Hi Friends,
We can learn so much about parenting by paying attention to how our Holy Father interacts with us. Here are some of the lessons He continues to teach me along my journey…and as I said last week, we cannot teach what we do not know for ourselves. So the more we learn these, the more we can teach them to our children…but first listen to this awesome verse:
“But Jesus said, ‘Let the children come to me. Don’t stop them! For the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to those who are like these children.’” Mt 19:14 NLT
We are God’s beloved, holy children. This has been the most comforting identity marker that God has given me. Why? Because I am still a child. I am still maturing, learning, growing, and yes, still messing up too. This is not an excuse to sin, but it is our reality, and God knows this very well! This is one of the many reasons why His Grace is so amazing. As Jesus says above, we must feel free to come to God just as we are, while He continues to create us into who we will be. Understanding WHO we are in Christ is…well, I’m getting ahead of myself. Now let’s briefly talk about the five lessons God wants us to know deeply, and then teach our children thoroughly.
1- God loves you! If there was only ONE lesson I had time to teach you or anyone else, this would be it. God loved you before you even knew you needed Him! He loved you before He said, “Let there be light.” And He loves you still, faults, flaws and failures included. Not because He wants those, but because He wants to take those from you. He wants to transform every part of you into the original, sinless child of God He designed you to be. God loves you and He loves you too much to leave you with those fallen side effects. There is no depth to His Love for it is immeasurable. We cannot exhaust His Patience, wear out His Mercy or drain His Goodness. God loves you, period. This should be every believer’s foundation, but do we believe this? If we really knew how wholeheartedly and unconditionally God loves us, would we choose despair, self-destruction and death? Yet when we decide not to hold on to Hope in all circumstances, when we are determined to follow our own will instead of His, and when we attempt to have control over everything and everyone in our lives, we are choosing to dismiss His Love which makes those three things above real in our lives. We despair because we only see the darkness without God, Who is our Hope. We are self-destructive because we are leaning on our own limited understanding, instead of God’s Omniscient Wisdom. And we are inviting the symptoms of death, like depression, anxiety, confusion, bitterness, anger and so on, into our lives because we are still trying to be our own masters, instead of surrendering everything to the God Who loves us. My Friends, this is the number one lesson God desires to imbed deeply into our hearts because everything else is built upon this. Please KNOW that God loves you! This becomes more firm in us as we grasp lesson two.
2- Know WHO you are in Christ. As I started saying above, we are God’s beloved, holy children. Understanding this New Identity in Christ is vital for the Christian life. We are beloved, not because we are such lovely people, but because God has chosen to love us…again see number one above! God’s Love for us is not based on “us.” It is founded in His own Immaculate Nature. God is Love, so He loves. This should be a relief because, if God loved me based on me…well, again this should be a relief for us. God’s loves will not change based on what we do or do not do. God is Sovereign so we cannot control Him by our actions, but we can move His heart with our love. It is because He calls us His beloved that He has made us holy. We are holy because Jesus has taken away our sinful nature. (Jn 1:29) And He has made us a New Creation. (2Co 5:17) Being a holy child does NOT mean WE are perfect, but it does mean that we are set apart for Him, to become more and more like Him. Because we have the Holy Spirit living in us, united with our spirit forevermore, we have the potential to be transformed into the Holy Image of Christ, Who was completely sin-LESS. For us children, this is a process. As I said above, we are still growing into WHO we will be. But to know how God already views us is key. It gives us the goal to work towards. Pursuing holiness should be the Christian’s focus, all day long. But we must understand lesson number three as we work towards this beautiful New Identity.
3- Know the difference between your WHO and your DO. Yes, God loves us and He calls us His beloved, holy children…but this doesn’t mean He loves everything we DO. So there is our New Identity, WHO God says we are, and then there is the things we DO, the way we think, speak and act. When we are Christ-centered, we act like the beloved, holy children of God. But if we forget that God that loves us, if we forget we have this New Identity in Christ, we fall into our default mode and do not act according to our identity. Let me give you an example: when I first became born again, I still thought it was ok to be rude to my husband if I didn’t get my way. So even though my WHO had changed, my DO was still that old sinful person I was. But as I am growing in Christ, I know to stop, capture my thoughts, pray and then respond to Joe in love, instead of just lashing out selfishly. My DO is coordinating more and more with my WHO, are you getting me? Thank God He distinguishes between our still growing spirit (our WHO) and our still imperfect actions (our DO). This is called Mercy! God sees our heart, that we do not want to sin, that we want to love Him and others, and does not judge us by our immature actions. Motives are key for Him. God is more concerned with WHY we do what we do, rather than WHAT we are doing. We have Faith, now we are growing up so that our works match this Faith. (see Jas 2:14-26) Proverbs 4:23 puts it this way, “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.” So the more we hold on to this New Identity, (our heart), the more we will start acting like it. This is the whole point to Sanctification. Getting our DO to reflect our WHO…that is, getting our actions to match up with our New Identity in Christ. Part of being sanctified requires we make sense of the next lesson.
4-Know discipline IS God’s Love. If God did not love you, He would not care about WHO you are or what you DO. It is exactly because He loves us that He is going to teach us to become better and better people. This often means discipline. The process is to be more holy today, than yesterday, while becoming even more holy tomorrow. If God did not discipline us, then would we change? It is this transformation into the Image of Christ that sets us free. Free from what? Free from despair, self-destruction and death! As we grow in Christ, we learn to run to God with everything. He instills us with His Hope, then there is nothing to despair about! When we mature to be more like Jesus, we follow His ways, using the Fruit of the Spirit, leaning on His Wisdom, and we are able to do the hard things that will enhance our lives instead of destroying them. A quick example? Making healthy habits instead of the bad ones we may have become used to. We will eat better, make sure we are hydrated, be more active, get more quality sleep, take care of our Microbiome, seek relaxation in all situations and be responsible about our environment. I am pointing us back to those Seven Pillars of Physical Health here! (check links below if you need to refresh your memory.) Also we will choose Life instead of those death symptoms I mentioned above. For example, when something difficult happens, we choose peace instead of anxiety. And we will do all these things more and more as we become grounded in the fact that discipline is meant to help us, not hurt us. It is meant to free us, not imprison us. It is meant to make us be more like Jesus, and less like our old, sinful Self. Discipline is good for us. Check out Hebrews 12:1-11, but here’s verse 11: “No discipline is enjoyable while it is happening—it’s painful! But afterward there will be a peaceful harvest of right living for those who are trained in this way.” (NLT) God loves us and we are His beloved, holy children who must be trained so we can display WHO we are by what we DO. And this last lesson gives us some examples of what to teach our children and why.
5-Know that boundaries are an expression of Love. God hedges us in for our own protection so we can continue to be transformed into His Image, where we will want for nothing. (Jas 1:2-4) Here are 4 important boundaries that must be taught:
1-Teach respect: you are NOT your child’s BFF! You should be friendly, but not cross the line, allowing disobedience. The parents lead, and the children must learn to follow.
2-Teach service: your children are NOT entitled! You should balance getting with giving. This grows there gratitude levels, as well as creating a caring heart.
3-Teach Truth: do NOT be nice to your children, but be kind! What’s the difference? Nice tells them what they WANT to hear, kind tells them what they NEED to hear.
4-Teach the word “NO”: do NOT seek to please your children, focus on pleasing God instead. Sometimes “NO” is the most loving, and safe thing our children need to hear.
My Friends, these are vital boundary lessons for us to know and teach our babies. After all, these are a few of the boundaries God puts on us. While Jesus does call us His friend, there is a line of respect that we should never cross. We are never to become spoiled children who think God should hop to it whenever we pray for anything…please never forget who is the Master and who is the servant. If we are to truly imitate Jesus, then we must be servants of all. The Fruit of the Spirit is kindness, not niceness, so God will always and only tell us the Truth…because it is only the Truth that sets us free from who we used to be. And finally, while God answers every prayer (check out these videos, more links below), sometimes the answer He gives us is, “No,” because He has something so much better in store for us. Boundaries are God’s Love and so we should love our children and set boundaries too.
Five powerful lessons. I am so thankful for all of these, and every time I go to a higher and deeper level in my walk with Christ, I relearn these all over again…and they make my life that much more abundant. Do you want that? Then won’t you join me?
Until we meet again, keep lifting your eyes to God, He’s closer than you think.
<>< Peace, Diane
Start here for the info about the “7 Pillars of Physical Health”
Videos about how God answers every prayer:
