Five Solas Help You Discern What to Avoid Watching

Dan Strange

In this post, I want to tackle the much-asked question: “As a Christian, is it ok for me to watch [insert generic TV show]?”  

Somewhat surprisingly, the 16th-century “Solas” (Latin for ‘alone’) of the Reformationact as a useful test or filter through which we can measure our cultural consumption and creation.   

Sola Scriptura 

“Scripture Alone” declares that the Bible is our ultimate authority and that we must interpret the world through the Word. This is not just thinking about the Bible but thinking through the Bible—thinking biblically about everything else. 

So it’s not about cherry-picking verses, stories, and isolated truths, but going deep—going “meta.” The Bible has repeated structures and patterns which act as a pair of x-ray goggles we put on to see all the world all the time as it really is. 

If we don’t discern, articulate, and persuade others with the Bible’s blueprint for the flourishing of human life and culture, then others will with some other blueprint. Some other story. And ultimately these alternative stories are all hopeless. 

Sola Gratia 

“Grace alone” reminds us that our acceptance before God is not based on anything we “do” but what God has “done” in Christ. We contribute nothing. We can’t earn our salvation—it’s a free gift.  

What’s the cultural relevance of this? It means that our reason for watching or not watching something needs to be grace focused. We should be wary about any rationale for “No” that puts imperatives (e.g. be holy) before indicatives (e.g. you are holy in Christ). This order matters.  

If I’m saved by grace alone then the motive behind my cultural choices is not to keep rules to somehow impress God or prove myself worthy, but to love and honour God because of what he’s already done for me.  

Sola Fides 

“Faith alone” reminds me of the means through which I am united to Christ and receive all his benefits—it is through faith alone.  

These benefits include what John Calvin calls “double grace”. First, through our initial faith we are reconciled to God—Christ’s blameless record becomes our blameless record. Second, through our ongoing faith we are “sanctified by Christ’s spirit [so that] we may cultivate blamelessness and purity of life.”[1] 

Far from tip-toeing around simply trying to avoid evil, our living faith spurs us to pursue good works that spill out into our churches and communities, bringing blessings to individuals, families, and society at large: 

You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love. (Galatians 5:13) 

Our good works include our cultural endeavors, which are part of the way we have dominion and fill and subdue the earth.

Sola Christus 

“Christ alone” should act as a sobering reminder of our call to holiness. In 1 Peter, the apostle says that we are to live in “reverent fear” for we know that: 

it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.  (1:17-19)

We should be rightfully fearful of ever conducting ourselves in a way that suggests our new birth doesn’t matter—that Christ wasted his time when he laid down his life, and probably didn’t need to bother.

John Piper gives us a slap-around-the-face-wake-up-call here: “If we choose to endorse or embrace or enjoy or pursue impurity, we take a spear and ram it into Jesus’s side every time we do. He suffered to set us free from impurity.”[2] 

Sola Deo Gloria 

Finally, “God’s glory alone” is the glue which sticks all the solas together. It sums them all up: there’s nothing we bring, it’s all about him. 

So, whether or not God is being glorified is the ultimate litmus test of faithful cultural consumption and creation. Everything we do can be, and ought to be, done for his glory:  

Whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God (1 Corinthians 10 v 31). 

Posted at: https://unlockingthebible.org/2019/04/five-solas-help-discern-avoid-watching/

The Lord is.... My Strength

by Wendy Wood

Psalm 28:7-8 “The Lord is my strength and my shield; in him my heart trusts, and I am helped; my heart exults, and with my son I give thanks to him.  The Lord is the strength of his people; he is the saving refuge of his anointed.”

Psalm 46:1  “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.”

Exodus 15:2  “The Lord is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation; this is my God, and I will praise him, my father’s God, and I will exalt him.”

Psalm 118:14  “The Lord is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation.”

“I’m too tired.”

“I’m can’t do it.”

“I’m not the right person for this job.”

When we look at our circumstances and the tasks set before us, excuses leap to mind.  It is easy to look at ourselves, our weakness, our failings, our lack of knowledge, gifts, talents, or energy and not even try.  We get caught up in not wanting to fail, that we never even take the first step toward accomplishing anything.

Moses keeps us in good company.  When God approached Moses in the form of the burning bush, and called Moses to go to Pharaoh and lead the Israelites out of Egypt, Moses tried all kinds of excuses.

Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt? (Exodus 3:11)

If I come to the people of Israel and say to them, “The God of your fathers has sent me to you, and they ask me “What is his name?” what shall I say to them? (Exodus 3:13)

But behold, they will not believe me or listen to my voice, for they will say, “The Lord did not appear to you.” (Exodus 4:1)

Oh my Lord, I am not eloquent, either in the past or since you have spoken to your servant, but I am slow of speech and tongue.” (Exodus 4:10)

Oh my Lord, please send someone else. (Exodus 4:13)

Moses list of excuses, fearing his own lack of strength and ability, sound a lot like ours.  Essentially he says,

I’m not the right person.

I won’t know what to say.

I won’t be believed.

I’m not a good speaker.

I’m just don’t want to do it.

To each excuse God has a response.

I will be with you. (Exodus 3:12)

I AM who I AM. (Exodus 3:14)

The Lord said to him, “What is that in your hand?... Throw it on the ground… and it became a serpent…  Put out your hand and catch it by the tail… and it became a staff in his hand.. That they may believe that the Lord, the God of their fathers… has appeared to you. (Exodus 4:3-5)

Who made man’s mouth? (Exodus 4:11)

And then the Lord sends Aaron to help Moses speak. (Exodus 4:14)

We have good reason to doubt our own strength.  Scripture tells us that we are like a mist that appears for a short time and then vanishes.  Scripture tells us that we are like grasshoppers in comparison to the greatness of God. Scriptures reminds us that we are dust.  We are jars of clay. The pictures used to describe humans are frail and small. First Corinthians 4:7 reminds us that God has given us every talent, gift, strength, and weakness that we have.  “What do you have that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it?” God knows the strength, or lack of it, that we have because he has apportioned it to us.  The question is, do you rely on your own strength, or on God’s?

God is strength for the weary.

Following Christ is hard.  It is easy for us to get overwhelmed with life.  It’s easy to get discouraged in our circumstances and allow our eyes to focus on our problems rather than on Christ.  At times we run to God in his word and in prayer, but at times we shuffle toward him or collapse in the exhaustion of waiting for an answer or from the pain of trials and suffering.  But God is our strength! God never gets tired! God never has less energy or less power. God doesn’t “use up” his strength as he continually works to sustain all life every moment of every day.  He never has more strength or less strength. He doesn’t need to sleep and “recharge his batteries”. He never needs solitude and quiet to renew his strength. He never changes! His strength is perfect at all times!

Isaiah 40:28-31  “Have you not known?  Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth.  He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength.  Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.”

There is no need to fear that we won’t be able to finish the race with Christ.  We run with perseverance because He is our strength. God does not call us to follow him and then leave us on our own to keep up with him and sustain ourselves.  God is our strength!

God is strength for the weak.

We associate weakness with wimpiness.  We think of weakness as one of the worst possible traits a person can have.  Self-sufficiency is prized and strived for. However, we all know we are weak.  And that’s a good thing!

Paul goes through a long list of strength in 2 Corinthians 11.  He gives his pedigree as a sign of his strength. He is a Hebrew, an Israelites, an offspring of Abraham, a better servant of Christ, his labors are greater, his sufferers have been worse, his imprisonments have been longer.  He lists things that should be considered strength to society. Paul has the background and the proven track record of strength in enduring terrible circumstances. Yet instead of boasting of his accomplishments, he boasts of God’s strength that has been the force behind every single thing he has done.

“So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited.  Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me.  But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” (2 Corinthians 12:7-10)

Paul knew his own weakness.  He knew he wouldn’t be able to preach God’s word faithfully and endure hardship in a God-honoring way without God’s strength.  He boasted of his own weakness, knowing that God alone was the strength that helped him endure.

You will miss out on God’s strength if you always stay within your comfort zone. God’s strength shines in weakness, when we step outside of our own ability, and have to trust God in a new or scary experience, we see at work.  If we continue in old habitual responses, or stay close to what we are sure will go easy and smoothly for us, we fail to rely on God’s strength.

God is our strength.  When you think you can’t possible respond well to a hurtful spouse, God is your strength.  When your teenagers have rebelled and you want to run and hide, God is your strength. When you are asked to do an assignment that you think is too big or too scary, God is your strength.  When 1 Corinthians 13:10 promises that there is a way out of temptation, God is saying that he is the strength behind finding the way out of your circumstance that pleases him. We don’t do anything of eternal value in our own strength.  We rely on God to work through us.

God gives us the spirit of power.  “For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands, for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control” (2 Timothy 1:6-7).  This spirit of power is the same spirit that raised Christ from the dead and now dwells in you (Romans 8:11). Jesus himself said “I can do nothing on my own.” Christ also was dependent on the power of God to accomplish the will of God.  God delights to give his children the power to glorify his name. Whenever we respond in denying ourselves, the strength of God enables it, which is why it is pleasing to God. When you are tempted to a sinful response, but stop and trust God and his promises, you display the strength of God.  

Questions to Consider:

When was the last time you took a risk for God?  Maybe you shared the gospel even though your heart was pounding?  Maybe you choose to ask for forgiveness first even though the other person had sinned too.  Maybe you chose to respond kindly to a harsh word trusting God’s promise to experience peace and rest for your soul when you seek to please him.

If you can’t remember the last time you did something that required God’s strength, what will you do now?

The Lord is.... My Portion

by Wendy Wood

Lamentations 3:24  “The Lord is my portion”, says my soul, “therefore I will hope in him”.

Psalm 16:5  “The Lord is my chosen portion and my cup; you hold my lot.”

Psalm 73:26  “My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.”

Psalm 142:5  “I cry to you, O LORD, I say, “You are my refuge, my portion in the land of the living.”

A portion is an amount that satisfies.  A portion is neither too big, nor too little.  When you go to Claim Jumpers restaurant, you a are served a gigantic dinner on an even bigger plate.  You either leave with a box of food left over or you are uncomfortably full for the rest of the day and maybe even the next day.  The meals at Claim Jumpers are bigger than a portion. On the other hand, you may go to a super fancy restaurant that focuses on the presentation of food, and you have an expensive meal but it is too small to fill you up.  After dinner, you are still hungry. This is probably a ploy to get you to order a beautiful looking, but small, dessert, too. Neither of these scenarios is a true biblical “portion”.

“The Lord is my portion” means that God is everything we need to be rightly satisfied.  He gives us all that we need in the perfect quantity at the perfect time. We live in a culture of “super size” and “big box” stores.  We are people who are constantly looking for more and more. Whether it is food for a meal or storing up food in a pantry, we tend toward wanting more than enough.  The Lord is my portion is God’s call for us to find complete contentment in him.

Proverbs 30 quotes the wise words of Agur son of Jakeh.  He says in verses 8 and 9, “give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with the food that is needful for me, lest I be full and deny you and say, ‘Who is the Lord?’ or lest I be poor and steal and profane the name of my God.”  This Psalmist knew the dangers of having too much or too little. In either case, we tend to forget God. When we have riches too many, we start to depend on the riches and seek more and more. When we have too little, we start to worry about the future and take matters into our own hands to get more.  We deny God and place our trust in our riches or ourselves. God gives each of us what is “needful for me”. God knows your heart perfectly. He knows what you need and what you don’t need. He knows where you will be tempted and gives you the right portion to sanctify you and draw you to himself.

The Lord is my portion means that I am content when my eyes are focused on him and not my circumstances.  Psalm 90:14 says, “Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love, that we may rejoice and be glad in all our days.”  To “satisfy” is to “fulfill the desires, expectations, or needs of a person and give full contentment to a person”. God, in Christ, has fulfilled our greatest desire and need.  He has given us everything we need in Christ to be content and enjoy him forever. Philippians 4:19 tells us “And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.”  When we are discontent, when we are striving for more and struggling to get what we want, we are not trusting in the glory of Christ. God’s supply of riches in glory in Christ are listed in Ephesians 1. God has given us “every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places”.  He “chose us in him [Christ]”, he made us “holy and blameless before him”, “he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ”, “in him we have redemption”, “the forgiveness of our tresspasses”. The list goes on and on. The Lord is our portion. He has given us everything we need to be satisfied.  He has given us everything we need to be justified and made right with him, which is our greatest need.

Is the Lord your portion?  Jesus said “Do not labor for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you.  For on him God the Father has set his seal” (John 6:27). Are you working for “food” that perishes? A better question might be, “What food that perishes are you working for?”  Do you look to your phone to bring satisfaction after a long day at work? Do you stare at a screen to bring ease and comfort and rest? Do you look to your job for security in reputation and achievement trusting that bonuses or promotions will provide for you and your family?  Is your “food” having children that are well behaved and achieving success in school? Does your satisfaction or contentment come and go with circumstances or times of plenty and famine? Jesus declares, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger and whoever believes in me shall never thirst” (John 6:35).  Jesus is the perfect portion for your heart. He fills our deepest longings and needs so that we can rest content without hunger or thirst for anything else.

The “bread of life” is found in the promises of God which meet every need both present and future.  The Lord is my portion because he is faithful to his promises.

Isaiah 41:10 “Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your

God; I will strengthen you, I will help you; I will uphold you with my

righteous right hand.”

The presence of God, his strength and help, his grip on you are what you need.  Those are your portion.

Revelation 21:3  “And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Behold,

the dwelling place of God is with man.  He will dwell with them, and they

will be his people, and God himself with be with them as their God.”

Eternity is secure for all who place their hope and trust in Christ.  The guarantee of eternity with God, living in his presence, is the portion our souls need.

Philippians 1:6  “And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in

you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.”

God promises to bring to work the process of salvation that started when elected you, called you, regenerated, you, converted you, justified you, adopted you and sanctified you.  He will keep you persevering until you are glorified. Romans 8:30 again promises that “Those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.”  Your portion is secure! He gives everything you need to bring him to himself and to keep you for all eternity.

Hebrews 13:6  “So we can confidently say, “The Lord is my helper; I will not

fear, what can man do to me?”

God promises to be our helper!  We have no need to fear over what man can do.  When Joseph’s brothers came to him, he declared “What man meant for evil, God meant for good” (Genesis 50:20).  Everything that happens to us, including the sin of others, God uses for His glory which is what is good for us.  Our portion is forever, eternally linked in union with Christ. Our greatest need, to have the Lord be our helper, has been met.

Psalm 16:11 “You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; in your right hand are pleasures forevermore.”  God’s path of life looks different from our culture. Culture tells us to seek more riches. Culture tells us we need to newest and latest technology and fashion.  Culture tells us we need a newer car and an expensive education. Culture tells us we should hold a grudge and make someone pay for their sins against us. Culture tells us to save up money so we can retire early.  Culture tells us to have relationships for happiness. God calls us to give generously. God calls us to love our enemies. God calls us to be humble and allow our relationships to sanctify us for his purpose.

Questions to consider:

Are you content?  Do you spend time wishing you had different circumstances or different people around you?

What things do you have on “bucket lists” of things to do, buy, or accomplish that will make you happier?  How is this not trusting that the Lord is your portion?

The Lord is.... My Rock

by Wendy Wood

Psalm 18:2  “The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.”

Deuteronomy 32:4  “The Rock, his work is perfect, for all his ways are justice.  A God of faithfulness and without iniquity, just and upright is he.”

Isaiah 26:4  “Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord God is an everlasting rock.”

The word “rock” in scripture refers to a cliff, a boulder, or a huge rock.  This is not a pebble or a small stone you would throw and skip on a lake. A rock is a solid, large, immovable object.  God refers to himself as a rock because large rocks don’t move. “A rock is battered by a storm and it does not bend. The waves beat against it but it does not fall.  Our weight presses down on it but it does not sink. That is our God: always perfect; always just; always faithful; righteous and upright; never unjust. So you can trust him and cling to him today, tomorrow and every day.”

“The Lord is my rock” means that when life seems uncertain, or when people betray you, or when everything around you is changing, God is sure, faithful and unchanging.  “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever.”  The Lord is dependable.  The Lord is the one constant in life you can always count on.  He is faithful and will never let you down. He is unchanging so his ways and purpose remain the same in bringing honor to himself and working all things for the good of believers.  When your circumstances seem bad to you, you have a rock to depend on.  

This is what Joseph did when he spend over 20 years struggling in Egypt after being sold into slavery.  Joseph’s brothers threw him in a pit, sold him to slave traders, covered his coat with blood and told their father he had been killed.  Joseph was falsely accused of sexual assault and thrown in jail. Joseph was forgotten about in jail and left there an extra two years. Through all of this, God, the Rock, had a plan and was working all things for his purpose.  God had never left Joseph. God had never diverted from his plan. No one had thwarted God’s plan.  Everything was working out exactly as God ordained.  

In the midst of difficulty, suffering, false accusations, and fear of the unknown, there is a Rock you can lean on.  God the rock is unchanging, unwavering, solid, immovable, and constant. You can go to the rock for comfort and to find sure footing. When everything in life is shifting in your circumstances, lean on the Rock.

Another aspect of “God is my rock” is the title “cornerstone”.  

Matthew 21:42-44 says,

“Jesus says to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures:

“The stone that the builders rejected

has become the cornerstone;

this was the Lord’s doing,

and it is marvelous in our eyes?”

There I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing its fruit. And the one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces and when it falls on anyone, it will crush him”.

Jesus is the cornerstone.  A cornerstone is a huge rock that unites two masonry walls.  It is a stone representing the starting place. It is essential to a large building.  

Jesus is the rock of faith.  He is the rock of the church.  All believers must have Christ as the starting place.  His gospel remains essential to faith and a relationship with God forever.  Rejecting Jesus as the cornerstone means that you will be crushed by the weight of your own sin.  Jesus is the only way to God.

Do you take time to think about the cornerstone of your faith?  Do you daily think about what Christ has done for you and that it is his completed work on the cross that gives stability and surety of your relationship with God?

God is my rock means that God is like no one else!  Deuteronomy 32:31 says, “For their rock is not like our Rock, as even our enemies concede.”  There is nothing that can replace God. There is no one who loves like God loves. There is no one who gives grace like God gives grace.  There is no one who rules justly like God rules justly. There is none like Him! Sometimes we try to substitute other gods in place of God.  We might believe that reputation, being loved by our spouse, achievements at work or school, having nice stuff, will provide the hope and peace that we so desperately want.  But, God is clear that nothing and no one can replace him. As creatures made by God, we were made to need him and depend on him. Nothing else can fill the God-shaped hole in our souls.  1 Samuel 2:2-3 says “There is no one holy like the Lord; there is no one besides you; there is no Rock like our God.  Do not keep talking so proudly or let your mouth speak such arrogance, for the Lord is a God who knows, and by him deeds are weighed.”  No one is like God.

Questions to consider:

What are you looking to to be your rock?  Are you trying to depend on your spouse or your kids, or your job, or something else to give you stability and hope?

Only God is the rock that is dependable, unchanging, and who can withstand the weight of your hopes.  

The Lord is.... My Light

by Wendy Wood

Psalm 27:1 “The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?  The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?”

John 8:12  “Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world.  Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

1 John 1:5  “This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.”

Light is defined as “something that makes things visible or affords illumination”.  Light makes things clear and able to distinguish. When we are in the dark, it is difficult to see objects clearly.  We may stumble around our house, tripping on things left on the floor, banging our knees against the coffee table, stub a toe on the corner of the doorway, all because we don’t see clearly what is around us.  Darkness can also be a place of fear. Walking down a dark street, we tend to look around us with fear. Our hearts will beat a little faster, our senses will be on full alert and we walk faster trying to get to a lighted area.  Darkness reveals our weakness and timidity. Darkness inhibits life. Things that are alive need light to grow and flourish. Without the sun, our universe’s source of light, there would be no life. Earth would be left cold and dead.  Plants must have light to go through the process of photosynthesis. This allows plants to produce food and oxygen for all life on earth. Darkness leaves us blind, fearful and lifeless.

But, if we have light, all that changes.  Light gives us the ability to see things clearly, to experience life, and to have courage.  God is light. God gives us the ability to see Him clearly and to see ourselves clearly in relation to Him.  God gives us life. He is the Creator of life and sustainer of life. In Him we have eternal life. God is the source of courage.  It is in His strength and presence that we can act boldly in faith.

Psalm 119:130 tells us “The unfolding of your words gives light; it imparts understanding to the simple.”  Without God’s word, we are left unable to see clearly, trying to figure out life on our own. We are self centered and look for ways to solve our problems on our own.  We are not meant to do this. We are creatures. We are sinful. We are dependent on God for everything. Before the fall in Genesis 3, man was made to depend on God for water, food, shelter, wisdom, understanding, and companionship.  God graciously gives us the light of his word. Psalm 119:25 says “My soul clings to dust; give me life according to your word.” On our own, we cling to worthless things. We are blinded to seeing ourselves clearly. Our sin blinds us to our own sinfulness.  Jeremiah 17:9 reminds us that our hearts are deceitful and desperately wicked. Without the word of God, we fail to see our need for Christ. We are left to stumble and fall in the darkness of a sinful world. God is light. God’s word is light. God reveals himself to us.  God declares himself in Exodus 20:2 “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.” In Isaiah 43:3 God states, “For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.” In John 14:6 Jesus makes known, “I am the way, the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father except through me.”  God tells us who he is. He reveals himself in the light of his word. He is our God. He is our Creator. He is our Lord. He is our Savior. He is the way. He is truth. He is life. God shows us the way to think about him and us. Scripture tells us that we are sinners and that our sin separates us from God. “Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, or his ear dull, that it cannot hear; but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear” (Isaiah 59:1-2).  The light of God’s word exposes our sinfulness and reveals God’s holiness. In light of who God is and who we are, we see life clearly. We need a holy Savior and Redeemer. We need to depend on God to show us our sin. God’s word is “living and active, sharper than any double edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joint and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” God is light. He exposes our need for Him through the light of His word.

God is light.  He is the Creator and Giver of life.  “The Lord is my light and my salvation” (Psalm 27:1).  It is only in Christ, that we experience life. Light is necessary for our life.  John 1:3-4 says “All things were made through him and without him not any thing made that was made.  In him was life, and the life was the light of men.” We are born dead. Our sin separates us from God and makes us spiritually dead to truth.  Ephesians 2:1 says “And you were dead in the trespasses and sin in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience - among whom we are once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.”  We were dead. We all naturally choose sin and selfishness over God and others. God exposes our desperate situation and then is the answer to our problem. He is light and life. “In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight, making known to us the mystery of his will” (Ephesians 1:7-9a).  As the sun gives what is necessary for life on earth, God gives what is necessary for eternal life with him. God gave us Jesus. God gives us eternal life with him through faith in Jesus Christ. God lights the way out of slavery to sin and into the freedom to be a servant of Christ where true life and joy are found.

God is light.  He gives us courage and confidence to walk obediently with him through life.  God gives us the Holy Spirit to dwell in us and gives us his power to live life in him.  When Paul address Timothy in his second letter, Paul encourages Timothy that God has given him a spirit of power to live boldly.  “For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control. Therefore, do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but share in the suffering for the gospel by the power of God” (2 Timothy 1:7-8).  Instead of being fearful and worrying about what others think of us, or if we can handle a situation on our own, God is the light of courage. His spirit in us grants us everything we need to live content, obedient lives. When we fix our eyes on the Light, we see clearly that this world is not our home.  The courage to live a life that pleases God, not man (including ourselves), is a gift from the Light of the world. With light, we see clearly where God’s path goes. Psalm 119:9 tells us that we can keep our way pure by living according to his word. Psalm 119:19 says, “I am a sojourner on earth; hide not your commandments from me!”  “Your testimonies are my delight, they are my counselors” (Psalm 119:24). Psalm 119 is a beautiful song about the glories of God’s word. God’s word is the light to our path. He shows us the way we need to go and gives us the courage to walk that path. Throughout this chapter we see the psalmist entreating God to give him the strength and courage to live it out.  “Turn my eyes from looking at worthless things; and give me life in your ways” (verse 37). It is God who gives us the ability to be faithful. It is God who gives us power to change and be obedient. We participate with him by staying in his word, meditating on His attributes and commands. We step out in faith knowing the Light is always with us.

Which of these descriptions of light do you most need to cling to right now?  God’s light to reveal His own awesomeness and our sinfulness? God’s light to give eternal life in Christ?  Or God’s light to give courage in the face of eternity?

What needs to change in these areas in your thinking, believing, and acting?

Is God your Light?  How are you living in the Light?

The Lord is.... My Shepherd

by Wendy Wood

John 10:11  “I am the good shepherd.  The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.”

Psalm 23:1  “The Lord is my shepherd I shall not want.”

Isaiah 40:11 “He tends his flock like a shepherd: He gathers the lambs in His arms and carries them close to His heart; he gently leads those that have young.”

Sheep are dependent on their shepherd.  A flock of sheep will either flourish under a good shepherd or struggle under a bad shepherd.  A flock of sheep that is cared for by a selfless, gentle, kind, wise and brave shepherd will thrive and grow.  A flock of sheep under a careless, selfish, harsh shepherd will be thin, weak, riddled with disease and will fall prey to wolves and other wild animals.  Sheep are like humans in many ways and that is why God uses this analogy. Sheep are fearful, timid, stubborn and short-sighted. They wander and put themselves in danger.   When scripture refers to people as “sheep without a shepherd” (Numbers 27:17), it is not a compliment! We, too, are fearful, timid, stubborn, short-sighted and get ourselves into dangerous situations.  We were made to be dependent on God, even before the fall, and God is the only true Shepherd.

Jesus is the good shepherd.  He provides everything that we need.  “The Lord is my shepherd I shall not want.”  The NIV translation says, “The Lord is my Shepherd, I lack nothing.”  God, in Christ, has met every single one of our needs. In Christ, we have been justified and made right with God.  In Christ, we have forgiveness and freedom from being enslaved to sin. In Christ we have eternal life with God. In Christ, we have eternal hope and joy.  We lack nothing that we need. You may have some things that you want, but if that was what was best for you, you’d have it. Your good shepherd knows what you need and knows what is best for you.  Philippians 4:19 says “And my God will supply every need of yours according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.” The glory that is in Christ Jesus, the forgiveness, grace, mercy, and eternal life with God is all you need.  The Lord is your Shepherd and you lack nothing.

The good Shepherd makes you lie down in green pastures and leads you beside still waters.  Green pastures were hard to come by in the middle east, where David was shepherding when he wrote this Psalm.  A shepherd would have to seek out green pastures for sheep to graze and meticulously plan during dry seasons for the sheep to be fed.  Sheep only lie down when their stomachs are full. “He makes me lie down in green pastures” is a picture of God caring for us and making sure we have what we need.  “He leads me beside still waters” is another picture of God’s care and provision. Sheep will not drink from running water. A wise and good shepherd must find “still waters” and lead sheep there to drink.  God feeds and waters us through His word. He gives us “food that endures to eternal life” (John 6:27) and says to us, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.” (John 6:35).  God calls us to green grass and still waters. His ways, revealed in His Word and Son, are the best ways. God’s way of living leads to the rest and peace in our souls that sheep experience Our problem is that we think the grass is greener and the water is sweeter somewhere else.  We want to think that instead of overlooking a sin, holding a grudge will make the other person see their sin. Or we think that spending our money on ourselves will bring happiness instead of giving generously and trusting God’s word that it is better to give than receive. Only when we follow our Shepherd and listen to His voice will we find the contentment of green pastures and still waters.

The good Shepherd rescues His sheep and leads them back to the fold.  “I myself will tend my sheep and make them lie down, declares the Sovereign Lord.  I will search for the lost and bring back the strays.” (Ezekiel 34:15-16) Left on their own, sheep wander down wrong paths and get hurt or get devoured by wolves.  In Luke 15, Jesus tells the parable of a shepherd who has a hundred sheep and will leave the ninety-nine to find the one who has wandered off. God pursues us. John 10:27-28 tells us “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.  I give them eternal life, and they will never perish and no one will snatch them out of my hand.” Our shepherd holds onto us. Even when we wander, God pursues, rescues and restores us to the flock. A shepherd has two different instruments to use to bring back a wandering sheep.

“Your rod and your staff, they comfort me.” (Psalm 23:4)  The rod is a club like weapon that a shepherd uses to save the life of a sheep in trouble.  The rod could be used against a lion or bear, the object of danger, or the rod could be used on the sheep.  If a sheep was continually wandering off and putting itself in danger, the shepherd may strike the sheep, even breaking its leg, to keep the sheep from being killed by a wild animal.  The shepherd does not delight in hurting his sheep. But, it may be the most loving thing to do, and necessary to save the sheep’s life. If the shepherd has to break the sheep’s leg, the shepherd would lovingly bind the broken leg and then carry the sheep around his neck.  Keeping the sheep close to him, was the shepherd’s protection and loving care. As quoted above from Isaiah 40 “He tends his flock like a shepherd: He gathers the lambs in His arms and carries them close to His heart”.

The staff was a more gentle form of guiding sheep, keeping them on the right path, or lifting them over obstacles.  The staff is the candy-cane shaped crook that we associate with shepherds. The shepherd must be close to the sheep to use this tool, and guides the sheep through difficult circumstances or darkened paths at night.  The path remains the same. The path may be treacherous, dark, close to a cliff, or steep and rocky. The shepherd leads and guides the sheep down whatever path is necessary to get to the destination. The gentle nudge of the staff keeps sheep on the right track.  Or, the staff may lift a sheep over an obstacle that is too high or difficult for the sheep to maneuver alone. We experience both the rod and staff at times. Both tools are used in love and protection for us. Sometimes in life we need a rod to break us of a sin of commission or omission and God causes pain to rescue us and bring us back into close fellowship with Him.  Sometimes God uses a gentle prod of His word or a well spoken word from a friend to reveal changes we need to make. God is the good shepherd who loves us. He pursues us and rescues us from our own stubbornness and wrong choices.

Often times green pastures come after a steep rocky path.  The best path might look like the most difficult path, but that’s the one the Good Shepherd is on with you!

Questions to think about:

Are you enjoying the tender care of the Good Shepherd?

Are you resting in the loving care and provision of the Shepherd who knows what you need?  Or, what are the greener pastures you are pursuing?

Are you seeking the green pasture and quiet water of God’s word and Jesus’ grace?  Or, where are you trying to find your contentment?

What does the path of your life look like right now?  Are you on a steep rocky path or are you in the meadow?  What evidence do you see of your Shepherd near you? What evidence do you see that you are listening to your Shepherd’s voice and following Him?

God Rejoicing in the New Creation

In a sermon titled “God Rejoicing in the New Creation,” Charles Spurgeon said this:

I must confess that I think it a most right and excellent thing that you and I should rejoice in the natural creation of God. I do not think that any man is altogether beyond hope who can take delight in the nightly heavens as he watches the stars and feel joy as he treads the meadows all adorned with buttercups and daisies.

The man who is altogether bad seldom delights in nature. He cares little enough for the fields unless he can hunt in them, little enough for lands unless he can raise rent from them, little enough for living things except for slaughter or for sale. He welcomes night only for the indulgence of his sins, but the stars are not one half as bright to him as the lights that men have kindled. For him indeed the constellations shine in vain.

One of the purest and most innocent of joys, apart from spiritual things, in which a man can indulge is a joy in the works of God. I confess I have no sympathy with the good man, who, when he went down the Rhine, dived into the cabin that he might not see the river and the mountains, lest he should be absorbed in them and forget his Savior. I like to see my Savior on the hills and by the shores of the sea. I hear my Father’s voice in the thunder and listen to the whispers of his love in the cadence of the sunlit waves. These are my Father’s works, and therefore I admire them. I seem all the nearer to him when I am among them.

If I were a great artist, I should think it a very small compliment if my son came into my house and said he would not notice the pictures I had painted because he only wanted to think of me. In doing so he would condemn my paintings, for if they were good for anything, he would rejoice to see my hand in them. Oh, but surely everything that comes from the hand of such a master artist as God has something of himself in it! The Lord rejoices in his works. Shouldn’t his people do so? He said of what he had made, “It is very good.” If a man thinks that what God has made is not very good, he cannot be very good himself. In this he contradicts his God. It is a beautiful world we live in.

There are lovely spots on this fair globe which ought to make even a blasphemer devout. I have said, among the mountains, “He who sees no God here is mad.” There are things that God has made which overwhelm with a sense of his omnipotence: how can men see them and doubt the existence of the Deity? Whether you consider the anatomy of the body or the arrangement of the mighty heavens, you wonder that the scorner does not bow his head—at least in silence—and own up to the infinite supremacy of God.

O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! (Psalm 8:9)

Have a Healthy Fear of God

The coexistence of fear with joy and human flourishing seems to be difficult for many people to understand. Yet the psalmist says, “Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling” (Psalm 2:11). Fear and joy not only can exist at the same time, but must.

The combination of fear with joy is not limited to the Old Testament; the New Testament is full of warning passages directed at Christians (or at least those who have every outward indication of being saved) which draw their motivational force from the production of fear. These warning passages exist alongside assurance passages which stress the confidence, hope, security, and joy we have in our faith.

The Fear of Fear

Nonbelievers have long mocked and rejected the role of fear in Christian teaching and proclamation. Bertrand Russell famously focused on fear in his critique of Christianity in the early 20th century. He argued that, “Religion is based, I think, primarily and mainly upon fear. . . . Fear is the parent of cruelty, and therefore it is no wonder if cruelty and religion has gone hand-in-hand. It is because fear is at the basis of those two things.”

Christians likewise seem terribly afraid of fear. We want to stress motivation from positive emotions such as love and gratitude, and tend to be very uncomfortable with any use of fear appeals to motivate conversion or growth in holiness. Such fear of fear, however, comes at a cost, and the warning passages throughout Scripture suffer neglect or interpretive abuse as a result.

Many Christian leaders seem determined to convince their hearers that they should never experience any emotional discomfort when contemplating God’s holiness, justice, and judgment; “the fear of the Lord” is always understood to mean respect or awe and never, we are told, indicates that we should actually be afraid of God.

Divine Threats

This avoidance of fearful exhortation directed towards believers and unbelievers based on the reality of God’s holy and just judgment was not shared by the authors of the Bible. There is no space to explore the many warning passages, but we can briefly consider several direct threats from Jesus through John to his church in the book of Revelation.

Ephesus: “Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent” (Revelation 2:5).

Pergamum: “Therefore repent. If not, I will come to you soon and war against them with the sword of my mouth” (Revelation 2:16).

Thyatira: “Behold, I will throw her onto a sickbed, and those who commit adultery with her I will throw into great tribulation, unless they repent of her works” (Revelation 2:22).

Sardis: “Remember, then, what you received and heard. Keep it, and repent. If you will not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come against you (Revelation 3:3).

Laodicea: “I will spit you out of my mouth. . . . So be zealous and repent” (Revelation 3:16, 19).

John did not follow up on these threats by assuring his hearers that they didn’t really apply, weren’t really severe, or didn’t mean what they seemed to mean. He doesn’t seem worried about potential emotional discomfort; fear producing threats were necessary to wake up and shake up the Christians and motivate them to repentance, perseverance, and faithfulness.

So how do we reconcile the biblical use of fear appeals and threats with our widespread cultural conviction that such rhetoric should be rejected? Recent research by argumentation theorists on the evaluation of threats in argumentation points to several points for evaluation.

Legitimate Threats

The context is key for determining whether a threat is appropriate. For example, if a salesman concludes his sales pitch by threatening to punch you in the face if you don’t buy his vacuum cleaner, the context would suggest the threat is inappropriate. Likewise, you would not want to conclude a marriage proposal with a threat. But threats are appropriate in other contexts. An academic dean can threaten a student with expulsion for plagiarism and a judge can threaten to take away your license for drunk driving. The legitimacy of a threat depends upon the context and whether the threatener has legitimate authority.

The Bible reveals a God who is sovereign and powerful, the ultimate legitimate authority. Since he is our Creator, we belong to him and he has every right to command, threaten, and judge. This reality is, of course, offensive and contrary to ideas of ultimate human autonomy and self-determination. We want to be in charge, and we want to determine for ourselves what we should and shouldn’t do, but such aspirations don’t align with reality or human capacity. We will always fail when trying to play God; our frail human bodies weren’t built for that.

Threatened by Love

A legitimate authority can still be critiqued for the inappropriate, overbearing, or cruel use of threats, but at this point the character and intentions of the threatener become very important. Is the threatener cruel, vindictive, arbitrary, and reckless or loving, caring, and kind? What does the threatener intend by the threat? Does he intend to humiliate, manipulate, and harm or does he intend the threat to lead to well-being, wholeness, and flourishing?

God’s love for us in our brokenness and sin is a major theme throughout the Bible. While we were still weak, unrighteous sinners, God demonstrated his love for us through Jesus’s death on our behalf (Romans 5:8). God’s love for rebellious and broken humanity motivated him to send his Son to rescue us (John 3:16). God intends his warnings and threats to motivate us to repentance, perseverance, and growth in holiness — this is the way to shalom, wholeness, and human flourishing. Rejection of sin and pursuit of holiness leads to a life increasingly free from debilitating addictions and the sin that dehumanizes and destroys.

Living with Fear and Joy

Healthy fear and joy in the God of our salvation not only can go together, but must. We will never find joy in God while willingly and habitually living in unconfessed sin.

I don’t find the motivation to flee temptation and sin by assuring myself that sin isn’t dangerous or that my choices don’t matter; motivation comes, in part, by recognizing the terrible danger that sin poses, even for Christians. This fear, however, is not debilitating or destructive; it motivates us to cling closer to Christ in desperate and persevering faith and trust. Such constant dependence through faith produces an unspeakable and glorious joy (1 Peter 1:8).

Alexander Stewart is academic dean and associate professor of New Testament language and literature at Tyndale Theological Seminary in Badhoevedorp, the Netherlands.

Posted at: https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/have-a-healthy-fear-of-god?fbclid=IwAR3M2poRJoVDI97dYSeRznCaE_PN81ec5IEWvOCT7P5SKiyMX4fIdY9XR4M

Don't Mistake Your Passion for Theological Precision

By Kevin DeYoung

Caring Enough to Be Careful

I’m glad there are people in the world—most people in the world, it turns out—who know more about cars than I do. I don’t want good-natured well-wishers to replace my alternator. I want someone who has paid careful attention to the intricacies of auto repair. I want someone who cares about precision. I want someone who knows what he’s doing. I want an expert.

To act as if no one knows more than anyone else is not only silly; it’s also a serious mistake. In his book The Death of Expertise, Tom Nichols cites a survey from a few years ago in which enthusiasm for military intervention in Ukraine was directly proportional to the person’s lack of knowledge about Ukraine. It seems that the dumber we are, the more confident we are in our own intellectual achievements. Nichols relays an incident where someone on Twitter was trying to do research about sarin gas. When the world’s expert on sarin gas offered to help, the original tweeter (a world-class “twit” we might say) proceeded to angrily lecture the expert for acting like a know-it-all. The expert may not have known it all, but in this case, he knew exponentially more than someone crowdsourcing his research online. And when it comes to chemical warfare, I’d like my experts to have as much expertise as possible.

We’ve swallowed the lie that says that if we believe in equal rights, we must believe that all opinions have equal merit. Nichols also tells the story of an undergraduate student arguing with a renowned astrophysicist who was on campus to give a lecture about missile defense. After seeing that the famous scientist was not going to change his mind after hearing the arguments from a college sophomore, the student concluded in a harrumph, “Well, your guess is as good as mine.” At which point the astrophysicist quickly interjected, “No, no, no. My guesses are much, much better than yours.”1 There was nothing wrong with the student asking hard questions, or even getting into an argument. The problem was in assuming he had as much to offer on the subject after a few minutes of reflection as the scientist did after decades of training and research.

Requiring Rigorous Thinking

We live in an age where passion is often considered an adequate substitute for precision. Charles Spurgeon once advised young ministers that when drawn into controversy, they should “use very hard arguments and very soft words.”2 It’s a good thing Spurgeon never used social media! Too many tweets and posts specialize in overly hard words and especially soft arguments.

Many of us, even Christians, have little patience for rigorous thinking and little interest in careful definition. We emote better than we reason, and we describe our feelings better than we define our words, which is one reason we need to study old confessions written by dead people. Whatever errors of harshness or exaggerated rhetoric may have existed in earlier centuries of theological discourse, this much is wonderfully and refreshingly true: they were relentlessly passionate about doctrinal truth. They cared about biblical fidelity. They cared about definitions. And they cared about precision. Praise God, they cared enough to be careful. And in no Reformation-era confession or catechism do we see this so clearly as in the Canons of Dort.

Notes:

1. Tom Nichols, The Death of Expertise: The Campaign against Established Knowledge and Why It Matters (Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 2017), 82–83.

2. C. H. Spurgeon, Lectures to My Students, Complete and Unabridged (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1979), 173.

This article is adapted from Grace Defined and Defended: What a 400-Year-Old Confession Teaches Us about Sin, Salvation, and the Sovereignty of God by Kevin DeYoung.

Posted at: https://www.crossway.org/articles/dont-mistake-your-passion-for-theological-precision/

Chip Away at Your Child's Spiritual Growth

By Jen Oshman

My husband loves to tell the story of speaking with a World War II veteran almost 20 years ago. Mark was working at Oppenheimer Funds, advising and serving clients with their mutual funds. He got a call one day from a man in his 80s who, Mark quickly found out, had well over a million dollars in his account. 

Would you like to know the secret to his financial success? 

He put away $25 per month starting from the age of 18. That’s it. Nothing aggressive. No getting rich quick. Just small, slow, steady deposits each and every month. 

It reminds me of what my Crossfit coach says during seemingly insurmountable workouts: Chip away at it. Just chip away. 

It’s the principle of how you eat an elephant: one bite at a time. 

It’s the “daily drip of obedience” that my friend’s mentor admonished him to pursue. 

We humans are drawn to get rich quick schemes, to lose 10 pounds by this weekend diets, to the express lane. Like moths to a flame, we love instant gratification, magic formulas, and silver bullets. But we know silver bullets are rare. We know the truth is that real growth comes in one small, right decision after another. 

And so it is with bringing up children in the Lord. 

Late Easter (yesterday) afternoon I received a photo by text from a friend. It was of one of my teenage daughters leading a Sunday school class of toddlers through the twelve Resurrection Eggs. My friend said the kids were captivated, as she told the story of Jesus’s life, death, and resurrection using the eggs and the little figures they each contain. 

I immediately texted another photo back to my friend. It was of me about eight years ago doing the same thing: teaching the resurrection story to some young children, using the same eggs  at our church in Okinawa. 

Every Easter since my first daughter was born, I have used the Resurrection Eggs on Easter morning to tell my own children, as well as the children of our church, the story of Jesus. Each time I go through the story it only takes about ten minutes. There’s nothing fancy—no video or song or take-home craft. Just some eggs, some figures, some Bible knowledge, and a young, listening audience. 

Apparently my daughter has been listening, because without prompting from me or anyone else, she grabbed the eggs and did exactly what she has seen me do every Easter of her life. My small, steady investment paid off. 

This story is a simple one, but it’s one of many, now that my girls are all twelve and above, Mark and I keep witnessing the dividends of our small, but repetitive, investments. It has been in their outspoken refutation of a secular TV show, and their conversations with one another about what modesty is and what it isn’t, and their robust conversation in the car about how Jesus fulfilled the Old Testament laws (all three of these things transpired in the last week). 

You must believe me when I tell you that we have never done a whole lot in the way of spiritual formation with our kids. I can tell you honestly that is has just been one small bite every day. We’ve chipped away, unimpressively, at their spiritual growth. 

Our routines have usually consisted of the following: 

• asking the girls to keep some kind of Bible reading plan that they maintain on their own

• watching 10 minutes of global news together about four times a week and discussing it from a Biblical worldview 

• me reading a chapter a day (about 4/7 days a week) from some kind of spiritual formation book out loud (see my “Book Reviews” for ideas)

• praying together about 4/7 mornings a week for our family’s needs, missionaries, unreached people, our neighbors, and others

• eating most dinners together, praying as a family at dinner, and discussing my husband’s sermon or what’s going on in the world or in their own lives

• attending church (and serving) together every Sunday no matter what 

• Mark reading them a story before bed (about 4/7 times a week), praying with them, and often striking up a deep conversation about once a week

These few and simple tasks add up to mere minutes a day. They are routine and rythymic, but they are not deep or impressive in any way. And, as you can see, none of them happens every day. We aim for general consistency, but know that perfection is not at all realistic. 

And I’m seeing now that these small things make an impact. These seemingly insignificant habits have formed some significant things in my daughters: some solid theology, an ability to critique pop culture and media, a capacity to apply a biblical worldview to the news, an awareness of Bible stories and the so-what behind them, an understanding of Jesus’s life, death, and resurrection, and a desire to teach the Bible to younger children. 

God, in his mercy, has seen fit to impress one little truth upon another in their lives. Our tiny, but frequent (not perfect! not even daily!) investments are paying off. This is not to say—at all—that my girls have arrived. It is not to claim that they’ve made it to Christian maturity. There are still so many ways I look forward to seeing them grow. This is only to say that God has been faithful to us, in spite of our weak offerings, our imperfect skill, our laziness, our quick-get-this-done mentality at times.  

Like the millionaire on Mark’s phone call, setting aside a little something on a consistent basis has added up over time. Be encouraged. Your children are listening. Your children are absorbing. Your small monthly payment is going to pay off in a big way in the decades to come. 

Don’t believe the hype—you don’t need a silver bullet, a glossy kids program, a magical summer camp (though those can be sweet added bonuses). You just need a commitment to put in small amounts of time, consistently over time, and God will take care of the rest.

And then you’ll likely find yourself on the phone one day with a younger parent asking you how you became a millionaire in the spiritual formation of your kids. You will be able to tell them then that it was nothing fancy. You just protected and deposited a small amount each month, you chipped away at it, you took one bite at a time. 

Posted at: https://www.jenoshman.com/jen-oshman-blog/2019/4/22/chip-away-at-your-childrens-spiritual-growth