pastorjohnb

Thoughts and musings on faith and our mighty God!

Tag Archives: parent


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Steadfast and True Love

Reading: Hosea 11: 1-4

“If I’ve told you once, I’ve told you a million times”.  This oft-quoted parenting line may be familiar to you.  It’s familiarity is closely followed by the line, “When will you listen”?  This second line is probably thought more than it is shared!  Both seem to be staples of parenting.  As parents we try to reach out children all they need to know to grow into mature young adults.  We pour all we can into them hoping they turn out well.  When they stumble or fail, we love them anyway and we continue to pour our love and guidance into them.  They are ours and we love them dearly.

As one reads the Hosea passage, one can imagine God saying or thinking these familiar parenting lines.  Verse two particularly stood out to me: “The more I called Israel, the further they went from me”.  There are times when we too have felt as if our child had done exactly the opposite of what we asked.  So, as parents, we can relate to the frustration God is voicing about His children.

When I reflect on my life, I do not have to think too long or too hard to recall many times when I am sure I disappointed or frustrated God.  There is a long list of missed opportunities and poor decisions that I am sure leave God shaking His head.  My heavenly Father says over and over again, “John, when will you…?”

The love we know and experience as earthly parents is just a fraction of the heavenly love God has for us, His earthly children.  No matter how many times we fail, question His love, or choose something other than His will or way for us, His love never changes.  His love remains steadfast and true.  May our grateful response this day be to share His amazing love with all we meet.


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The Lord’s Prayer

Reading: Luke 11: 1-4

Today’s passage is oh so familiar.  In most every church, in all times of worship, this prayer is prayed.  The words are in the hymnal or bulletin or on the screen, but most really do not need the words.  The Lord’s Prayer is such a familiar prayer.  One must be careful to not simply go through the motions or to recite the prayer.  It must be prayed.

As the prayer begins with “Our father” it establishes our relationship with God.  We are God’s children.  In the role of parent, God seeks to provide for us, to protect us, to help us mature in our faith, to keep us on the path to life.  But most of all, God seeks to love us in a close personal relationship.

“Who art in heaven” reminds us of God’s authority and position.  God is above all and over all.  God dwells in that place of perfection with the saints and angels.  Yet God is not limited to just heaven.  God’s presence is everywhere all of the time.  We sense it in close personal ways at times and in large, powerful ways at other times.  Through the presence of the Holy Spirit we have a deep personal connection to the presence of God in our lives.  The Spirit dwells in each believer and the presence of God is active and alive in the world.

The prayer fittingly ends with requests.  Reflecting on what is established with the opening lines of the prayer, it does seem fitting that the prayer ends with requests of God.  After all, isn’t that what children do with their parent?  It concludes with requests for our daily bread, for forgiveness of our sins, for help forgiving others, and to be kept away from temptation.  The first request acknowledges our dependence on God for all of our daily needs.  Then it turns to relationship.  Forgive us when we mess up.  In this it admits that we will mess up.  It also deals with our need to offer forgiveness.  In these two requests we are asking to be kept in right relationship with God and with our neighbors.  The Lord’s Prayer concludes with our request to be kept from temptation.  This is one of the roles the Holy Spirit plays in our lives.

When we pray the Lord’s Prayer, may it be slowly and with attention to detail.  Sit with each phrase, allow it to resonate deep within.  Allow it to bless you this day.


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Calling, Waiting, Redeeming

Reading: Hosea 1:10

The Israelites of Hosea’s day have broken the covenant relationship they once had with God.  Their choices have led them far from God.  Like any parent, He is surely disappointed and maybe even a little mad, but the love for them is as strong as ever.  As parents we too have been in this situation with our own children, loving them in spite of their actions, words, or behaviors.  And like our heavenly Father, we long for them to repent of their poor choices and to return to the ways they were taught.  We so long for this because this is where our relationship is at its best, both for us and for our children.  God is no different.

With the Israelites and with us today, God continues to ever call us back into a right relationship with Him.  His promise to them is to make them a mighty nation – as numerous as the grains of sand on the seashore.  His promise to us is somehow more personal.  God’s promises to love us, to care for us, to watch over us, to bless us all still remain.  As His children, we are still God’s covenant people.  Yet through Jesus the relationship became more personal and intimate.  We can relate to Jesus’ human nature as a friend yet His divine nature is also present, revealing His power and majesty.  Through His resurrection Jesus imparts the Holy Spirit, a living presence of Jesus that comes to dwell in us once we accept Him as Lord and Savior.

It is through the voice and movement of the Holy Spirit that God continues to call us, His children, back to Him over and over again.  No matter what our choices, God still seeks to keep us in a righteous relationship with Him.  When we stumble, He calls out.  When we sin, He redeems.  When we wander away, He waits patiently, continuing to seek us out.  For God’s amazing and wonderful far-reaching, never-ending, life-changing love, we are ever grateful.  For all of His love, mercy, and grace we say thanks be to God.


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Witnesses and Teachers

Reading: Galatians 3: 23-29

Paul writes of the Law being put in charge to lead people to Christ.  For those living under the Law, the prophecies and teachings of the Old Testament certainly shaped Jesus, the disciples, and all the other followers of Christ who had Jewish roots.  The basic way of life of a practicing Jew as established by the Law and Old Testament is the life Jesus lived out.  After all, Jesus was God incarnate, in the flesh, so all that God is in the Old Testament is embodied by Jesus Christ in the New Testament.

Many of the believers, however, were Gentiles.  They did not have the basic way of life down since birth.  It would be logical to assume that some of the basic customs such as offering hospitality to the stranger would have been practiced because they were cultural norms.  But concepts such as Sabbath, fasting, loving neighbor as self, loving your enemy, and serving only one God would have been new to many Gentile believers.  So it was necessary for the Law to be replaced by the teachings of Jesus shared by His followers.  As the church grew, people in their local communities came alongside Peter, Paul, Timothy and the other apostles to teach, mentor, correct, and witness to the people of God.

This process of learning, accepting, maturing, growing in, and defining our own faith has been continued by the generations right up to and through many of us.  Some are first generation Christians, but for each of us someone poured into us and helped us along as we grew in our faith.  For each believer we can name parents, pastors, friends, and others who guided us in the development of our faith.  In turn we have and will pass faith in Jesus Christ along to others.  Each and everyone who calls on the name of Jesus as Lord and Savior are witnesses to and teachers of the faith.  May all we do and say serve to draw all we encounter each day closer to the one true King, Jesus Christ.


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Home Again

It is a little amusing how God and Moses play the game we play as parents.  Sometimes, when a child does something especially good (or wrong), we often recognize them as MY son or daughter (or as YOUR son or daughter when it is something wrong).  In Exodus 32, the Israelites are Moses’ children because they have sinned and created an idol.  God is intent on destroying them.  It is easier when they are someone else’s children!

But Moses draws God back, reminds Him that they are His children.  He connects them to God through Abraham, Isaac, and Israel and the promises and covenant made with them.  And God remembers, softens, and relents.

Do you think God and Jesus do this with us?  When we sin or create distance between God and ourselves, does God look toward Jesus and say, “Look what you brother/sister is doing”?  When we repent and draw near to God again, does Jesus look to God and point out what good children God has?  In reality they are like good parents – sad when we do wrong and proud when we do right.  Like good parents, they love us unfailingly through it all, always pleased when we return home again.

Scripture reference: Exodus 32: 7-14