Why Be Faithful To Your Wife?

25 years ago, Randy Alcorn made a list of consequences to being immoral. In light of the recent sin of the Governor of South Carolina, Alcorn released his list on his blog.

• Grieving my Lord; displeasing the One whose opinion most matters.
• Dragging into the mud Christ's sacred reputation.
• Loss of reward and commendation from God.
• Having to one day look Jesus in the face at the judgment seat and give an account of why I did it. Forcing God to discipline me in various ways.
• Following in the footsteps of men I know of whose immorality forfeited their ministry and caused me to shudder. List of these names:
• Suffering of innocent people around me who would get hit by my shrapnel (a la Achan).
• Untold hurt to Nanci, my best friend and loyal wife.
• Loss of Nanci's respect and trust.
• Hurt to and loss of credibility with my beloved daughters, Karina and Angela. ("Why listen to a man who betrayed Mom and us?")
• If my blindness should continue or my family be unable to forgive, I could lose my wife and my children forever.
• Shame to my family. (The cruel comments of others who would invariably find out.)
• Shame to my church family.
• Shame and hurt to my fellow pastors and elders. List of names:
• Shame and hurt to my friends, and especially those I've led to Christ and discipled. List of names:
• Guilt awfully hard to shake—even though God would forgive me, would I forgive myself?
• Plaguing memories and flashbacks that could taint future intimacy with my wife.
• Disqualifying myself after having preached to others.
• Surrender of the things I am called to and love to do—teach and preach and write and minister to others. Forfeiting forever certain opportunities to serve God. Years of training and experience in ministry wasted for a long period of time, maybe permanently.
• Being haunted by my sin as I look in the eyes of others, and having it all dredged up again wherever I go and whatever I do.
• Undermining the hard work and prayers of others by saying to our community "this is a hypocrite—who can take seriously anything he and his church have said and done?"
• Laughter, rejoicing and blasphemous smugness by those who disrespect God and the church (2 Samuel 12:14).
• Bringing great pleasure to Satan, the Enemy of God.
• Heaping judgment and endless problems on the person I would have committed adultery with.
• Possible diseases (pain, constant reminder to me and my wife, possible infection of Nanci, or in the case of AIDS, even causing her death, as well as mine.)
• Possible pregnancy, with its personal and financial implications.
• Loss of self-respect, discrediting my own name, and invoking shame and lifelong embarrassment upon myself.

Children Without Gender

Here is an alarming development. Parents believe that it is cruel to raise a child with a gender distinction, and so they are seeking to keep the gender a secret, and raise the child with no mention of gender at all.

Here is part of the article:

"Pop’s parents, both 24, made a decision when their baby was born to keep Pop’s sex a secret. Aside from a select few – those who have changed the child’s diaper – nobody knows Pop’s gender; if anyone enquires, Pop’s parents simply say they don’t disclose this information.

In an interview with newspaper Svenska Dagbladet in March, the parents were quoted saying their decision was rooted in the feminist philosophy that gender is a social construction.

“We want Pop to grow up more freely and avoid being forced into a specific gender mould from the outset,” Pop’s mother said. “It's cruel to bring a child into the world with a blue or pink stamp on their forehead.”"

To ignore gender is to ignore a critical aspect of God's creation.

Here is the full article.
http://www.thelocal.se/20232/20090623/

For Whom Do You Parent?

For whom do you parent? When I look honestly at my motivations, I find that I often view parenting from the wrong perspective. Sometimes I am concerned about what others will think of me - so I parent with people in mind. Sometimes I am concerned about being a good pastor. I want to be an encouraging example - so I parent with the church in mind. On "good days" I am concerned about what kind of men my sons will become - so I parent with my boys in mind.

Now honestly, those motivations are not bad. I should be concerned about my testimony, the church and my son's future. However, none of those motivations go far enough. We are not parenting for the sake of other people. Frankly, we are not even parenting for the sake of our children. We are parenting for God.

Today, as you parent your children, think less about what other parents think of you. Think less about how your children will turn out. Instead, think more about what you can do and say that will cause Christ to say "well done" when you stand before Him.

"Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men."
Colossians 3:23

How Jesus Described The Pharisees

Just because it is interesting, I offer you this list of the various things Jesus said about the Pharisees. Lets not be Pharisees or raise our children to be Pharisees!

* Mark 7:3 They do not eat unless they carefully wash their hands.
* Mark 7:3 They observe the traditions of the elders.
* Mark 7:6 They honor Christ with their lips.
* Mark 7:6 Their hearts are far from Christ.
* Mark 7:7 They worship Christ in vain.
* Mark 7:7 They teach the precepts of men as if they were doctrines.
* Mark 7:8 They neglect the commandments of God.
* Mark 7:8 They hold to the tradition of men.
* Luke 18:9 They trust in themselves that they are righteous.
* Luke 18:9 They view others with contempt.
* Matthew 23:1 They have seated themselves in the chair of Moses.
* Matthew 23:3 They say things and do not do them.
* Matthew 23:4 They tie up heavy burdens and lay them on men?s shoulders.
* Matthew 23:4 They are unwilling to lift even one finger in easing another man's burden.
* Matthew 23:5 They do deeds to be noticed by men.
* Matthew 23:5 They wear religious garments to appear spiritual.
* Matthew 23:6 They love the place of honor at banquets.
* Matthew 23:6 They love the best seats in the synagogues.
* Matthew 23:7 They love receiving respectful greetings.
* Matthew 23:8 They love religious titles
* Matthew 23:13 They are hypocrites.
* Matthew 23:13 They shut off the kingdom of heaven from people.
* Matthew 23:13 They do not enter the kingdom of heaven.
* Matthew 23:13 They prohibit those who are entering the kingdom from going in.
* Matthew 23:14 They devour widows? houses.
* Matthew 23:14 They make long prayers for a pretense.
* Matthew 23:14 They will receive greater condemnation.
* Matthew 23:15 They travel around on sea and land to make one proselyte.
* Matthew 23:15 They make their proselytes into sons of hell.
* Matthew 23:16 They are blind guides.
* Matthew 23:16 They are fools.
* Matthew 23:23 They tithe.
* Matthew 23:23 They neglect justice.
* Matthew 23:23 They neglect mercy.
* Matthew 23:23 They neglect faithfulness.
* Matthew 23:24 They focus on minor issues and ignore big issues.
* Matthew 23:25 They make sure to look good on the outside.
* Matthew 23:25 They are full of robbery.
* Matthew 23:25 They are full of self-indulgence.
* Matthew 23:28 They outwardly appear righteous to men.
* Matthew 23:28 They are inwardly full of hypocrisy.
* Matthew 23:28 They are inwardly full of lawlessness.
* Matthew 23:29 They build tombs for dead religious leaders.
* Matthew 23:29 They visit the graves of the righteous.
* Matthew 23:30 They claim that they would not have committed the sins of their forefathers.
* Matthew 23:33 They are serpents.
* Matthew 23:33 They will not escape hell.

Learn While You Are Young

"We never lose the skills and abilities we develop when we are young.
We tend to get better at them with age. We should always learn
everything we can while we are young. Things we can learn now, we may
never be able to go back and learn later. So don't miss out. Get busy
right away."

Jeffrey Zakula

As a parent, do you ever find yourself thinking "I wish I had learned
that while I was a kid?" I seem to be thinking that a lot lately. I
have resolved to take two steps with my sons. (1) I will encourage
them to learn all they can while they are young. (2) I will try to
emphasize things that are truly important and not waste time with the
trivial.

My goal will be that as they look back, they will only infrequently
wish they would have learned something they did not.

Classical Conversations

I had a great opportunity on Saturday night. I was privileged to host the Cary chapter of "Classical Conversations." Classical Conversations teaches home educating parents and students the classical method of learning, in order to discover God's created order and beauty.

http://www.classicalconversations.com

It was fun for me to listen to the children sing, read papers they had written, recite facts from history and science and display their art. Those kids had learned so much about the world (that God created) and about history (over which God is sovereign).

In addition to the joy of hearing from the kids, it was great to meet the parents and leaders of such a fine group. If you educate your children at home, I recommend that you find a Classical Conversations group near you. There is a group finder on their website.

Quest for March 25

Today in Quest we studies 1Samuel 13. Here are discussion questions for your consideration:

Have you ever had a really good reason as to why you disobeyed God? Are our explanations as to why do did not do God's will ever adequate?

In this chapter, Saul considered a ritual to be essential, but prophetic direction from God to be dispensable. Read Matthew 23:23. How do the words of Jesus put Saul's actions into perspective?

Consider the departure of Samuel, the spokesman for God, from Saul's presence. Also, read Amos 8:11-12. Do you think that we adequately value our constant access to God's Word?