February 7 and 8
"But the Jewish teachers gave their attention to matters of ceremony. The mind was crowded with material that was worthless to the learner, and that would not be recognized in the higher school of the courts above. The experience which is obtained through a personal acceptance of God's word had no place in the educational system. Absorbed in the round of externals, the students found no quiet hours to spend with God. They did not hear His voice speaking to the heart. In their search after knowledge, they turned away from the Source of wisdom. The great essentials of the service of God were neglected. The principles of the law were obscured. That which was regarded as superior education was the greatest hindrance to real development. Under the training of the rabbis the powers of the youth were repressed. Their minds became cramped and narrow."
Desire of Ages, page 69 from the chapter, 'As a child'
We have a Pastor’s training event coming up soon and I was so pleased to see that we will not have to endure wall-to wall training. Someone, somewhere, has decided; we want the Pastors to have some time to think and we also want them to do more than just learn as they sit in their seats.
How does the church treat it’s children? Do we keep our children so busy at church that they have no time to think, and spend time with God? Is it possible that we spend little time providing children with the atmosphere of a Godly life that they have little of the things of God to think about?
Rather than ponder the question on the basis of this one paragraph might we remember that God took Joseph, Mary and Jesus out of contact with the narrow education of the Rabbis. He wanted them to be kept safe.
This is no call to withdraw your children from school. There is no request to home school your children. That may be an ideal, but it is not the possible solution for all people.
Rather the call is to recognise that parents are called to be really careful about how their children live their life. We have seen the two pronged start to child care. The first is to make sure that you have a relationship with God. The second is to take time out every day to read with your children – and to see if that process can begin in your church environment.
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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.
