The Holy One calls to me this morning. My life is full of energy brought by a group of little people known as "grandchildren". It is one thing to have them visit once in a while and another to wake up to their delightful presence each morning. Circumstances have opened this great opportunity to share life with them.
Today the Holy One speaks about the importance of raising our children in the admonition of the Lord. It is a huge undertaking and responsibility especially with the world and all it's seduction calling us into the web of carnal fast living and spiritual apathy.
As I consider the religious teaching of my own life years ago, I hear Him say, "Focus on teaching about relationship first".
I was raised up under the generation that taught "hell fire and damnation" and the "wrath of a Holy God". I often marvel at the sweet relationship I now have with the Lord and wonder about all that "inspired" fear I was presented with as a child.
I know that respect is born out of fear but there is a distinction between good and bad fear, and wonder if we don't get the two confused in our rearing of our children.
"For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son". "But if you cross Him and disobey His rules He will send you to hell in a "heart beat." What a confusing message that comes out of our attempts to raise our children to "do what is right".
Many parents choose to throw away the threat and promote grace and others use the threat and fail to teach forgiveness. The Holy One today, stresses the importance of teaching relationship that the Lord longs for with His beloved people no matter what the age.
As I look around at families in crisis within the Body of Christ, it is sad that the divorce rate is as high within the Church as outside in the world. What that tells me is that many are missing the entire point that Christianity is about relationship and not rules.
If Jesus said, "They will know you are My disciples by your love for one another" (John 13:35), then many have never understood what it means to be a follower of Christ. Jesus was not referring to just the 12 when He made that statement but rather to all who would come to know Him as Lord over the course of history and time.
We set about to teach the rules of engagement He taught us when He came in the flesh, but when our lusts and desires drive us to "break" the rules we fall back on grace and the liberty to get what we want despite what the Word of Holiness has to say on the matter.
We break out vows, trash our covenants, then worship as if that covers a multitude of our sins and we even re-define our sins and call them weaknesses or failures or little pet names that make the obvious violations of Holiness somehow acceptable.
The problem with our Christian lives boils down to a problem with our Christ relationship. We promote the rules but forsake the rule Giver, and in that we miss the entire point of the rules all together.
Our relationship with Christ through the indwelling Holy Spirit is the only power we have over our flesh; its drives, its demands, its depravity. The extent to which we falter in our flesh is an expose of our real relationship with Jesus.
If we promote the rules without first learning about loving the rule Giver, we will fail in our obedience to the "rules". Jesus said, "If you love Me you will obey My commands". There is a Sacred Romance to be enjoyed with the Lord Himself. At every age there is a precious and priceless lesson to be taught and learned about that Sacred Romance with the King.
Our children learn through Disney stories all about the concept of living happily ever after. They get a picture of "the beauty and the beast" and the sacrifice of love. They understand the "damsel" in distress, the 'knight" in shining armor, the "dragon" and the "rescue". But do they really grasp that these are a picture of God's love, the intrigue of His kingdom, His invasion into our struggles and His rescue of our hearts?
If these are just pictures of human love and relationship, life quickly despoils the dream. The truth is that these are all elements of the Sacred Romance the Lord wants with each one of us.
I know the King is coming.
I know His kingdom awaits us.
I know He has prepared a place for me.
I know I will live with Him for all eternity.
I know the King and His name is Jesus.
The Sacred Romance comes first, then the rules make sense. It's a backward teaching that promotes the rules before sharing the delight of a relationship. And where teaching our children is concerned, we cannot share what we do not have.
The Holy Spirit is calling. Can you hear Him?
Today the Holy One speaks about the importance of raising our children in the admonition of the Lord. It is a huge undertaking and responsibility especially with the world and all it's seduction calling us into the web of carnal fast living and spiritual apathy.
As I consider the religious teaching of my own life years ago, I hear Him say, "Focus on teaching about relationship first".
I was raised up under the generation that taught "hell fire and damnation" and the "wrath of a Holy God". I often marvel at the sweet relationship I now have with the Lord and wonder about all that "inspired" fear I was presented with as a child.
I know that respect is born out of fear but there is a distinction between good and bad fear, and wonder if we don't get the two confused in our rearing of our children.
"For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son". "But if you cross Him and disobey His rules He will send you to hell in a "heart beat." What a confusing message that comes out of our attempts to raise our children to "do what is right".
Many parents choose to throw away the threat and promote grace and others use the threat and fail to teach forgiveness. The Holy One today, stresses the importance of teaching relationship that the Lord longs for with His beloved people no matter what the age.
As I look around at families in crisis within the Body of Christ, it is sad that the divorce rate is as high within the Church as outside in the world. What that tells me is that many are missing the entire point that Christianity is about relationship and not rules.
If Jesus said, "They will know you are My disciples by your love for one another" (John 13:35), then many have never understood what it means to be a follower of Christ. Jesus was not referring to just the 12 when He made that statement but rather to all who would come to know Him as Lord over the course of history and time.
We set about to teach the rules of engagement He taught us when He came in the flesh, but when our lusts and desires drive us to "break" the rules we fall back on grace and the liberty to get what we want despite what the Word of Holiness has to say on the matter.
We break out vows, trash our covenants, then worship as if that covers a multitude of our sins and we even re-define our sins and call them weaknesses or failures or little pet names that make the obvious violations of Holiness somehow acceptable.
The problem with our Christian lives boils down to a problem with our Christ relationship. We promote the rules but forsake the rule Giver, and in that we miss the entire point of the rules all together.
Our relationship with Christ through the indwelling Holy Spirit is the only power we have over our flesh; its drives, its demands, its depravity. The extent to which we falter in our flesh is an expose of our real relationship with Jesus.
If we promote the rules without first learning about loving the rule Giver, we will fail in our obedience to the "rules". Jesus said, "If you love Me you will obey My commands". There is a Sacred Romance to be enjoyed with the Lord Himself. At every age there is a precious and priceless lesson to be taught and learned about that Sacred Romance with the King.
Our children learn through Disney stories all about the concept of living happily ever after. They get a picture of "the beauty and the beast" and the sacrifice of love. They understand the "damsel" in distress, the 'knight" in shining armor, the "dragon" and the "rescue". But do they really grasp that these are a picture of God's love, the intrigue of His kingdom, His invasion into our struggles and His rescue of our hearts?
If these are just pictures of human love and relationship, life quickly despoils the dream. The truth is that these are all elements of the Sacred Romance the Lord wants with each one of us.
I know the King is coming.
I know His kingdom awaits us.
I know He has prepared a place for me.
I know I will live with Him for all eternity.
I know the King and His name is Jesus.
The Sacred Romance comes first, then the rules make sense. It's a backward teaching that promotes the rules before sharing the delight of a relationship. And where teaching our children is concerned, we cannot share what we do not have.
The Holy Spirit is calling. Can you hear Him?
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