Pride, Resentment, Ingratitude...

Last Week’s Lesson - Was The Sins that are Deceptive…but deadly… I added the last part because we talked about Pride, Resentment, and Ingratitude. Our lesson taught us that these sins grow and fester and corrupt our entire being, if we don’t work on them. Many times, they are the root of a lot of vile and evil stuff that comes from our lips and inspires our actions. Good news though…God’s spirit within us overcomes our sin and our weakness. What is the most important part of attacking our sin? Being a cool looking Christian…getting a better spot at the table on Wednesday night? Of course…it is so that we can more useful to God every day of the week. What has he called you to do today? Listen for the answer…

The point is not to be a better person...there's no hope in it. It's to be a better follower of Christ. Why? So we can follow Christ...duh. We don't do it FOR anything other than to fulfill our purpose on this earth. We should be loving, ministering, helping, feeding, holding, carrying each other everyday. It's the ENTIRE reason for living. There isn't anything else that isn't LOVING... IT sums it up, it is the beginning, then end, and the everything. Without it...nothing matters...With it...everything matters and has purpose. Thanks to God. He is why we have the capacity to LOVE...He is LOVE.

I got a plank in my eye...

Our SS Lesson 9/7/08 came from Mathew 23:

"Woe to You, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For You clean the outside of the cup and of the plate, but inside they are full bf greed and selfindulgence."

Reminds me of the inside of my son's sippy cup after it sat in the car for a few days. It looks good, but boy will it give you stomach ache if you drink it. The idea that Jesus was trying to get across is that the real condition of our heart is what matters...not the outward show of religion, spirituality, or church-i-ness. I think I'm making up words, but you know...

It's amazing how easy it is to simply talk about Christianity. It is another thing to genuinely live it out. Is this a problem you share? How do you work to overcome it? Prayer and contemplation should yield true change in our hearts that becomes evident in our actions. It's like the really nice looking fruit tree that fails to produce fruit. What's the point?

Refrigerator Rights

For those of you who were not present at church today (9/7), or even for those who were, Jim mentioned, in the midst of his sermon on not "walking" alone, a term used by author Will Miller known as "Refrigerator Rights." This notion of being so comfortable at someone else's house to just get up and go grab a snack or drink from the frige, is a really neat concept. As we are growing together in our class, one of our new goals is to reach a more personal and intimate relationship with all of the class members - a few of the additions to our everyday Sunday meetings are meant to harbor and nourish these relationships. Think about who you would give refrigerator rights to!

Children and Spirituality

Can and should our children be Spiritual? It's a very cool idea...that our kids can start talking to God, listening to God, and building a relationship with God. After all... Jesus wants us to approach him like kids. He says that kids have the right attitude and disposition toward him. It's not that they are gullible, but that they don't make simple things complicated. As adults, we can teach our kids to thank God for the good things in their lives...and we can teach them to pray to God about the tough things. If they start developing these habits of "talking to God," then they will be on track to do that all of their lives. It also affects us too. As we talk to our kids about what is good in their lives, we are thinking about the relationship between God and their daily lives. It makes us think about OUR lives too. It puts things in perspective. When our kids are having a hard time with something, we encourage them to Pray about it. That makes US pray about it too, instead of just marching in to "solve" their problems. Just as God wants to teach us through our trials, surely He wants to teach our kids.

What other ways can we present God to our kids? How about music, worship, reading stories together. We can encourage them to think about God by themselves too. Be creative and pray about how to present God to your kids...It doesn't have to be perfect...it doesn't have to work the way WE think it should...

So how do you bring God into your kids' lives? How have your kids taught you about your relationship with Him?