Objecting to Scripture

Often we find in the church objections to scripture which in a sense place scripture on hold. Scripture is not wrong, but we cannot figure out how to apply scripture so we will table the thought until tomorrow. Tomorrow we forget the thought and in the end we never act on the words of scripture.

For some churches it is evangelism. They have seen evangelism done wrong and thus table the whole thing and it never happens.

For some churches helping the poor. They have seen instances which went wrong and can't figure out the right path and intend to act when the right path is found, but it never is.

You see we often meet scripture which shows us our priorities in life are off, but we don't know how to fix it. And so we wait and eventually never act.

How can we do better? At times prayer will help. Prayer often illuminates the path. At times it is simply sincerity. If we know there is an issue and truly keep the issue before us with sincerity often the answer will be found.

Often we feel we are sincere when we want to fix an issue but put it off, and often our sincerity is not so great that we ever get around to fixing the issue. It is a matter of the degree of our sincerity at times. We often place important things which are difficult at the back of a great list of projects and the last project on the list will of course never get done.

Often in life we discover our priorities by our actions. We discover we are sincere or insincere by what we actually do. At times this discovery can be disheartening. We are not always as noble as we would wish.

The grace of God is always sufficient and we live moment by moment by grace. But if we really wish to live well when the word of God speaks to us we should listen. And when the word of God convicts us to do better or fix this or that we need to not table the issue indefinitely.

Taking Responsibility

Of the largest practical issues in life is failure to take responsibility. If we fail then we cannot improve if we excuse our failure on other things. Obviously there are times where life is difficult and we are fallen creatures in a fallen world.

It is true we act out of character at times. But often it is easy to excuse ourselves repeatedly. We are always too tired or too busy or too over stressed from work.

You see we do not grow because we do not accept we need to grow. This is why the bible says that the heart is deceitful above all things. We are quick to excuse ourselves.

Repentance means to turn around. You see there is a great difference from repeatedly offering excuses for our behavior and repenting. If we repented then we should begin to see some growth on the issue.

Repentance since it is a turning from the wrong direction to the right direction requires an acceptance of the issue at hand. We cannot repent and offer an excuse.

Our actions say something about ourselves. It is easier for us to act poorly when we are tired or under stress but it does say something about ourselves.

Raising Children

Raising children requires a delicate balance. There are two major errors for parents to avoid.

The first is under raising children. Children in many families are given far too much freedom and far to little wisdom or guidance.

The other error which is more common in the church is over raising children. Parents vastly overestimate their abilities and influence and over control their children.

You see parents wanting a say on every aspect of their children's lives well past the point when input is helpful on certain topics. Parents usually justify such actions saying things like, "as a parent giving advice is my right."

The reality is the issue is not if or if not the parents have a right to always give children unsolicited advice. We have the right to make many poor decisions.

The question is should a parent in general more and more step back from advice giving to their children as their children get older? The answer I believe is clearly, yes.

Many parents destroy or greatly damage their relationship with their older children by refusing to accept them as emerging adults or current adults. As their children start careers and raise their own children parents often refuse to take a back seat.

It is an irony because often many years ago the parents themselves had felt great frustration and tension with their parents who refused to step back. Now they do the same thing and justify their actions as that they know better now and wish to help their children.

Of course the reality is they repeat the error their parents made and use wisdom as an excuse. True wisdom is understanding that children become adults and children who are adults are not clones of their parents.

They have their own ideas on certain issues and reasons for those beliefs. Parents who do not pull back on unsolicited advice to their adult children do not help their children. They simply disrespect their adult children on topics there is disagreement on.