Sanctify Them in the Truth

Sanctify them in the truth; Thy word is truth.

-John 17:17

An anonymous author wrote, “Every home is a school.  What do you teach?”  This statement implies that, whether we are intentional or not, we are teaching something in our homes.  Our children learn from our actions and examples whether we have planned and designed the curriculum or not.  As moms who desire to make a positive difference in the lives of our children, we must take the intentional approach to what we teach in our homes.  So, what do you teach? 

When my husband and I first began our homeschooling journey many years ago, we heard a speaker share about the priority of God’s Word in our daily home life.  I remember his admonition that Bible always comes first.  “If there is no time for both math and Bible, math goes.”  I took his words seriously and Bible time became the first subject of every day.  Before we officially sat down with math or reading, we read God’s Word together. 

I found that reading directly from His Word was the most effective strategy.  We often fail to realize that children can understand God’s Word.  They do not need children’s Bibles that water down the stories nor do they thrive better on little words of wisdom books that paraphrase and moralize the Truth that sanctifies us.  In John 17:17 Jesus prays for His disciples and He asks, “Sanctify them in the truth; Thy word is truth.”  The word “sanctify” means to withdraw from fellowship with the world by first gaining fellowship with God.  It is through His precious Word that we come into sweet fellowship with Him and it is through that sweet fellowship that we are cleansed, purified, and directed.

So, what do you teach?  Reason 84 in 101 Reasons God Made Moms says that “God made moms so they could teach their children about the Bible.  We teach by our example – did you have your daily quiet time in God’s Word today?  Do your children expect you to take time with God on a daily basis?  As Marie T. Freeman writes, “If you want to be a teacher, remember that you’re just as likely to teach who you are as you are to teach what you know.”  We teach by our priorities – does God’s Word have prominence in your life with your kids?  Do they perceive its importance because it is read aloud together?  We teach by our actions – do you follow the lessons you have learned from God’s Word?  Do you allow His truth to change your life?

No matter what your circumstances in life, you can make God’s Word a priority by withdrawing from fellowship with the world and seeking fellowship with God through His Word.  This example can be lived before younger and older children, grandchildren, and even nieces and nephews – any young people who have the opportunity to watch you in some way.  If your children are young, daily Bible time can become a priority in your home.  Choose a time that works for your family and set that time aside for Bible reading and discussion.  Through His Word those children will be sanctified in fellowship with the One who made and loves them.  Can anything be more important in the teaching that happens in our homes?  What do you teach?  Let’s be intentional to teach God’s Word.  

The Joy of Gratitude

Last week while driving on some errands, I listened to the Dennis Prager show.  I came in just as one listener was sharing the lack of appreciation she felt from her husband.  She had stayed home to raise her children and now they were grown and accomplished.  He had an obligation to acknowledge his gratitude for all that she had done to make a home for him and their children.  She only asked for small forms of appreciation like a note left on the kitchen counter thanking her for her efforts and achievements.  “Yes,” I thought, “that is what I crave.  I need my husband to acknowledge me for a job well-done, to thank me and pat me on the back.  Maybe I should call in to add my two cents.”

Not long after that call, Dennis voiced his own thoughts.  He began by stating that he had intended to stay quiet and let his listeners share without interruption, but he felt that he must add something of his own to the conversation.  I do not have the transcript before me, so I loosely quote him here.  In essence he said something short and profound, something that convicted me deeply.  He said, “I wonder if we sometimes forget to be thankful.”

I thought back to his caller and her call.  Dennis had dialoged with her as he often does and, as I thought back to her answers, I realized that she probably had more for which to be thankful than she realized.  Yes, her husband had provided for the family without complaint and they had lived comfortably.  Yes, she and her husband were able to get away for vacation time together.  Yes, they enjoyed one another’s company when they were together.  Her husband was even willing to attend counseling with her so that they could improve their marriage. 

When I considered these responses, I was reminded of the book I have been reading, Choosing Gratitude by Nancy Leigh DeMoss.  She writes, “I have seen how a lack of gratitude manifests itself in fretting, complaining, and resenting – whether within the confines of my own thoughts or, worse yet, through venting those thoughts to others. . .  Even in the most turbulent waters, choosing gratitude rescues me from myself and my runaway emotions.  It buoys me on the grace of God and keeps me from drowning in what otherwise would be my natural bent toward doubt, negativity, discouragement, and anxiety.” 

I was left with some questions for myself.  Am I choosing gratitude when I complain about my husband’s lack of appreciation for me and my accomplishments?  Am I really considering all that he does to make my life and family work the way it does?  Am I selfishly expecting more from him in the way of appreciation than I expect of myself?  I began to consider all that he does and to respond in my heart with gratitude.  It is so easy to get caught in the trap of complaining and resenting.  How much better to respond with gratefulness for the man God has so lovingly given me.  How much better to center my thoughts on those things I can appreciate about him.  How much better to live with thankfulness and joy rather than grumbling and negativity.

As a wife I can choose to be discontent and demanding, a continual dripping that brings dissension and strife.  Or I can choose to be content and filled with joy, a blessing that brings peace and harmony.  This is a choice I must make daily and sometimes even hourly.  It is a hard choice at times but the fruit of gratitude brings my husband good and not evil and raises my own worth.  May I then choose gratitude all my days and may my husband be able to safely trust me as he sits in the gates among the elders.

Aurora, Colorado

I grew up in Aurora, Colorado, about a mile and a half from the now infamous Century 16 Theater.  I remember the Aurora Mall, home to the theater, the area where I usually parked, the door where I usually entered, the stores where I usually shopped.  My hometown, Aurora, Colorado, once an obscure suburb of the city of Denver, now stands in the national news as the place of the worst mass shooting in U.S. history.  When I first heard the news and saw video footage, I was stunned.  How could this horrible shooting have taken place in my city, a city ranked among the ten safest cities just two years ago?

Living now hundreds of miles away from Aurora, people question me.  “Aren’t you glad your husband saved you from that horrible place?”  “What is wrong with the people from Colorado?”  “There should be gun controls!”  My first instinct is to defend Aurora and its people.  My thoughts stray to other recent shootings.  I contemplate the shooter’s original home.  I wonder who is really responsible for this abhorrent act.  And then I am reminded that this world is filled with evil.  Men have turned their hearts and minds away from the Creator of the universe and as a result creation has been subjected to ruin, futility and corruption.

But we are not without hope.  Jesus told His disciples, “These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace.  In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”  The evil and tribulation of this world cause us to look eagerly for the hope of His return, for redemption, for our adoption as sons.  That will be a glorious day!

And while we wait for that day, we have the hope and knowledge that “all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.  For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son.”  These are hard words, especially for someone who lost a loved one in the shooting and yet they are true words, words in which we can place our hope.  We can also trust that “in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.”

The stories of those in the theater that early morning of July 20 trickle out.  They renew our faith and hope.  Four men were killed as they shielded their girlfriends.  A thirteen year-old girl tried to resuscitate a six year-old victim.  A young woman stayed with her friend, applying pressure to a gunshot wound in her friend’s neck.  When the shooting stopped, she carried her friend to an ambulance across the parking lot.  Another young woman, hit four times, once in the head, was saved and protected from brain damage by an unknown birth defect.  A tiny vein of fluid extended through her skull and miraculously the bullet traveled through that vein.  Her mother stated, “I believe she was not only protected by God, but that she was actually prepared for it.”    

More stories of heroism will emerge in the coming days.  And let us not forget the police officers who responded quickly and decisively.  Hope remains.  God’s love abides.  As one victim writes, “God is always good.  Man is not.  Don’t get the two confused.  We will continue to praise and worship our mighty God, anticipating that He will bring beauty from ashes, as only He can do.”

Faulty Foundations

The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul;

The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple;

The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart;

The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes;

The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever;

The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.

More to be desired are they than gold,

Yea, than much fine gold;

Sweeter than honey and the honeycomb,

Moreover by them Your servant is warned,

And in keeping them there is great reward.

-Psalm 19:7-11

Recently I discussed the subject of grace with a “liberal christian.”  His understanding of the grace of God contrasted my own throughout our discourse.  We lacked common ground.  Our definitions differed and our foundations conflicted.  Our discussion left me with a question.  Can one fully understand God’s amazing grace outside the bounds of God’s Word?   God’s grace is first defined in God’s Word.  Can it then be defined differently outside the confines of the Bible?  In other words, if something is first introduced in one place with one foundation, can someone change that definition into something completely different based on the foundation of man’s limited understanding?

This changing of definitions is happening with more concepts than God’s grace alone.  Many Biblical truths have been given explanations that fall outside the descriptions given in God’s Word.  Changing a definition makes it easier to shape concepts into what we want them to be rather than what they are as revealed by Scripture.  However, we cannot base God’s truths on our own understanding because these truths did not originate with us.  They originated with God.  Therefore He has the privilege of defining them.

I am reminded of a point made by Ravi Zacharias.  When King Josiah ordered that repairs to the temple begin, the priests found something that had been lost, the Book of Law.  Imagine, the Book of Law was lost in the very place that it was to be kept, read and remembered.  Is this happening in our churches today?  Have we “lost” God’s Word in an attempt to make His truths more palatable to our tastes?  In an effort to change beliefs into our image of what is right, we place ourselves on a faulty foundation of miry clay from which we must be rescued.

When King Josiah heard the Words of the Law read, he tore his clothes; “for great is the wrath of the Lord that is aroused against us, because our fathers have not obeyed the words of this book, to do according to all that is written concerning us.”  This is our standard.  We must “find” God’s Word again.  We must read it with renewed interest and grieve for our failure to follow it completely.  We must cry out to God for a correct understanding of the truths He has given us in His Word.  Only then can He set our feet upon a rock and establish our steps in the right direction.  Only then can we truly rejoice and be glad. 

Jesus Alone

Not long ago a friend told me that abortion was the most important issue.  I do agree that abortion is an important issue, one that needs to be addressed.  However, I do not agree that it is the most important issue.  The most important issue remains Jesus.  What will you do with Jesus?  The writer to the Hebrews tells us to “consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, Christ Jesus.” 

Consider Him, for in these last days God has spoken to us by His Son, this same Jesus, who is the brightness of God’s glory and the express image of His person.  If you want to know the Father, consider His Son.  If you want to know what the Father has to say, consider His Son.  Consider this One who is “counted worthy of more glory than Moses” for He not only built the house, “whose house we are,” but He also built all things.

Later in Hebrews, we are told to “lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us,” and to “run with endurance the race that is set before us.”  The most important part of this admonition found in Hebrews 12 is our focus.  We are to look “unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

Look unto Jesus.  He authored our faith and He finished our faith.  Nothing needs to be added.  We are not admonished to look to anything else.  We are admonished to focus on Him.  Consider Him.  What happens when a runner takes his focus off the finish line, when he glances, even for a second, on others in the race?  When we take our eyes off Jesus, we are slowed up and sometimes even driven off course.   

Paul tells us to run in such a way that you may obtain the prize.  Do not run with uncertainty.  Discipline your body and bring it into subjection, lest you become disqualified.  (1 Corinthians 9:24-27)  How does one run with certainty?  How does one obtain the prize?  Simply look to Jesus.  “In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.”  (Proverbs 3:6)  Consider Him alone and obtain the prize of an imperishable crown.  He is our reward.  Jesus alone.