Did you ever notice what great employees women make? They are so good at helping your business to be successful. They care about whether things are done rightly and they look out for your best interest.
Did you ever notice what great teachers women are? Look at most any school, especially in the younger grades, and you will see them dominated by women teachers. They enjoy the opportunity to train up children and they are good at it.
Did you ever notice what great daycare providers women are? Visit a daycare facility sometime and look at who the workers are. Most women enjoy working with young children and are good at it.
So what is my point here? In my last blog I wrote about the providence of God, the fact that He as the Creator not only created us, but also had a plan for our lives. His plan included, for most of us, that we would be married and have children. We see in the Bible that this is normative for man. God not only ordains the ends that he wants accomplished, but also the means by which it will be accomplished.
He tells us that it is normative for a woman to be married to a man who will be her leader, provider and protector; to be his companion and suitable helper as they engage in a joint dominion calling under God; to have children and to, along with her husband, train up those children such that we will be faithful to raise up godly generation after godly generation.
Which brings me back to the three observations I noted about women being great employees, great teachers, and great caregivers to children. Do you see the parallel?
God calls women to be their husband's helper, not the helper (employee) of some other man, under his authority, helping this other man to meet his dominion calling rather than being under her husband's authority and protection, and helping her husband to meet his dominion calling under God. Why do the vast majority of women miss this? Because both they and their husband have fallen prey to Satan, our ungodly culture, and their own desires. Women, do you want real fulfillment in life? Follow God's revealed plan and role for your life. I have never met a women who sincerely pursued this that did not find fulfillment by being obedient to God in this way.
God calls women to, along with their husband, teach and train up their own children, not send them off to an ungodly government institution. Women are wonderful teachers, of their own children. No one cares for their children more. The lie of Satan and the world is that you must send them off to "professional" teachers, you are incompetent. God gave those little children to you and equipped you to train them up. He never asks you to do anything you are unable to, and that includes training your children up. Is it hard? Sure it is. Is it worth it? Without a doubt. Visit some families who have faithfully done this and listen to their testimony. Women, do you want real fulfillment in life? Follow God's revealed plan and role for your life. I have never met a women who sincerely pursued this that did not find fulfillment by being obedient to God in this way.
I don't think I need to review women as caregivers to children. You get the point. God calls you to your own family, the one He gave you.
Remember Paul's words in Titus 2:4-5 where he is telling older women what to teach younger women: "That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children, to be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed."
There are many passages in the Bible that speak to this timeless principle I am referring to here. God is soveriegn, he has a plan for all of life, for each of us. He told us how to live our lives and the roles we each have in it. If we simply pay attention and do it his way we can have real fulfillment. Don't lie to yourself and think "surely God calls me to this or that," when its a contridiction to what he has clearly said in the Bible.
Let us repent and turn back to God, giving him, our Creator, all of our life. Let us show him our love by our obedience. Perhaps you hadn't thought of it this way before, but now is the time to consider what God has said and decide ... your way or His?
Sunday, February 26, 2006
Tuesday, February 21, 2006
Providentially Speaking
In Matthew 22:37 Jesus says: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind." Here He gives us the first and greatest commandment. Sounds pretty important, doesn't it? I have to ask myself this question: "how did I love the Lord with all my heart, soul, and mind today?" Have you asked yourself the question? It is pretty searching.
If Jesus considered this question of utmost importance, we should understand that it is likely an area of our life that we will constantly struggle in. Satan and our own corrupt nature war against us in this regard. Think back to a time when you truly loved the Lord with all your heart, soul, and mind. What's changed today?
As I think about this it seems to me that we forget that God is sovereign. He has a plan, for every event, life, and happening in the entire universe, throughout every moment in time. And that means He has mapped out a special plan for your life and mine. Now what is truly amazing is that He loves us who are called by His Name so much that he has done this. Think about it, if he left things, even the little ones to us to sort out, what would we do? Mess it up, of course. But he loves us and works all things out for our good.
How can we understand this? Its really very simple ... Because he works providentially in all things, because he is sovereign, he has all things worked out to accomplish his good and perfect will. If we really believe this we can rejoice and give thanks, in every situation.
Now back to my point, why do we slip off the path so often in life? Because we forget that God has a good and perfect plan for our lives, one that he has worked out from before the beginning of time. How incredible is that! We should seek his will daily with everything we do. If we walk with him step by step each day, we can take great confidence in all that we do. If we walk alone day by day, where can we expect to go? Down the wrong paths.
Understand that God works providentially in your life and rejoice in it as you choose to walk obediently to his will for you as revealed in his Word.
If Jesus considered this question of utmost importance, we should understand that it is likely an area of our life that we will constantly struggle in. Satan and our own corrupt nature war against us in this regard. Think back to a time when you truly loved the Lord with all your heart, soul, and mind. What's changed today?
As I think about this it seems to me that we forget that God is sovereign. He has a plan, for every event, life, and happening in the entire universe, throughout every moment in time. And that means He has mapped out a special plan for your life and mine. Now what is truly amazing is that He loves us who are called by His Name so much that he has done this. Think about it, if he left things, even the little ones to us to sort out, what would we do? Mess it up, of course. But he loves us and works all things out for our good.
How can we understand this? Its really very simple ... Because he works providentially in all things, because he is sovereign, he has all things worked out to accomplish his good and perfect will. If we really believe this we can rejoice and give thanks, in every situation.
Now back to my point, why do we slip off the path so often in life? Because we forget that God has a good and perfect plan for our lives, one that he has worked out from before the beginning of time. How incredible is that! We should seek his will daily with everything we do. If we walk with him step by step each day, we can take great confidence in all that we do. If we walk alone day by day, where can we expect to go? Down the wrong paths.
Understand that God works providentially in your life and rejoice in it as you choose to walk obediently to his will for you as revealed in his Word.
Saturday, February 11, 2006
Plans of the Heart
Plans, do you have plans? Plans for tomorrow, plans for your children, plans for the future? How do we make our plans, how do we decide what we will do?
Proverbs 16:1 says "To man belong the plans of the heart, but from the Lord comes the reply of the tongue." 16:9 says "In his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps." In these two proverbs we see the providence of God. Although we may make plans, and we should, God providentially works in our lives to accomplish His purposes.
He is, after all, the Great Planner. He created the sun, moon, and stars. Just think about that. We struggle to plan what we will do this afternoon, or next week. On the fourth day of creation He put all the stars and planets and nebula, all that we see in space there. In 24 hours he put it all together. Can you imagine what a planner He is?
What about the sixth day, when He created man? The pinnacle of His creation, man in the image of God himself. And for this most special creation, did God have a plan? Does He have a plan for you and me? Ephesians 1:4 tells us "... He chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight." For those of us that He called to be children of God, He chose before we were even created. He had a plan for us, for our creation, for our lives, for all of eternity. Do we really understand that?
When I make my plans for today, tomorrow, and the future, do I take that into account? Or do I attempt to be sovereign, as if I am lord over my life? The Bible is clear that God is the Creator and Sustainer of all. He works providentially in our lives to accomplish His purposes, not ours. Isn't the wise course of action to seek God's plans for our lives, to see him as he is, sovereign over all?
I was thinking about that this morning as I was getting ready to set out on another day. Its not my day to spend as I will, its his day. That made the day a whole lot better. I set out, with my wife, as joint dominion takers, to seek His specific plan for this day. When I stop to think before I make each plan how it fits within God's mandate to bring all things under Him, to accomplish His purpose, not mine, the picture gets much clearer. After all, we are told in Proverbs 16:3 "Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and your plans will succeed." Not because God is your genie in a bottle making your plans a sucess, but because you have aligned your plans to be those that the Lord has for you, and His plans never fail.
Proverbs 16:1 says "To man belong the plans of the heart, but from the Lord comes the reply of the tongue." 16:9 says "In his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps." In these two proverbs we see the providence of God. Although we may make plans, and we should, God providentially works in our lives to accomplish His purposes.
He is, after all, the Great Planner. He created the sun, moon, and stars. Just think about that. We struggle to plan what we will do this afternoon, or next week. On the fourth day of creation He put all the stars and planets and nebula, all that we see in space there. In 24 hours he put it all together. Can you imagine what a planner He is?
What about the sixth day, when He created man? The pinnacle of His creation, man in the image of God himself. And for this most special creation, did God have a plan? Does He have a plan for you and me? Ephesians 1:4 tells us "... He chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight." For those of us that He called to be children of God, He chose before we were even created. He had a plan for us, for our creation, for our lives, for all of eternity. Do we really understand that?
When I make my plans for today, tomorrow, and the future, do I take that into account? Or do I attempt to be sovereign, as if I am lord over my life? The Bible is clear that God is the Creator and Sustainer of all. He works providentially in our lives to accomplish His purposes, not ours. Isn't the wise course of action to seek God's plans for our lives, to see him as he is, sovereign over all?
I was thinking about that this morning as I was getting ready to set out on another day. Its not my day to spend as I will, its his day. That made the day a whole lot better. I set out, with my wife, as joint dominion takers, to seek His specific plan for this day. When I stop to think before I make each plan how it fits within God's mandate to bring all things under Him, to accomplish His purpose, not mine, the picture gets much clearer. After all, we are told in Proverbs 16:3 "Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and your plans will succeed." Not because God is your genie in a bottle making your plans a sucess, but because you have aligned your plans to be those that the Lord has for you, and His plans never fail.
Friday, February 10, 2006
Lost Time
Its been a long time since I've written a blog entry so I thought I'd catch you all up. I moved to New Mexico at the end of November and have been busy with a transition of my family and business. We are in the northern part of the state, in the Four Corners region near the Colorado border. It looks like we will be living in Colorado and working in New Mexico.
There is a wonderful church here called the Hope Evangelical Reformed Church. You can check out their website at http://www.hopechurchaztec.com/ The elders truly strive to lead the church with God's Word as their foundation. In this regard they also hold to the biblical roles of men and women and ascribe to the Bible's teaching on raising up children in order to be faithful from generation to generation. It truly is a blessing from God to have been led here.
I was reminded today of Ephesians 5:15-16 "Be very careful, then, how you live not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil." Do we really make the most of every opportunity? I know I struggled with that during my transition from Minnesota to New Mexico. There were so many things to get done, so many "important" or "urgent" things. That was a failure on my part.
God has shown me once again that all of my day and night belongs to him. He is the Creator and Sustainer of all. Every part of every day, every minute of every day belongs to him. How do you make use of your drive time, your meal times, your evenings? I know I wasn't doing well and I knew it. We all know when we aren't, don't we?
It seems life is settling down a little now and I'm better able to focus my time and God blesses that time with him. Let me share an example: I drive 30 minutes to work and 30 minutes to get home. To use this time wisely I like to listen to recordings of sermons, Bible studies, or other biblical teaching. Its a great use of the time and helps me to continue to learn. Then when I arrive home for supper I am able to share with my family what God is teaching me, making the most of the meal time. We are all edified and blessed by that.
Why are we so foolish as to not make the most of every opportunity? Probably because we take our eyes off the Lord and focus them on the things of everyday life. Let's pay attention to what Paul said in Ephesians and make the most of those opportunities. In so doing we will continue to grow and to be a blessing to our families.
There is a wonderful church here called the Hope Evangelical Reformed Church. You can check out their website at http://www.hopechurchaztec.com/ The elders truly strive to lead the church with God's Word as their foundation. In this regard they also hold to the biblical roles of men and women and ascribe to the Bible's teaching on raising up children in order to be faithful from generation to generation. It truly is a blessing from God to have been led here.
I was reminded today of Ephesians 5:15-16 "Be very careful, then, how you live not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil." Do we really make the most of every opportunity? I know I struggled with that during my transition from Minnesota to New Mexico. There were so many things to get done, so many "important" or "urgent" things. That was a failure on my part.
God has shown me once again that all of my day and night belongs to him. He is the Creator and Sustainer of all. Every part of every day, every minute of every day belongs to him. How do you make use of your drive time, your meal times, your evenings? I know I wasn't doing well and I knew it. We all know when we aren't, don't we?
It seems life is settling down a little now and I'm better able to focus my time and God blesses that time with him. Let me share an example: I drive 30 minutes to work and 30 minutes to get home. To use this time wisely I like to listen to recordings of sermons, Bible studies, or other biblical teaching. Its a great use of the time and helps me to continue to learn. Then when I arrive home for supper I am able to share with my family what God is teaching me, making the most of the meal time. We are all edified and blessed by that.
Why are we so foolish as to not make the most of every opportunity? Probably because we take our eyes off the Lord and focus them on the things of everyday life. Let's pay attention to what Paul said in Ephesians and make the most of those opportunities. In so doing we will continue to grow and to be a blessing to our families.
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