February 6
"In the days of Christ the town or city that did not provide for the religious instruction of the young was regarded as under the curse of God. Yet the teaching had become formal. Tradition had in a great degree supplanted the Scriptures. True education would lead the youth to "seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after Him, and find Him." Acts 17:27"
Desire of Ages, page 69 from the chapter, 'As a child'
The month’s theme is children and their care. You can note the emphasis in yesterdays ‘extra’. There are a couple of little points here to follow on. The first is that verse from the book of Acts. I had been going to church for a few months and the young intern was taking an afternoon programme. He read that verse. I couldn’t begin to understand it.
Do you understand the word ‘haply’? Were you to read the verse to your child how would you explain that word? If you need to you would have to say that many years ago the word ‘perhaps’ was translated ‘haply’. Good for you if you can provide that explanation. You might think to use a more modern and child-friendly translation for your children. You might still need to explain 'perhaps' - but your children need ready access to the word of God. If you want your children to want to value reading and the Bible then they need to use a Bible written in their language.
There is a more vital issue here. The teaching in the time of Jesus had become formal. My friend Steve spoke of one element of the preaching training he is receiving. We need to, he says, “preach and teach from the heart.” That was lacking in the time of Christ.
Leave the issue of a world that may fail you and yours. Ignore the scare stories about preachers and teachers who place money and power above principle. Your children are depending on you. You are the Minister for your children.
I spoke about planning for your child’s life. Plan to read with your children. But plan to make sure that you preach and teach from the heart. Invite Jesus into your heart today.
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Housekeeping details for you
The point of this short blog will become clear if you decide to use this reading in the way we intend it. Netherfield Seventh-day Adventist Church believes in healthy churches. You can see what that means if you head to the relevant Healthy Churches page of the website. We also want other churches to be healthy. That means you can join in our campaign to create healthy churches, with healthy people serving the people in those churches.
A healthy church is one where Jesus comes first. A healthy church is one where the people work together to put Jesus first. One thing we are doing is to join people together to spread that news. I would like you to look at our prayer partners page. This will explain how we want you to use this short devotional. Very basically we want you to find a like-minded Christian friend who you will join with to : choose to pray together every day, decide together on a way to serve other people together, to help them grow as Christians - and to invite the Holy Spirit into your life every day. This blog that you will receive every day simply gives a common spiritual purpose. If you are a newcomer and want to join the blog with this object in mind click here
You are going to wonder where I am going with this blog, blame the dog, it was his idea. While Ludy is at a big family reunion in the Philippines I am dog sitter number 1.
I had my orders, “Don’t overfeed Milo, the dog.” Milo has his own take on that. His whole life is built around food. He stands by his bowl when I am in the kitchen. He has these eyes that simply say, “You really need to feed me because I love you very much.” Food is the greatest experience of his life.
When your life is built around one major thing that is all that you think about.
Herod’s life was built around conspiracy and defending himself against conspiracy. That was what he lived with and that is what his life was built around. When he heard of a new baby he didn’t think about presents and a visit with the wife. His thought was, “Get rid of the rival to the throne.”
What is the centre of your life? Work? Then that is what you will think about. How about a different centre to your life? “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and ….” Well, I’ll leave you to fill in the rest. However you might recognise that if you centre your life on God you get a manufacturers guarantee, and so many side-benefits.
If someone tells you that you are naïve, take that as a compliment. The Magi were naïve. They simply couldn’t believe that a King would mislead them. Sadly kings are just as good at deceit as anyone. Perhaps the Magi had a more child-like attitude? Perhaps their privileged position as Magi meant that they only met truthful people?
What is noteworthy is that God made sure that when he wanted to tell His friends, the Magi, to take the direct route home He would not communicate via a star. This time the message was more direct, they had a dream. At least they could sleep, I would be too excited for dreams.
God also sent a similar message to Joseph. Perhaps Mary was too busy looking after Jesus? When God chose parents he chose a couple. Mary was not the star turn, they had equal billing. Both had gifts God needed for His Son's development.
However maybe we need to be a little bit more careful in our reading. When we think ‘dream’ we have a certain understanding. God would never communicate with me through a dream. I never remember my dreams. Some people tell me about their dreams, those dreams don’t appear to come from God. Too scary.
Both the Magi and Joseph had similar dreams. The message was given by a messenger, an angel. There were words in the message. The importance was clearly understood.
When God speaks to us the message is completely clear. When God speaks to you, a child, please listen. You will be saved from deceit.
