Thank You!

On a scale of 1 to 10, how good are your kids at expressing gratitude? Do they have any idea how blessed they are? Do they have a clue how the majority of the world lives in comparison? Are they content with what they have or always wanting more? Do they thank you when you fix dinner for them or pass the potatoes? Are they gracious when they get to go out to eat or on vacation or to a movie? Do they complain about writing a thank you card after their birthday party? Are they good at making eye contact and saying a simple “thanks” for something you have done for them?

Everywhere you look you can find someone talking about how kids today have entitlement issues. They expect life to be handed to them on a silver platter and don’t believe they should have to earn it. Whether it’s a trophy or a car, a shopping spree or their favorite ice cream, kids know what they want and expect you to give it to them. But, this is not a new phenomenon. The writer of Psalm 103, thousands of years ago wrote a song reminding people to remember God and all His benefits. Perhaps we would do well with that reminder. If we forget the greatness and graciousness of our Creator, Redeemer, Savior and Guide, then it is no wonder that the generations following us struggle to be grateful.

God is merciful. God is kind. God is not, however, our sugar-daddy handing us everything we think we want or need. He is our rescuer and often the enemy we most need to be rescued from is ourselves. Basically, no matter how well you have followed the rules or how hard you have worked or what family you were born into, you are nothing without the air supply provided by your Creator. You are nothing without the gifts and talents He programed into your DNA. That being said, how often and openly do you express gratitude to Him for “all His benefits?”

I would love to challenge you and your family to begin a gratitude journal. Every day, everyone in the family should list two things for which you are grateful. It may be air condition or post it notes or puppies or Jesus. The “what” doesn’t matter as much as the exercise in building a heart of thanksgiving. When my grandkids spend the night I tuck them in asking for 2 things they are thankful for and one thing they need God to help them with. Maybe you would consider doing the same with your children or your spouse or just with your God. It is good to be grateful to others, but it is imperative to be thankful to our Lord.

Let all that I am praise the LORD; with my whole heart, I will praise His holy name.

Let all that I am praise the LORD; may I never forget the good things he does for me.

Psalm 103:1-2

Reaping Joy

Let me ask you a question… When your kids grow up are they more likely to tell their children that they grew up in a home filled with joy or a home filled with sorrow? And one more…. Which do you want to permeate their childhood memories?

The second question is a silly one because we all want our kids to have fond memories of their childhood or they won’t let us snuggle and spend valuable time with our grandkids. A child records so many events in their memory and, upon tracing those memories, they are frequently unfounded. For instance, an adult child may speak of a tradition you observed every year at Christmas, but in reality, you did it once. It was just such a profound experience for them that it seemed like it happened many times. Likewise, children may register a negative emotion they felt as something far worse than it actually was. Childhood memories are collected and stored in a place that shapes our trajectory and our drive to get to a similar or a better place when we grow up.

Psalm 26 tells of the people of God who were slaves to another nation [which happened frequently throughout history due to repeatedly straying from the plan of God] and had been rescued by God and taken home to their land and their temple to worship the God who saved them. The people are rejoicing as they return home after their years in bondage and one of the verses compares their captivity in a foreign land and return home, to sowing their crops in tears, but singing with joy as they gather the harvest.

Both sorrow and joy are present in this song as they remember their bondage and rescue. As I read this Psalm, I can’t help but think how real life works. You don’t have to be a vile sinner with irreverent motives to find yourself captive to sin. Does any of this look familiar…?

Slothfulness – an unwillingness to move from where you are to the place God has planned for you.

Apathy – investing no thought into how your decisions today are shaping, not only your future, but the future of you family and truly not caring, one way or another.

Envy – the inability to be content with what you have because there is someone who has more and you don’t want to be the one with less so you continually invest in what you want rather than taking the time to see what it is that God wants.

Greed – constant striving for more of what the world values, without regard to what God wants you to work toward.

Selfishness – placing more value on what you want or “need” and less on the needs and wants of others.

Impatience – placing unrealistic expectations on your spouse or kids rather than focusing how you can improve yourself. Not allowing them to grow gradually but expecting them to instantly fall into place at the snap of your fingers or the wrath of God will be visited upon them through your words and actions.

Unresolved anger -  whether manifested in bitterness, revenge, hateful attitudes, unforgiveness, manipulation, or outburst, each packs a punch and truly impacts the way you live life and the legacy you leave.

Pride – Thinking of yourself and how things impact you more than you focus outwardly on those around you. Investing more in helping yourself than in helping others.

 For followers of Jesus, sin doesn’t typically look like the guy in the red suit with horns. We don’t rob banks or shoot people in a mall, but we still struggle with bondage to something that keeps us from being all God created us to be and it is WORK to overcome that sin. Richard Rohr describes it this way…

“Sins are fixations that prevent the energy of life, God’s love, from flowing freely. They are self-erected blockades that cut us off from God and our own authentic potential.”

Is there something that has control over you and is stealing your joy and keeping you from creating the environment in which you want your family to grow?

My dad often said, “Sin never pays what temptation offers.”

It may seem like you are simply doling out justice when you withhold your love or forgiveness or lose control of your emotions, but those are lies of Satan that have a negative return.

Put another way,

“Sin takes you further than you want to go, keeps you longer than you want to stay and costs you more than you want to pay.”

No matter how you look at it, sin is bondage and it will keep you in exile, away from the place God desires for you to live. Though it may be painful to break that cycle, and you may have to sow the good seeds in tears, it will be worth it in the end. It is not a labor that you must do alone, but one your Creator does in you as you submit to His leadership in your life. He provides the seed, but you have to be willing to plant them. When you decide to make those changes, don’t forget to ask for His help and guidance. Quietly listen for His direction. Your harvest will be great and you will find the joy of obedience to God’s plan for you and your family.

May your home be filled with joy and your memories be of growth, grace and laughter as you escape the clutches of your adversary, Satan, and fall into the love of your Redeemer. His desire for you is to grow in an atmosphere of joy and victory from the sins that bind you. May it be so!

Talk To Yourself

“Talk to yourself, don’t let yourself talk to you.” That is the phrase that stood out to me in the sermon on Sunday (https://thecreekonline.net/media) There are so many Bible verses that back this up that you can’t blow it off as some psychological mumbo-jumbo. The mind is a powerful thing and can hijack your world at any given moment by sowing seeds of doubt or jealousy or envy or self-deprecation. It can make the victor feel like the victim. It can make the strong feel weak and the weak feel strong.  

In Psalm 42 we find a series of woes, crying out to God, including...

“My tears have been my food day and night...”

That is a pitiful, sorrowful thought. He is hungering for the joy that God can restore to him, remembering better days when God was obviously by his side. The psalmist is contrasting those days to the present when people are mocking God because of his current state.

“while people say to me all day long, “Where is your God?”

Then comes the self talk…

 “Why my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? 

Put your hope in God for I will yet praise him…”

Perhaps his situation was truly bleak, but as soon as he finished his lament, crying out to God for aid, he immediately recognized truth and had a little talk with himself. “Why are you letting this negativity and pity party go on when all you have to do is open your eyes and see that God is sovereign and will rescue you in His time? Why are you whining about things not going your way; things not being fair; life being difficult? You know truth, so why fall for the lies of Satan that destroy you. Instead, praise God for who He is and what you have seen Him do in the past. Remember with gratitude all He has brought you through…then you will see Him as your all-seeing, all-knowing, all-powerful God. Then your hope will win out over your fear. Then you can be the victor rather than the victim.

Do you ever feel yourself falling into a hole and knowing that if you don’t act fast you will be clear at the bottom without the strength to crawl back out? I think everyone hears that negative voice that causes them to have a “woe is me” attitude and feel like the world is ganging up on them unjustly. Or maybe it is your parent or child or spouse or ex or boss or neighbor or co-worker that is tearing you down. Or are they? Do they have that power? Only when you give it to them. “Talk to yourself, don’t let yourself talk to you.” Stop the downward spiral by reminding yourself that “you are God’s masterpiece” (Ephesians 2:10) created for a purpose, and you must “allow God to transform you by changing the way you think” (Romans 12:2).

The mind is a powerful thing. When you allow it to tell you lies or exaggerate the truth or meddle with your identity in Jesus, you must quickly ask God to meet your needs, to fill your hunger with His truth and meditate on the reality of who He is and the power that is at your disposal to stand against the negativity that is trying to blossom within your heart and mind. Talk to yourself and speak the truth that God gives you when you go to Him with your brokenness. It will change your attitude, change your day, change your life and it will change the atmosphere in your home.