family

Humbly Receive The Word

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Humility

Our family is memorizing the book of James together.

As a parent, I’m delighted to hear my children recite the words of Scripture each week. The older kids are doing a great job. It is easier for some than for others. All of them are putting in the time required to learn.

The younger kids are also participating by hearing us recite what we’ve learned. They, too, can recite big chunks of Scripture that they’ve memorized simply by hearing their siblings and parents practice. It’s not required for them but it is adorable.

As a Christian, the practice of memorizing Scripture is always fruitful. Hiding God’s Word in your heart and meditating on it day and night has wonderful implications for your character and formation into Christ’s likeness. I’ll never stop being amazed at how often the passages we’ve memorized become immediately relevant to daily life and interactions.

Part of our memory section this week is James 1:21-22.

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Learning To Walk

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Father helping his son for the first steps

One of my priorities as a Dad is to help my children learn to walk. I take this seriously. Our sixth child walked the earliest so far. She was walking one day before she was 9 months old.

We’ll see if I can have our seventh walking before that.

My wife doesn’t always share my enthusiasm. With so many young children in the house it can be nice to have a few that are limited in their mobility.

However, I figure they’ll never move out if they can’t walk on their own. Might as well get started as soon as we can. (I’m mostly kidding.)

I want my children to grow to maturity. I enjoy helping them take their first steps. I also enjoy watching the momentum build as they grow more and more into who God designed them to be.

This is true in my household. Also in the household of faith.

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Shifting The Church’s Foundation

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Flimsy Foundation
My wife and I have seven children (so far). The oldest is 9. The youngest is 4 months. Nope, no twins. We’re not trying to set a world record. We don’t want our own reality TV show. We just seem to be particularly fruitful in this area.

As we teach our children about the Bible it’s delightful to see them grow in their understanding of who God is. I enjoy seeing them get the bigger picture. It makes me laugh when our kids realize they can answer many questions by blurting out “God” or “Jesus.”

This practice is not restricted to children. It is a mark of spiritual immaturity. It is often praised for its simplicity and child-like faith. However, children are supposed to grow. So are we.

If I were to ask you, “What is the foundation of the church?” what would you say? Would you blurt out “Jesus!” without thinking? If so, you’d be close.

But you’d be wrong.

Before you burn me as a heretic look what God’s Word says about the foundation of the church: Continue reading →