Peter Tan-chi Date: June 12, 2011Download Links:  Video Audio 4Ws |
Every Christian family is a lighthouse for Jesus. Others should look at our family and say, “I want to know their God!” That’s why the big picture of parenting is to teach their sons to teach their own sons about God, generation after generation – so the world will know that we have an amazing God.
Either as parents or as singles, we can influence our family to be salt and light to the world. We can do this by intentionally teaching biblical truths about the world and about God.
About the World
1 John 2:16 says, “For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world.” We are the redeemed ones of God, not anymore of the world. Thus, Romans 12:2 commands us, ”And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.”
Television, music, the Internet, celebrities, the world! Whether we like it or not, these things have seeped in to our values. Romans 12:2 is saying, you’re already being influenced, now stop it! We need to be transformed by the renewing of our mind, by discarding worldly mindsets and replacing them with biblical standards.
We may live in a pluralistic world, but we don’t run away from it. Instead, we practice discernment and in doing so we influence others. We are salt and light to the world, Matthew 5:12 says.
But let’s not be known just for what we don’t do. Let us also be known for what we do. And what we do, our choices, our decisions and our actions all wind down to our theology, what believe to be true about God. That’s why we also have to be intentional in teaching the truth about God.
About God
God is Sovereign. The psalmist wrote, “Whatever the LORD pleases, He does, in heaven and in earth, in the seas and in all deeps.” (Ps. 135:6) God has absolute power. Therefore He can control everything absolutely. Nothing is too difficult for Him. Nothing is impossible for Him. God is also omniscient. He knows the past, the present, and the future – including yours. Psalm 139:4 says, “Even before there is a word on my tongue, Behold, O LORD, You know it all…”
A dictator with absolute power and absolute knowledge may be scary, but God is not a dictator. That was never His intention. If fact, all He does is wrought from love. John3:16 says that He’s given up His Only Son, Jesus, just for us. He doesn’t only love us, He’s also good and holy. “…God is light, in him there is no darkness at all,” says 1 John1:5. Also God can not change for the worse because He is P-E-R-F-E-C-T.
How big is God for you? Do not judge God based on circumstances. Or do you judge your circumstances based on who God is? God is sovereign, omniscient, loving, good and holy. We can trust Him with anything and everything.
God is also the Coming King to whom each of us will give an account. According to Romans 14:11-12: “As I live, says the Lord, every know shall bow to Me, and every tongue shall give praise to God. So then each one of us will give an account of himself to God.” And He is our rewarder says Paul in Hebrews. Thus we live our life according to the truths of His Word.
Parents, if you don’t teach your children intentionally, who will? Singles, if you’re not intentional in studying what the Bible has to say, who will influence the way you think? The word of God is the only answer. That’s why Deuteronomy 4:5-9 tells us to keep and do the statutes and judgments of the Lord, and to teach them to our sons and grandsons.
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