they should rest. God followed this example when He created the world. He created the world in six days and on the seventh He rested.
God knew what He was doing when He created us. He didn’t create our bodies to go, go, go and never take a break. He created us to work hard and then take time away from work to regain our strength and focus on Him. I can see now that I wasn’t following God’s plan for my week. Sometimes we may even need to schedule rest into our week. If we don’t take time out of our week to dedicate to the Lord and give our bodies a break, God may ask us, “Where’s the rest?”
Scripture: Exodus 20:1-21
Prayer: Dear God, when You created the world. You set the example of how to work hard and how to rest. You want us to dedicate time out of each week to spend with You. We want to follow Your example and give our bodies time to relax and recuperate from the work week. Please forgive us for the times when we don’t follow this plan and overextend ourselves. Thank you for setting the example of how our weeks should look.
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