Tuesday
J.C. Ryle -- A Faith & a Walk of Your Own
Monday
What’s a Church Kid?
Once, I spoke at a high school leadership conference where a few of the
teenagers didn’t like the term “church kids.”
To them it had the same connotations as “pastor’s kids”, a term often
synonymous with troublemakers. Maybe you
feel the same way, but when you really understand what a church kid is, I think
you will see that it’s an overwhelmingly positive term.
Church kids are individuals who have grown up in the church. They come from Christian homes, have
Christian parents, and have attended church their entire lives. They live in a Christian culture surrounded
by Christians at home, church, and often school. It is a wonderful privilege to be a church
kid.
I’m a church kid myself, and I am incredibly grateful to God for the
many blessings we church kids experience while growing up Christian homes. We have been raised and trained by godly
parents; we have been repeatedly told the message of the gospel; we have been
taught the Word of God from a young age; we have regularly attended church
where we have worshiped God and have been taught about his character; we have
lots of Christian friends; and we have been protected from many of the negative
influences of the world.
In July of 1971, God greatly blessed me by allowing me to be born into a
strong Christian family in a small town in New Hampshire. My parents did not grow up in Christian
homes, but God saved them about six years before I was born. They faithfully raised me according to
biblical principles. Our family
regularly attended church, prayed together, and had times of family Bible
study. My parents sent me to youth group
meetings, a Christian school, and a Christian college. I grew up a fairly typical church kid.
Just before turning four, in July of 1975, God drew me to himself
through the gentle teaching and leading of my parents. At that time I repented of my sins and
professed Jesus as my personal Savior. I
had a four-year-old’s understanding of the gospel, and in retrospect, I think a
genuine conversion. (Isn’t it amazing
that the gospel message is simple enough for a four-year-old to grasp!) I do not remember the time prior to my
salvation. I practically grew up a
Christian.
As I grew older, my faith steadily grew too. God used specific trials in elementary and
high school to refine my faith and teach me how to trust him. After high school, I left rural New Hampshire
and headed to the suburbs of Chicago to attend Wheaton College, where God
helped me begin to live out my faith and form a walk of my own. He also confirmed a call on my life to work
in Christian education, and since graduating in 1993, I have worked full-time
as a Christian school teacher and principal.
I am a church kid. I grew up surrounded
by church kids, went to college with church kids, and have worked closely with
church kids for the past eleven years. I
have experienced and observed both the blessings and dangers of growing up in a
Christian environment, and I have a strong desire that church kids learn to
praise God for the privileges they experience and carefully navigate the
dangers they face.
Saturday
Accomplish Your Dream Today
When I was growing up, I dreamed about being the left
fielder for the Boston Red Sox. Okay, it did not happen…at least not yet. I
also dreamed about leading my own Christian school, which I have been able to
accomplish. I also dreamed about writing my own book, which became a reality in
2005 after about 8 years of hard work.
What do you dream about accomplishing? What do you want to
be when you grow up? What do you long to do during your life?
Everyone has a dream. Everyone has an ideal goal. Yet we
rarely accomplish our dreams. They seem so far off and so far out of reach that we do
not even take the first steps towards the goal. But, each of us can do something today to take a step in the
direction of accomplishing our dreams.
If you long to be a full-time musician and record your own
album, work hard today on your singing skills and sign up for more advanced instrument
lessons. If you long to be a computer scientist, sign up for the STEM program
at your school, teach yourself a computer language, and spend strategic time today building your computer skills. If you desire to play Division I basketball, shoot
an extra 100 free throws and 100 extra three-pointers today and sign up for the
summer basketball camp at your local college. If you hope to be a published
author, spend 30 minutes today (and every day) writing, read books about writing, and get feedback
on your writing from an author you know.
Dream big and work hard today to accomplish your goal. Great
accomplishments only happen with great effort and long-term determination. Do not
put off your dream another day. Sit down now and list one thing you can do
today, five things you can do this week, and ten things you can do this month
to move closer to accomplish your dream. Pray for God's help and get busy today!
Friday
5 Lessons in Trusting God from Proverbs 3:5-6
"Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all
your ways acknowledge him,
and he will make straight your
paths.” Proverbs 3:5-6
This passage is to be the heart cry of every Christian. Let's look carefully at each phrase and gain five insights into trusting God.
1.
Trust
in the Lord
Trust
the Lord of the universe. Trust the all-mighty and all-knowing Lord. He is
holy, just, loving, and faithful. He never changes and will never forsake you.
No one compares, and no one is as worthy of your trust.
2.
Trust
with all your heart
Trust
him completely. There is no reason to hesitate or give a second thought to
trusting him. Do not hold back. Trust him with all of your heart, soul, mind,
and strength.
3.
Do
not trust your own understanding
Do
not trust anyone else, especially yourself. You may know a lot, but God knows
even more. You may understand a lot, but God understands everything completely.
Watch out for blind spots, and be careful of wrong assumptions.
4.
In
all your ways submit to the Lord
Trusting
God means believing he loves you and wants what is best for you. Surrender to
his ways and his plans for you. Ask him to accomplish his purposes in your
life. Be willing to give up what is dear to you if you have to. Be willing to
follow his lead
5.
He
will guide and direct you
When you trust him, he will guide you in the right way. When you surrender your will to
his will, you will find peace. When you submit to him, he will make your way
clear. When you are proud you will stumble, but when you humbly trust God you will
be blessed.
This
is a great passage to read slowly, consider carefully, and take to heart. Pray these truths over yourself, your friends, and your family.
Lord, please help me
to trust you completely. Help me to trust you above all others. Help me to
trust you with all of my heart, without fear, and without hesitation. Help me
not to trust myself, my thoughts, my plans, and my ways. Help me to see you in
everything and submit all of my ways to you. Make your will clear to me, and
guide me in what is right and good. Amen
Thursday
Faith for the Next Step
Decisions, decisions, decisions…Where should I go to college? What should choose for a major? What
should I do for a living? Who should I marry?...Big decisions!
How do we discern God’s will for our lives? How do we know
the future and make the absolute best decision possible?
Sometimes we wish God would audibly speak to us and tell us exactly
what to do. Sometimes we hope for God to reveal his will in a dream. Sometimes
we want to be able to fast forward to the future and then return to the present
to live our lives.
But, this is not how life typically works. We have to gather
the facts, consider our options, ask for advice, and pray. We have to watch out
for blind spots that may cause us to overlook dangers. We need to watch out for
wrong assumptions or powerful emotions that may misguide us.
Have you ever been paralyzed by a big decision? Have you
ever been overwhelmed with a decision that you could not act? I believe
this is because we want to know God’s exact will for us well into the future.
But, most of the time this is impossible to figure out, and we freeze.
Instead of focusing on the end, I suggest focusing on the
next step. What do I have faith to do as a next step?
If you are junior in high school, you are looking ahead to
your senior year and life after high school. You probably have college in your
future. Deciding what college to attend is a huge decision, but if you just
look for faith for the next step, it is not so bad.
Do you have faith to check out a few colleges online? Do you
have faith to tour a few colleges this summer with your family? When you identify
your top 2 or 3 colleges, do you have faith to visit on a student preview
weekend? Do you have faith to apply to a college?
Before you know it, you have a lot more data, and you are
much closer to making your final decision. Instead of knowing God’s will
completely all at once, you trust him to guide you as you take each step along
the way. It requires daily surrender to God’s will and plan, and it involves taking
daily steps of faith.
No, this is not a magic remedy that makes all huge decisions
easy. But, it is a dependent mindset that helps us lean on God and not our own
understanding, and it helps us exercise faith and build more faith as we trust
God all along the way.
Wednesday
Pride Comes Naturally for Me
I don’t
like to admit it, but pride comes naturally for me. I think pretty highly of
myself. I think a lot about myself. I tend to be preoccupied with my needs, my
desires, and my preferences.
In pride, I
remain silent because I don’t want people around me to hear me say something
stupid. In pride, I self-righteously hold my head high, thinking I am better
than others. In pride, I talk a lot about myself in a self-occupied,
me-centered way.
Yes, pride
comes naturally for me. I don’t really have to work at it. Can you relate?
The problem
is that God doesn’t like pride at all. That’s why I need to battle pride with
the truths of Scripture. Here are five verses that challenge me.
1.
Proverbs
8:13 - “Pride and arrogance
and the way of evil and perverted speech I hate.”
2.
Proverbs 11:2 - “When
pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with the humble is wisdom.”
3. Proverbs 16:18 - “Pride goes before
destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.”
4. Luke 18:14b - “For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted."
5.
I Peter 5:5b - “Clothe yourselves,
all of you, with humility toward one another, for ‘God
opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.’”
Lord,
please help me put off pride and grow in humility. Help me to be centered on
you. Help me to serve others. Help me to surrender my will to your will, my
desires to your desires, and my way to your ways.
Tuesday
4 Reasons to Seek Humility
“He guides the humble in what is
right and teaches them his way.” Psalm 25:9
God highly values humility,
but we live in a world that does not. Consider these Scripture verses
and be inspired to seek humility.
1. God promises to respect and highly regard the
humble.
“This is the one I esteem: he who is humble and contrite in
spirit, and trembles at my word.” Isaiah 66:2
2. God promises to be with and revive the
humble.
“For this is what the high and lofty One says—he who lives
forever, whose name is holy: ‘I live in a high and holy place, but also with
him who is contrite and lowly in spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly and
to revive the heart of the contrite.’” Isaiah 57:15
3. God promises to exalt and give grace to the
humble.
“God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s
mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time.” I Peter 5:5-6
“Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles
himself will be exalted.” Matthew 23:12
4. God promises to guide the humble in what is
right.
These are
stunning promises that should drive our thoughts and actions. May the Holy
Spirit work in our hearts, help us to grow in humility, and enable us to live
humble lives focused on loving God and serving others.
***This content comes from my book Growing Up Christian, chapter 5 (p. 85).
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