Surely you have noticed how the enemy of our souls works overtime, seeking to ensnare us with the things which most often lead into thinking and acting differently than we were born to do and to be. It seems these snare are found early in life by so many, whose hurts and inner pain derails them time and time again. What an aweful secenerio, but their pain is very real and often almost impossible to see beyond.
Those of us who have expereince varied levels of personal freedom in Christ can testify that there is abundant life to be found. Yet we must acknowledge and seek to help others experience the same freedoms we now enjoy. Like when Jesus announced His purpose for being upon the earth (in Luke 4:18) in the synagogue, our ministry was designed by God to accomplish the same: for He came to set the captive free. Jesus said, "For the Spirit of the Lord is upon Me...to bind up the broken hearted...to set at liberty those who are bruised, etc.
Whatever ministry you find yourself serving in these days, let it be that your vision is set on doing the same as Jesus! The vision is all that matters. The vision is like the motor in your vehicle. It is the drive train...the gears that motivate us to fulfill the concerns of God's heart. We must see what He sees...hear what He hears...and feel what He feels. Jesus wept over His city. When is the last time we did that?
When we finally see Jesus, we will discover for real the eternal value of our involvement in ministry. For in serving others, we are, in deed, serving Him. God's Word admonishes us to "do all unto the Lord". When this happens, rewards are layed up like treasure. There is absolutely no room in the Kingdom of God for self-serving attitudes. The selfless attribute Jesus lived by is in our spiritual DNA. But if we do otherwise, "Well done" may not the words we'll hear when we see the Christ face-to-face. Selah...
2/21/08
2/12/08
Kingdom Relationships (Part 3)
"Fathers, provoke not your children to wrath."
We live in a society where we believe that certain principles within the Word of God are archaic, and therefore we can justify ignoring them. Beneath the surface of Paul's admonition to take special care in family relationships, we'll see a deeper application and consequence. Let me explain.
First of all, there are four (4) stages of anger: anger, wrath, rage and murder. In the Greek language, the phrase "Provoke not your children to wrath", it is explained in the following way: When we push and push and push - to the point of provoking our children, thus cause them to become full of wrath - that level of deep, hurtful emotion causes our children to desire our authority. Why? They think we have the authority to verbally, physically, mentally and abuse them. Our children just don't know that we've actually stepped over the line and violated God's purpose for authority. They want our authority so we'll stop hurting them.
This wrath opens the door for violence, rebellion and the like, because we have overstepped our authority. Rebellion is a sinful, but natural, fight every children will have to conquer. There is certainly no need for us to further complicate matters, by abusing authority. Remember... all authority is delegated. If we violate parameters of authority given to us by the Lord, then we will have to answer to Him for it.
I trust we will reconsider our roles as parents, and find ourselves remaining in the place of correction vs. punishment. If the Lord treated us like some treat their children, none of us would serve Him. The same is true for parenting: our children will not want to follow us if we have presented the wrong picture. Selah!
We live in a society where we believe that certain principles within the Word of God are archaic, and therefore we can justify ignoring them. Beneath the surface of Paul's admonition to take special care in family relationships, we'll see a deeper application and consequence. Let me explain.
First of all, there are four (4) stages of anger: anger, wrath, rage and murder. In the Greek language, the phrase "Provoke not your children to wrath", it is explained in the following way: When we push and push and push - to the point of provoking our children, thus cause them to become full of wrath - that level of deep, hurtful emotion causes our children to desire our authority. Why? They think we have the authority to verbally, physically, mentally and abuse them. Our children just don't know that we've actually stepped over the line and violated God's purpose for authority. They want our authority so we'll stop hurting them.
This wrath opens the door for violence, rebellion and the like, because we have overstepped our authority. Rebellion is a sinful, but natural, fight every children will have to conquer. There is certainly no need for us to further complicate matters, by abusing authority. Remember... all authority is delegated. If we violate parameters of authority given to us by the Lord, then we will have to answer to Him for it.
I trust we will reconsider our roles as parents, and find ourselves remaining in the place of correction vs. punishment. If the Lord treated us like some treat their children, none of us would serve Him. The same is true for parenting: our children will not want to follow us if we have presented the wrong picture. Selah!
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