Nourished Up in the Lord

Ephesians 6:4- And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.

“Bring up”- 1) to nourish up to maturity, to nourish, 2) to nurture, bring up

The scripture commands parents to nourish their children up to maturity. 

What are some of the challenges to nourishing up children today?  In times past?  How have the challenges affected you as a parent or someone with parents?

“Nurture”- 1) instruction which aims at increasing virtue, 2) chastisement, chastening

Nurture refers to a child’s education in virtue and correction for wrongdoing.  What are things that only a parent can teach to his/her children?  What have you learned from your parents that only they could teach?

“Admonition”- admonition, exhortation

Admonition includes words that are spoken to encourage and build up.  What are words that really encourage you?  What can you say daily to your children or others that would build up and encourage them?

“…in the nurture and admonition of the Lord…”

“In” may also be translated “with” “by” or “among”.  This makes it clear that nurture and admonition comes from the Lord and is needed to raise Godly, successful children.  Modern or fashionable parenting methods will not work in the world we live in today. 

If your parents did not nourish you up in the Lord, or if you have not brought up your children to fear God, it is not too late.  As we pray, share with a neighbor what God is leading you to do to change the course of your family’s future.

Harnesses? Really? Get a grip.

by Glen Gaugh on Wednesday, November 17, 2010 at 12:25am

These child harnesses and leashes really make the point to me that attachment is easier bought than created.

Here's a list, though possibly incomplete, of ways to build real attachment.

Positive reinforcement, setting limits, clear expectations, age-appropriate talk and activities, hugging, pet names, pats on the back, random acts of kindness, unconditional positive regard, age-appropriate discipline, smiling, quality time, rewards, consistency, positive socialization, family togetherness, protection from harsh realities, honesty, time, love, kisses, bedtime routines, stories, listening, going crazy in a fun and safe way, saying no and meaning it every time, saying yes when possible and meaning it every time.

That should get us all started!

A Legacy of Devotion

I have been reading much recently about our past US Presidents, and a story stands out to me concerning our 18th president, Ulysses S. Grant.

His retirement from the Presidency came in 1877.  Wishing to retire with his family and pursue business interests, Grant believed he was financially secure.  However, a botched business deal he participated in with a family member, resulted in a state of poverty.  Grant also realized that he was dying of terminal throat cancer, and now feared he would leave his family penniless with no provision beyond his death.

Grant had secured a deal with Mark Twain to write his memoirs prior to this, but with no money, he set out to write his recollections on his own.  Racing against the clock of his own mortality, Grant finished his memoirs in 1885, only days before passing away.  The sale of his work brought the family $450,000, which along with Ms. Grant's pension, allowed her and her children and grandchildren to live comfortably.

I can only imagine the pain and terror of a man who feared that his family would be distraught and destitute after his death.  Grant's devotion to his family allowed him to make the way for their security beyond his own life and ability to provide.

And so, first of all, will I have enough material in my life to leave behind the legacy I want to leave for my wife and children?  Grant's life and triumphs filled the memoirs that successfully provided the income his family needed; but more than this, his wife, Julia Dent Grant, stated, "The light of his glorious fame still reaches out to me, falls upon me, and warms me."

Secondly, will I have the devotion, wisdom, and foresight to provide now for my family what they will need when I am gone?  I pray to God that I do.

Information on Grant and his wife came from http://www.whitehouse.gov/about/presidents/ulyssessgrant and http://www.whitehouse.gov/about/first-ladies/juliagrant, as well as Let Us Have Peace: The Presidency of Ulysses S. Grant, at http://teachingamericanhistorymd.net/000001/000000/000128/html/t128.html.

A note for Sunday morning, 11/14/10

There are two things about you and me that are eternal- our souls and our purpose.  Success or failure in achieving our God-given purpose will ring throughout eternity, as our souls will live for eternity in God's heaven or Satan's hell.

God really is the only one who knows what we are and what we are to become- our present reality, and our future possibility.  Gene Edwards asserts in A Tale of Three Kings that many of us are David's who are following Saul's, yet none of us have the wisdom or knowledge that God has to know for sure if our present leader is actually a Saul, or if he is a David in waiting.  In fact, we have to beware, because we also do not know if we ourselves are actually David's, or Saul's.  The difference is made in terms of brokenness and humility.  To think we know someone better than God, while denying our own sins and shortcomings is not brokenness.  But realizing we know little about what someone else is in God's eyes, and knowing that God has more in store for each one of us than we are capable of realizing on our own, while recognizing the agonizing truth of the reality we find ourselves in right now- this is brokenness, full dedication to following God's purpose, and true salvation for the soul and the eternal purpose that God has called each of us to realize.

Jesus, help us to understand our reality and our possibility in You.  Amen.

Justice, Simply

by Glen Gaugh on Tuesday, November 2, 2010 at 4:51am

Justice simply is doing right.  So what is right?  The answer is both debatable and absolute at the same time.

"Debatable" if you believe in no absolute sense of right and wrong; if you don't believe in absolute truth that comes from someone greater than yourself; if you acknowledge such a truth, yet do not abide by it, especially when situations make it so easy to bend or even break the rules.  All you have in this case are the treaties you make with others on how you agree to let them treat you, and on how you agree to treat them.  For example, parents decide all the time that it is either ok to abuse their children, or let their children abuse them.

"Absolute" if you believe that there is an absolute truth, from someone greater than you, that is knowable and doable with clear understanding.  Without having the number handy right at this moment, it is shown that children who grow up with a strong belief system, no matter what is taught in that system, grow up stronger, more confident, and with fewer long-term effects of trauma or loss than those who grow up with no strong belief system.  The belief in Christ and the Bible is, to me, the most consistent and compatible with doing right toward God and others.  For example, "Children obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right," and, "Fathers, provoke not your children to wrath, but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord."

In all honesty, everyone beliefs in absolute truth.  Even the statement, "There is no absolute truth" becomes an absolute truth the moment it is uttered.  It is an absolute truth, however, that offers no help and no satisfaction to anyone who holds to it.  The substantiated historical claims of the Bible, the attested-to spiritual freedom and blessings of the Spirit of Christ, and the lived prosperity of those who live in a land where basic Biblical principles are still the foundation for the rights and government of its people, all speak to the unified message of hope and salvation that Jesus Christ offers.

And demonstrates that the true way to give and receive justice was authored by God himself.

A note for Sunday morning...

by Glen Gaugh on Sunday, October 31, 2010 at 6:18am

 

I listened to Dennis Miller's radio show late one night, since that is when I am driving to and from work, and he had on a regular guest and friend of his, actor Orson Bean.  I enjoy listening to this program, though it is a secular program, and one reason is that Dennis Miller often brings up religion and Christianity, stating that he is not born-again, but that he is a believer and a person of faith in God.  Recognizing his guest as a Christian and one who has turned his life around from heavy alcohol use, he asked Mr. Bean about his religious beliefs and involvement.  Mr. Bean stated that he was not a church-goer, and that he is much better able to connect with God in other contexts.  However, the part of Christianity that really strikes him is the Cross, and that Christ died to save people who otherwise would be lost.

I hope we remember this today as we plan for worship and the Word today.  All of our rallying for attendance and participation will mean little or nothing if we are not calling people to the Cross of Christ.  Christ and the Cross are all that separate His believers from believers of any other religion.  That our Savior died as an act of love for fallen man so that all might be saved- this is what every skeptic must grasp.  Every atheist who spews hatred for religion, and every Pharisee that encourages such views of religion, needs to realize they are missing the point if they don't realize this is all about God loving us equally and desperately desiring a relationship with all of mankind.  Jesus died on the Cross, the blood flows from the Cross, the Spirit was released from the Cross, there is room for all at the Cross, and we must die out to sin at the Cross in order to live.

Doing Right by our Children

by Glen Gaugh on Wednesday, October 20, 2010 at 2:57am

 

1 Kings 3:16.
Solomon's first demonstration of God's wisdom in him was in deciding a child custody suit.  The two women brought a healthy, living son, each claiming to be the mother.  Solomon's solution?  Divide the child in half and give each woman a portion.

Did Solomon actually think that killing the child for the sake of giving each woman an equal portion was justice?  Of course not.  He knew that the true mother would make the tough decision necessary to save the child alive and do right by the child regardless of the personal sacrifice required.  The woman that said, "No, save the child, I give it to the other woman," was the true mother.

Sacrifice is required to do right by our children, and the parent or caregiver who is willing to make sacrifices for the sake of their children is the one who deserves to have those children.  This kind of sacrifice occurs too often today as relatives accept custody and responsibility for children they did not give birth to and never intended to raise, in order to save them from being "divided" by the system.  Parents who raise children with behavioral, developmental, and mental health disorders also make hard choices everyday.  These caregivers are doing justice by their children.

Luke 7:35 But wisdom is justified of all her children.

It is easy to forget why we sacrifice to do right by our children especially when times get tough and the cares and wrongs of the past come to the surface as bad behavior, disciplinary problems, temper tantrums, depression, anxiety, or regressive behavior.  We get scared to death to find out our children try drugs or alcohol, self-mutilation, sexual behavior, fighting, threatening, or stealing as ways to try to get by.  But we have to remember that that child is not yet what he is to become.  Remember the following:

1. Every individual, group, family, and community has strengths (even yours!)
2. Trauma and abuse, illness and struggle, may be injurious, but they may also be sources of challenge and opportunity.
3. Assume that you do not know the upper limits of the capacity to grow and change.  Take aspirations seriously.
4. We best serve our children by working with them.
5. Every environment is full of resources.
(From the principles of Dennis Saleeby's Strengths Perspective from the University of Kansas School of Social Welfare webpage, http://www.socwel.ku.edu/strengths/about/principles.shtml ).

Remembering these principles as we look at our children will help us remember why we do what we do for them.  It will guide us to see the possibilities and to put them on the arc of development, rather than on the spiral of decline.

Even if we do not always have a crystal-clear picture of what our children are to become, we can be assured that our example in caring, encouraging, and modeling right living will pay off in the end.  The wisdom of your sacrifice will be justified in your children in time.

(From a talk I gave to a group of relative caregivers in Madison County on October 7th, 2010.)