What they trust in is fragile; what they rely on is a spider’s web.
They lean on the web, but it gives way; they cling to it, but it does not hold.
After reading Job 8, I decided to do an object lesson with my kids. (Fellow moms, grandmas, Sunday School teachers, try this one out this Halloween! You can make every holiday—even Halloween—about Jesus!)
Read it!
“He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength.”
-Isaiah 40:29
Think it through
I don’t know about you, but this is when it starts to get really hard for me. Easter is still looking pretty far away… but all that Easter candy is staring me in the face whenever I enter a store. I’m not complaining—still smiling!—but it’s a fact that I’m getting tired of giving up chocolate.
This is the time to take a good look at how good we’re really doing with this Lenten fast. Truth always clears out spiritual clutter that’s rooted in feelings!
“Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks.”
-John 4:23
What’s your favorite way to relax and escape? You probably watch a few favorite TV shows. Maybe you love surfing the web, or playing game aps on your phone. Perhaps you do all three at the same time!
We have loads of ways to occupy our thoughts—plenty of false realities to choose from.
Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven.”
—John 6:32
You know how certain phrases become part of a family’s inner language? Someone says something so cute or funny that your family members keep repeating it… until it simply becomes a part of what you say to each other. A unique family saying with a special meaning all its own.
When my little sister was just a few years old, she inadvertently created one of our favorite family sayings. She looked at her dinner plate, heaved a huge sigh of contentment, and said dreamily, “Food makes me happy.”
Read it! John 8
“…and the truth will set you free.”
They answered him, “We are Abraham’s descendants and have never been slaves of anyone. How can you say that we shall be set free?”
(vs32&33)
Think it through
Viewing ourselves through the lens of truth is difficult.
Jesus told the Jews that his teachings, the truth, would set them free, but they just looked at one another and shrugged. They were living in a land where they were officially free—free to live and love and work and marry and worship their God. (Sound familiar?)
But Jesus explained that everyone who sins is a slave to sin. Not free, but bound by the habit of repeating our mistakes and the consequences of each choice. And we often miss this crucial perspective altogether.
I love movies almost as much as I love books. When my husband and I were dating, our go-to date was a fast-food dinner and a dollar movie. Now that we’re parents, we plan date nights that involve more conversation—but we do watch a lot of movies at home and see every Disney/Pixar movie at the theater with our kids!
For Father’s Day, I made over our finished basement into a little movie theater,
Read it! James 1:19-27
Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like.
(vs 22-24)
Think it through
How could I make a scripture scrapbook for the kids without including the Ten Commandments?
And how could I write a blog post about it without realizing how hard it can be to keep some of them? It’s hard to tell the truth all the time. Not coveting is a challenge. It’s even hard to rest on the Sabbath.
Read it! Philippians 2
Do everything without complaining and arguing,
so that no one can criticize you.
Live clean, innocent lives as children of God,
shining like bright lights in a world full of crooked people.”
(vs14&15)
Think it through
The first step to living the sweet life that I really wanted to share with my kids is living with a thankful heart. So I created a page about complaining.
Read it!: II Samuel 11
In the spring at the time when kings go off to war, David sent Joab out with the king’s men and the whole Israelite army. They destroyed the Ammonites and besieged Rabbath. But David remained in Jerusalem.
(vs 1)
Think it through:
II Samuel 11 is one sad, sad chapter. David makes mistake after mistake, and they’re big ones: adultery, manipulation, and murder. I read this chapter looking for David’s heart for God, and I couldn’t see it. The last verse says that though David got what he wanted (married to a widowed Bathsheba), God was displeased with his actions. This has to be a gross understatement!
Read it!: Amos 4
“Therefore this is what I will do to you, Israel,
and because I will do this to you, Israel, prepare to meet your God.”
(vs 12)
Think it through:
This Israelites had all kinds of warnings and consequences to their actions. Amos lists them in all in Chapter 4, and then he tells them what’s coming. He truly was a prophet, a man who had the word of God to speak and spoke it, apparently without hesitation.
