Tag Archives: sin

Should I Make My Child Go To Church?

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Genesis 19-21

Lot didn’t leave Sodom willingly. He hesitated, so the angels took him by the hand and led him, his wife, and daughters out of the city about to be destroyed by God. Why the hesitation? Did they doubt the seriousness of the angels’ message? Did they doubt these men were really even angels? Were they so intrenched in this sinful lifestyle of Sodom they didn’t want to let go of it? Or maybe they thought, “it can’t be that bad. I can handle whatever comes?”

Whatever the reason for the hesitation, it’s evident that Lot and his family took their sin with them when they were forced to leave Sodom. They’d heard the truth. They knew judgment was coming. They left, albeit reluctantly. But they didn’t repent. They changed their address, but they didn’t change their hearts.

I think there are some parents who might feel like those angels every Sunday morning when they have to take their hesitant (or even rebellious) children by the hand and drag them to church. Sometimes they might wonder if it’s worth it.

It’s worth it.

First let me say good for you for fighting that battle every week. Don’t give in. Don’t let your kids “decide” for themselves. Be the parent. No one said it was going to be easy. Keep battling. Their eternal souls are worth it. It’s your responsibility to train them up in the way they should go.

But I must warn you, even though you probably already know the truth of it. Simply getting your children to church doesn’t guarantee their salvation. Along with attending church, you’ve got to pray that God would break through their resistance until they humble themselves and believe, until they turn from their sin and follow Jesus willingly themselves.

I pray that you are modeling what it means to be a Christian, and not just on Sundays. I pray your children recognize the Fruit of the Spirit in you – love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control. I pray they see you reading your Bible, hear you talking about it, and watching how you choose holiness.

I pray that when you fail, when you sin, they’ll see what it means to humble yourself, repent, ask for forgiveness, and/or forgive another.

So if your question is “should I make my kid go to church?” I would say the answer is, “yes.” (Ok. Not just any church. A Bible believing, truth teaching fellowship of faith. Please be careful). And only if you go to church with them.

Dear One, there is more to raising Christian children than getting them to church. Let’s learn from Lot’s experience and take it a step or two further than getting them through the doors (or out of the “city”). Be the Christian you want your children to be.

I’m praying for you.

___________________________

Ok, so yesterday after posting this I was scrolling through Instagram and heard a young preacher talking about this exact topic. They, of course, take their children to church every Sunday. But he and his wife take it a step further. They want their children not only learn about going to church, they want their children to learn to BE THE CHURCH.

Which reminded me a family with three boys who are members of our church. Our church has a Wednesday night family dinner before Bible Study and youth activities. Every Wednesday we get together and enjoy a meal together. Sometimes 50, sometimes 80 family members strong. It really is a special church family time.

But here’s what made me think about this family. The parents prompted the boys to go around to those who are finished with their meals and offer to take their empty plates to the trash. These boys all under 10 years old, clear the tables of the trash, put silverware in the tray for cleaning. These boys are learning to be servants and I will tell you they do it with smiles on their faces.

So yes, take your children to church on Sunday. But I would encourage you to not leave it there. Show them what it means to be the Church. I think that is one way you can teach them in the way they should go, to make going to church more than a habit, so that when they are older they will not depart from it. They are the future Church!

Choose Light

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Genesis 4-7

I love that when God inspired the written Word He brought receipts. Here listed are names of real people who lived on earth in real time. Here are the details of a world-wide flood the fact of which is still being discovered by scientists today. Here is revealed the heart of God who loves and blesses His creation, but who will not let the guilty go unpunished. Here is the God who will have the last word.

And here is the God who promised the Savior, who provides the ark, who shelters His children, and defeats death.

We don’t like to talk about absolutes these days, but that doesn’t mean they don’t exist. There is good and there is evil. There is blessing and there is judgment. There is life and there is death. There is black and there is white.

Some people don’t want to believe in the Biblical account of the flood. They say things like it’s a parable, fiction, a nice story to teach a moral lesson. Others of us believe every word to be true, down to the smallest detail, that Noah was a real man with real sons who built a real ark that saved them from a really BIG flood.

I’ve heard it said that atheists believe Christianity is a fable made up by people who are afraid of the dark. Christians know that atheism is a fable made up by people afraid of the light.

There is dark and there is light.

I’m going to be reading through the Bible again this year. Our church is going cover to cover together, and I hope you’ll join us. Let’s read every word, learn every lesson, grow in grace and knowledge as we look at this precious Book every single day of 2026.

Whether or not you are a believer, I challenge you to open up a Bible and let God reveal the light. Then, I pray we will all…

choose the light!

The “Why?”

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Luke 1-24

Since the beginning of December I’ve been reading one of the twenty-four chapters in Luke’s Gospel each day. Yesterday I read about the empty tomb, the proof of Jesus’ resurrection from the dead, and the fact He visibly went back to heaven. I’ve loved being reminded that, although His birth is something to celebrate, Jesus didn’t stay in that manger. He grew up and lived a very real – and extraordinary – life with purpose. All of it from the manger to the cross happened so Jesus could take care of our sin problem.

And we’ve all got a sin problem. The bottom line is your sin and mine separate us from a God who loves us and longs to have us near Him. We can’t declare ourselves sin-less, and death is the just payment for sin. If we die in our sin, we are separated from God forever. It took God becoming a man and dying in our place.

Debt paid.

So this year, as you look at the Baby in the manger, as you say, “Merry CHRISTmas,” and sing “Silent Night,” I hope you’ll see past the presents and lights and laughter and family dinners, and stop and consider the ‘why” of it all.

Friend, YOU are the “Why.”

I hope you receive many gifts today from people you love, gifts that will warm your heart and bring you joy. But if you haven’t received the gift of God’s grace, the full payment for your sin, please do it today.

Jesus, in John 3:16 tells us God loved you so much He sent Jesus so that if you believe, you will have eternal life with God – the gift Jesus died to give you. If you pray, “God I believe that Jesus was born, lived a perfect life so He could be the perfect payment for my sin when He died on the cross, and that He rose from the dead”…you will be saved. Take your sin, lay them at the foot of the cross, let God exchange your sin for His righteousness, and I promise you will receive the most extraordinary gift of your lifetime.

Yes, dear one. YOU are the “Why” of Christmas.

I’d Do Anything…

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Luke 22

This is why Jesus put on humanity. The baby we celebrate this week wasn’t born only for love. He was born because God hates the sin that separates us from Him.

All of us have lost loved ones, either through death, difficult circumstances, or by someone’s choice to walk away. Have you ever thought, “I’d give anything to have him or her back?” God feels your pain!

God gave everything to have us back. We are the loved ones lost because of our sin. We are the loved ones He put on flesh and died for. Had He not become a human, born that day in Bethlehem, had he not lived a perfect life, and died a more horrible death than our minds can comprehend, we would have no hope of ever being with Holy God. No hope. We would die separated from God, and live forever separated from Him. You don’t want to go there!

When you sinned, and God watched you walk further and further away from His Holy Presence, He thought, “I’d do anything to get her back.”

And He did.

Are You Talking To Me?

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1 Timothy 6:20-21

Paul ends this letter to Timothy with a warning I think too many Christians don’t think applies to them. And I believe the Church is seeing a negative effect as a result.

Paul says to guard your heart because if you don’t, you are in danger of walking away from the faith. He doesn’t say guard your heart because if you don’t, that means you were never really saved in the first place. He doesn’t say guard your heart because if you don’t, you won’t have an effective testimony.

Some translations say Paul begins verse 20 with the words, “Oh, Timothy.” Don’t you get loving Father vibes from that? Isn’t this the voice of someone who dearly loves and is pleading with his loved one to hang on, make good choices, be careful because the one who loves sees danger ahead? Even if verse 20 in your translations simply says, “Timothy” you can hear Paul’s love for and concern for young Timothy throughout the letter.

Here’s the thing. If Timothy was in no danger of wandering or walking away from the faith, there would be no reason for Paul to say anything. There is clearly a warning concerning a very real danger. For Paul to end his letter this way tells me this is urgent

I say the Church is seeing the negative effect of Christians not heeding this warning because of the false teaching that has infiltrated our ranks and is being accepted as truth. Too many Christians seem to think that because they are saved, God won’t let them go no matter what they do, or believe. So they accept the “godless chatter and the opposing ideas of what is falsely called knowledge” and don’t consider the consequences. They not only do not guard their hearts, they freely give their hearts to the lies.

We Christians, you and I, need to guard our hearts. How? Read the Bible. Do a word search and find all the verses that use the word you choose. Faith? Truth? Repentance? Sin? Hell? Money? Tolerance? Do you know for yourself what the Bible says about these things?

Find a Bible believing church and hold your pastor and teachers accountable for what they say. Ask questions. Research for yourself. Guard your heart.

Turn off the religious channels on your TV. I can confidently say there is more false teaching than truth there. Guard your heart.

Stop spending more time reading about the Bible than you do opening the pages of God’s Word and devouring it for yourself. It’s not up to an author to guard your heart. Guard your own heart.

Quit thinking God forgives all your sin because one day years ago you accepted Jesus as your Savior. Friend, it is true God forgives your sin… if you confess. You ought to be confessing and repenting every time God brings to mind a sin you are committing in the present. Don’t assume He turns a blind eye to any sin. Guard your heart.

I will say this: if Timothy, the young preacher entrusted with overseeing the Church, the spiritual son of Paul needed to guard his heart, I most certainly need to guard mine. I ought to be reading these verses and ask God, “Are you talking to me?”

Do you honestly think He would reply, “No. You’re the exception?”

Silence

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1&2 Samuel; 1&2 Kings; 1&2 Chronicles

Angie Smith (Seamless; Lifeway Publishers; 2018) points out that the books of Samuel and Kings are about the political history of Israel. Chronicles is about their religious journey during the same time period. (page 100) That said, I wonder why any preacher refuses to speak to current political issues when God Himself inspired twice as much attention on the political scene than He did the spiritual aspect.

I think we’ve become too comfortable with our heads in the sand. We convince ourselves that God will take care of the country. But if we can learn from Scripture that God uses us to take care of the country, we will speak up loud and strong.

God uses our voices to make His voice heard. God uses our hands and feet to stand up against evil. And, sadly, God uses our silence to mete out punishment we deserve.

German pastors were silent in the 1940’s.

Are we trying to fight this war against evil simply sitting in our pews with hands raised and eyes closed? We say God is on our side, when what we really mean is we expect God to fight while we sit back and cheer Him on. That’s a horrible battle plan.

Pastors, we sheep need you to protect us. We need to know the enemy. We need to be led in this battle. Name names. Bring the facts. Be political.

Jesus was. He railed against the religious political machine. But he also addressed the government. “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s.” (Mark 12:17)

I guess we can continue to stay silent. God’s given us that choice. But understand silence is not golden. It is never golden. It’s a tool of the enemy we willingly hand over to him. It’s easier that way.

And it will be our ruin. Just read the Bible and see for yourself.

Say Your Name

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Genesis 32

I love that, and am convicted by the fact that, before God would bless Jacob He made him say his name – DECEIVER. Jacob had lived his life as a deceiver. God wanted him to own up to it.

Sometimes I think we make it too easy for people we want to lead to the Lord, and perhaps we lead them into a false Christianity without meaning to. We tell them Jesus died to pay for our sins, that if we confess that we are sinners in need of the Savior, “He is faithful and just to forgive our sins…”

That’s all true. Hallelujah!

But is acknowledging our “sins” the same as owning up to them? We aren’t all adulterers, but some people are. We aren’t all liars, but some people do lie. We aren’t all thieves, but there are some who take things that don’t belong to them. We aren’t all narcissistic, but some people look at the world through a very self-centered lens.

If I simply have to ask God to forgive my sins, I don’t have to look inside my heart. I don’t have to confront the specific things I have done to anger and offend Him. I don’t have to look at the areas where I disobey and reject Him. It’s much easier to acknowledge that I, along with every other human being, have fallen short of God’s demands.

Which makes me recognize the fact that God didn’t ask Jacob to state his gender or his membership in the human race. He said: What is your name?

So what name is God asking you to declare? Cheat? Arrogant? Homosexual? Gossip? Angry? Unforgiving? Deceiver? You all know that list of names is long. You won’t identify as all of them. You will identify as some.

After Jacob identified himself as a deceiver, God changed his name to Israel, “You have struggled with God and with man and have prevailed.” (28b) He went from one who lied and cheated to get what he wanted, to someone who struggled between the evil within him and the God who wanted better for him – and Israel won! He later confessed that he was amazed that He had seen God face to face, and God spared him.

I challenge us all to take an honest inventory of our hearts’ condition. Hear God asking us to say our name so that He can change it into something God-honoring and beautiful.

Is Holiness Outdated?

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1 Corinthians 5&6

Paul reminds me that we Christians, God’s body, His temple, represent Him to the world. If we treat sin in our midst like the world treats sin (with tolerance or celebration or with compromise), what does that say about the Holiness of God? If we allow quarreling and gossip in our midst, what picture of God does a non-believer see?

Yes, we should be calling each other out for unrepentant sin. We ought to be protecting the Holiness of God in our fellowships.

I think it’s addressing the plank in our collective eye so that we can address sin in our neighborhoods.

I think the fact we don’t address sin in the church has resulted in the accurate accusation that Christians are hypocrites. Maybe it’s time the Church stops making excuses, that we quit compromising, and reset our standard of living to holiness.

Holiness.

That’s who God is. He deserves (and demands) that His Body reveal His holiness to the world.

Self-Control

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Titus 2

The last aspect of the Fruit of the Spirit described by Paul in Galatians 5 is self-control. Those of you who know me know self-control flies out the window when I’m holding a bag of potato chips. I almost never have an open bag in my pantry because once I start, I can’t stop eating until the last chip is gone. I’m out of control. Or at least that’s what I tell myself.

Boy, am I under conviction today. Studying these facets of the Fruit of the Spirit these past few weeks has made me aware that because the Spirit lives in me, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, and gentleness live in me. I’m ok with that. In fact, I welcome that and pray those aspects of Christ in me can be clearly seen by others.

But then Paul ends with self-control. (as the ladies in my Sunday School class would say: Now he’s meddling!)

Ugh! After today I can never again say I have no self-control when it comes to chips. Self-control lives in me.

Jonathan Landry Cruse, in his book entitled The Character of Christ; the Fruit of the Spirit in the Life of our Savior (Versa Press; 2014) says that self-control is the ability to be controlled, not by self, but by the Holy Spirit. (p 143). In other words I have the control to turn over the control to the Spirit.

Paul, in his letter to Titus, has a lot to say about the Spirit-fueled self-control. He doesn’t let any of us off the hook. In verse 11 he assures us that it is the grace of God that brings salvation, then shows us how to live sensibly and godly.

Jesus demonstrated self-control when He was tempted by Satan in the wilderness, when He didn’t call down fire from heaven at the suggestion of his disciples when some people rejected Him, when He stood quietly before Pilate and heard the lies told about Him, and when he didn’t turn the soldiers who beat Him and nailed Him to the cross into toads.

That same self-control lives in me. I can never again claim I have no self-control. I use my chip weakness as an example of any sin I allow to over-power me. If I give into a sin, I quench the Holy Spirit in me. I demonstrate I have SELF-control. And that’s a sin.

I don’t think it’s a coincidence Paul ended his description of the Fruit of the Spirit with self-control. Without choosing to relinquish my will, and the control over my life to the Spirit I cannot produce the Fruit of the Spirit in me. It’s not me producing anything by my own effort. It’s being firmly attached to the Vine, growing in grace and knowledge of Jesus, reflecting more of Him today than was evident yesterday, and allowing Him to fill me, and use me for His glory.

The Fruit of the Spirit. May it have fertile soil in my heart from which to grow, mature, and produce the harvest God intends. I pray the same for you.

Goodness

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Romans 7:14-25

When the rich young ruler in Luke 18 called Jesus “Good,” Jesus asked him why he addressed Him like that. Was the young man acknowledging Jesus was God? There is no goodness apart from God.

This world is corrupt – not because God isn’t a good God – but because our hearts are desperately evil. Those who question the goodness of God ought first to look in the mirror, then look at the cross. While we were still sinners Jesus died to save us. It doesn’t get much more gooder than that!

Look at this amazing creation. The warmth of the sun, the air we breathe, love and laughter, hearts that beat, and the ability to enjoy it all. It all points to a good God.

God’s good Spirit in us produces attitudes and actions that are good. I love how Paul explains it because I relate. No matter how hard I try to be good, I end up failing. I desire to do better, but the harder I try, the harder I fall. If I can be as honest as Paul is in these verses, I will admit that there really isn’t a whole lot of good in me.

So who can save me from this body of death, this pitiful excuse for goodness?

Jesus! When I accept His grace and submit to His will, He is free to live His goodness through me. What an awesome privilege. May God’s goodness, not a poor imitation of my own doing, be seen in me today.