Worthy Devotions - Daily Christian Devotion » Parenthood

Proverbs 22:6  Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.

In his book, A Spiritual Clinic, J. Oswald Sanders wrote about the lasting family legacies of two families from New York.

“Two families from the state of New York were studied very carefully.  One was the Max Jukes family and the other was the Jonathan Edwards family.  The thing that they discovered in this study is remarkable: like begets like.

Max Jukes was an unbelieving man and he married a woman of like character who lacked principle.  And among the known descendants, over 1,200 were studied.  Three hundred and ten became professional vagrants; 440 physically wrecked their lives by debauched lifestyle; 130 were sent to the pen for an average of thirteen years each, 7 of them for murder.  There were over 100 who became alcoholics; 60 became habitual thieves; 190 public prostitutes.  Of the 20 who learned a trade, 10 of them learned the trade in a state prison.  It cost the state about $1,500,000 and they made no contribution whatever to society.

In about the same era the family of Jonathan Edwards came on the scene. He was a man of God, who married a woman of like character. The study yielded the following concerning Jonathan Edward’s descendants:  Three hundred became clergymen, missionaries, and theological professors; over 100 became college professors; over 100 became attorneys; 30 of them judges; 60 of them became physicians; over 60 became authors of good classics; 14 became presidents of universities.  There were numerous giants in American industry that emerged from this family.  Three became United States congressmen and one became the vice president of the United States.”

Never forget the impact your life decisions will make…in yourself, your marriage, and on your children.  In ways you will never know in this life, you are building a legacy that will last for generations!

Proverbs 28:20 A faithful man shall abound with blessings: but he that maketh haste to be rich shall not be innocent.

Yesterday we were running errands in town and we took our four year-old, Elianna, to a toy store she loves to visit. We usually don’t buy much (just playing with the toys there is great fun for her) but this time, unbeknownst to Elianna, we were planning to buy her a little kitchen set because she loves to pretend cooking.

While we were researching prices, Elianna wandered away from us, something she knows she’s not allowed to do. When I looked up and didn’t see her, I called her name. “Elianna!” No answer — another no-no.

Finally, I saw her playing a couple of aisles down and I called her name again. Elianna looked up and around but then continued to play.

We were really disappointed. We really wanted to bless Elianna with this one toy, (which was even on sale for a great price) but we just couldn’t bring ourselves to do it. Elianna knowingly disobeyed us twice, and rewarding this behavior just wouldn’t be a good thing to do.

That got me thinking about how much the Lord must want to bless us and give us good gifts – gifts we know nothing about. But I don’t think He can give them when we continually disobey. Uggh.

Lets begin setting our minds on being obedient to God today. He has such great gifts he wants to pour upon us. There’s so much work to be done!

Matthew 6:32-33 (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

We have a cord-free, battery-free alarm clock — we call her Elianna. Like clockwork, at 6:45 each morning our 2-year old daughter, Elianna wakes up and begins calling for us to come and greet her good morning. At this point, my wife and I have come to the conclusion that those 8-hour sleep nights we used to enjoy just aren’t going to happen again –at least for a long, long time.

What’s interesting to me though, is that when Elianna wakes up, she doesn’t wonder if we’ll come to her. She waits eagerly and expectantly to see us walk in, sleepy-eyed and morning-haired as we may be. Elianna doesn’t wake up worrying about what she’ll wear today and if she’ll be warm enough. She expects that she’ll be changed and dressed up nice and warm when it’s cold. She doesn’t worry about if or what she’s going to eat. She expects that we’ll know she’s hungry and will serve her a yummy nutritious breakfast. When Elianna falls down, she immediately looks toward us, holding out her hands to receive our hugs and kisses so it will be “all better”. She doesn’t question whether or not we love her. She’s sure of it! Elianna has no worries. She expects that we will take care of her every need.

Don’t you wish you were a baby sometimes? No worries — getting pampered and hugged and kissed. Well, I have good news for you — you are a baby! You are the Lord’s baby! We are His children and He loves us with an everlasting and perfect love. He cares for us just like we care for our little Elianna — in fact, much, much more than that!

From this morning on, let’s start coming to the Lord as we are — His children! We needn’t worry about anything. Our Father awaits the time when we will totally put our trust in Him. He loves us and He knows every one of our needs before even a word is on our lips! Let’s practice putting our worries aside and determine to expect our Heavenly father to meet our every need. And don’t forget to take some time out today and say — Abba, thank you for loving me!

Psalms 90:17 And let the beauty of the LORD our God be upon us: and establish thou the work of our hands upon us; yea, the work of our hands establish thou it.

Charles William Eliot, former president of Harvard University, had a birthmark on his face that bothered him greatly. As a young man, he was told that surgeons could do nothing to remove it. Someone described that moment as “the dark hour of his soul.” Eliot’s mother gave him this helpful advice: “My son, it is not possible for you to get rid of that hardship…But it is possible for you, with God’s help, to grow a mind and soul so big that people will forget to look at your face.”

Yes, it’s true. All of us have things we’d love to change about our bodies. And many of us tend to spend an awful lot of time and money trying to change, fix and cover those things up. But I think there is much truth in Mrs. Eliot’s words. When we are shining boldly for the Lord, I don’t believe anyone sees them!

Do you REALLY want to make a drastic difference in your appearance today? Let’s stop focusing on our outward issues today and start focusing on what really counts — walking uprightly and wholeheartedly with the Lord — a spiritual extreme makeover! We will glow like never before, at a low low price and 100% guaranteed!

Psalms 51:10 Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.

We’ve been talking with our two year old, Elianna, about what it means to be truly sorry. Lately she’s been refusing to say the words “I’m sorry” when she does something wrong. Instead, she’ll lean over and give us a little peck on the lips and hope it’ll get her off the hook. And.well, I have to admit, it usually does.

But recently I thought of a common scenario and had to ask myself. What would we feel like if one day Elianna realized that she could consistently disobey us and rationalize that “It’s ok, no matter what I do, they’ll always love and forgive me”. I can tell you, I think it would probably really hurt. We want our kids to be loving and honest and behave well toward us and others.

How much more must our heavenly Father want these things from us? How must He feel when we consistently allow ourselves to behave badly because we know He’s a loving and forgiving Father?

I don’t know about you, but I need a radical change of heart today. Let’s ask the Lord to do some open-heart surgery today. We need to be the kind of children who yearn to love the Lord and put Him and His will above every other desire. There’s so much work to be done!