In June of 2009, my wife and I lost our 7th child in a miscarriage.
It was a difficult time for us but, by the grace of God, we were able to make it through. It helped me better understand how precious human life really is.
The doctors estimated by the size of our baby that our son died in the fourth month of the pregnancy. What really made it difficult was that my wife was supposed to be in the fifth month of the pregnancy: the baby had been dead for approximately one month. Our local doctor was unsure of what we all were in for, so he wisely sent us to a University hospital to be treated by specialists.
To my surprise, all of the nurses, doctors, and hospital staff were so nice. They were all so sorry that our son had died at four months in the womb. You notice I wrote, “died.”
They not only treated my wife and me with love and dignity, but they also treated our dead son with the same respect and dignity that they gave us. They asked what our son’s name was and if we wanted to have a funeral or have him cremated. They even wrapped him in a blanket and offered to take photos of him so we could remember him.
Please note, this is at the four month stage of his growth during pregnancy. Do you see where this leads us?
If for us – grieving parents who had wanted this baby, doctors were treating our baby as a dead child at four months inside the womb, why is it different for others who get an abortion at four months? Does anyone have an answer?... Anyone?
The fact is, there is no difference. Maybe emotionally there is a difference, but medically, scientifically, and factually speaking, there is no difference. They are the same situation—no matter the intent of the parent, that baby is still a human being. There is no gray area—one option is right and one is wrong. I know which one is right, and if you are willing to let your emotions get out of the way and just look at the facts, you also know which is right. The choice is up to you. Please, please make the right choice!
Please note: If you’ve had an abortion, God does not hate you. And neither do true Christ-followers. We love you and want to help you. Just invite Jesus into your life.
Here are some places you can find help:
http://www.alphacenter.org/
http://www.yourpregnancyoptions.org/
Let these Scripture passages encourage you:
Jeremiah 1:5
Jeremiah 29:11
Genesis 1:26-31
I hope these encourage and challenge you to really love God and others. There are some things here for students as well as their parents. Which ones will you do today and this week?
- Love is putting others before yourself.
- Love is realizing that when a problem or conflict arises that you are a part of the problem or conflict too, instead of just pointing fingers at everyone else.
- Love is helping your brother or sister with their chores not expecting anything in return.
- Love is knowing when to say, “I’m sorry, I was wrong.”
- Love is knowing when to say, “I love you too much to let you keep walking down the wrong path without telling you the truth.”
- Love is putting your dreams aside to fullow God’s dreams for the life He has given you.
- Love is unconditional. At least real love is.
- Love is welcoming your mom or dad at the front door when they come home from work. Just to say “Hi, how was your day?” Then listen to them. Do not ask for anything.
- Love is listening to your parents and obeying them with your words and actions.
- Love is a husband who doesn’t leave his wife when she gets terminally ill.
- Love is a wife who doesn’t leave her husband when he loses his job.
- Love is a mother giving birth.
- Love is dad being there to see his child born.
- Love is writing a letter to your Mom and Dad and thanking them for bringing you into this world and giving you life.
- Love is letting your child have the last meatball for the spaghetti dinner you are having.
- Love is helping your brother or sister with their chores not expecting anything in return.
- Love is letting your children sit in your special chair.
- Love is listening to your parents and honoring them with your actions.
- Love is telling your child, “No.” even if it will cause a conflict with them because as a parent you know that “No” is the right answer.
- Love is giving your child freedom and saying, “Yes.” sometimes to teach them the importance of responsibility.
- Love is rewarding your children when they do the right thing with responsibility and giving them consequences that sting when they mess up. This will help your children learn godly principles.
- Love is spending time with your family. Get off the computer and play some cards or a board game together. (How about put a 1,000 piece-puzzle together and get to know each other again. I learned the importance of this from my friends Mike and Christy Fluegel. Thanks!)
- Love is letting mom and dad go on a date while you clean the house from top to bottom while they are gone.
- Love is slowing down and spending intentional time with God.
- Love is shoveling your neighbors’ sidewalk and driveway.
- Love is not complaining when your parents say “No.” for your own good. Even if you don’t understand. Other than God, who loves you more than they do?
- Love is washing the dishes instead of mom doing it for the umpteenth time.
Go love today!
I Corinthians 13
I John 4:7-12
"Nobody ever defended anything successfully; there is only attack and attack
and attack some more."
- General George S. Patton Jr.
When I first came across this quote, I was very excited because it expresses the method that, I believe, we as Christ-followers need to adopt in advancing the Kingdom of God. We have been in defensive mode for so long that I think we have almost forgotten how to attack Satan and his demons. Let’s just face the facts: Many of us who claim to be Christians have gotten lazy and expect others to take up the mantle of Christ. We need to stop reacting to what the world has to say —we need to act!
When Christ was tempted by Satan in the wilderness for 40 days, how did Jesus engage him? Satan took God’s Word out of context, and Jesus engaged him with the correct interpretation and context of the Word of God. This is what we need to do as well. We need to go on the offensive and speak the truth.
One major hurdle that we must jump over is the poor teaching from some people in the church’s pulpits and leadership. Harsh? Maybe, but many of you reading this know it’s true. Why can I say this so confidently? It’s because I am engaged with pastors and leaders in the church every month who compromise the Word of God and do not take a stand for truth. They let the wisdom of men rule their thoughts and teachings. These heresies are then passed on to their “flock.” Compromise seems to have become the truth of the day. If you think I’m out in left field, please consider the following people I have personally been in contact with just in the past month:
A person who claims to follow Christ, yet says the act of homosexuality is not a sin. She believes that homosexuals should still marry even when I pointed out to her that Jesus states in Matthew 19 that marriage is between one man and one woman.
A United Methodist pastor who teaches that the abortion debate is only a woman’s issue, so men need to take a back seat and not speak up.
At Worldview Warriors, we are dedicated to equipping the saints, adults and students alike, to not only know what they believe and why they believe it, but to be on the offensive and attack the enemy’s lies.
I would like to close with this little truth I learned from my good friend, Shane Adams, who speaks for us occasionally and coaches a high school boys basketball team. He teaches his team, “Play defense, and that defense wins championships!” This sounds a little different from the Patton quote above until you realize what he means by this. Before the season started he told me, “We are going to be the most disciplined team on the floor. We are going to slow the game down and play defense. When we are on offense, we will control the ball until a great shot opens up.”
Do you see the wisdom in this philosophy? Stay on the offense, attack and attack and attack some more. The best defense you can have is a strong offense that looks for the great opportunity to score — not a good opportunity, but a great opportunity. And with this comes discipline.
We need to learn truth and have a solid biblical foundation set in Christ. We need to be disciplined with our relationship with Jesus Christ. We not only need to speak the truth in love but we need to show truth though our actions as well. As Christ-followers we need to engage people right where they are in the culture. Remember that people who are blinded by false teachings are not the enemy; Satan and his demons are the enemy. We need to speak and act in love toward people.
Ephesians 6:12 – “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”
Do you agree that discipline is a good thing or not? Why do you think that way? Back it up with scripture.
Further reading on discipline (Living as a person of discipline and receiving discipline):
Job 5:17
Proverbs 19:20
II Timothy 1:17
Revelation 3:18-20
"What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun." - Ecclesiastes 1:9
As I continue to read and research human history there is one thing that just keeps circulating and circulating around in every generation: the more things change, the more they stay the same.
The human condition is one that so many people try to overcome with new technology, wealth, or even physical pleasure. Others try to fix this condition with knowledge. They think, “If only we could know enough and educate ourselves enough we could cure every disease known to man or fix every problem with money and ‘know how’.”
The plain reality is that we are selfish. Every human being deals with this problem. Many of us are always trying to figure out, “What’s in it for me?” or, “How can I get a leg up in this endeavor?”
The problem isn’t that we don’t have enough money or knowledge or know how. The problem is that we are selfish. We are born into this world as sinners and we need a Savior to not only save us from ourselves and our selfish desires, but to save us from the consequence of our sin: death.
Try as we might, we cannot overcome this condition on our own. Overcoming our selfish desires on our own is just too much in the end. On our own, all we think about is me, me, me. We will all die someday and life is far too short to live a selfish life.
I think back to the years that I only lived for me. I thought I was advancing things for the good of humanity, only to find out and finally see that I was living not only for my own destruction, but for the ultimate destruction of everything that was right and good. Once I realized that I was only repeating the mistakes of others in the past and not learning from them is when my life really began. In 1995 I thought I had given my whole self to Christ. I tried to serve Him in everything I did, but to be honest with you, it has only been a few years since I have realized and have begun to learn what it means to serve Christ in this new creation that I have become. I now realize how much I need to hear and obey the Holy Spirit in all I do. Do I want to serve Christ? Of course! The way to do that is to hear the voice of God and obey Him.
Once I made the very conscious decision to fear and respect God and not fear people is when my personal relationship with Jesus Christ began to really grow and take shape. I had no idea how much I let others influence and direct me with the fear I had in what others thought of me or would perceive about me. Once I gave that up, strived to do everything I did with integrity, lived a life based on God’s Word, and really let the Holy Spirit rule in my heart is when I could put my head down on the pillow at night and have no worries.
And do you know what Jesus had to say about worrying? He said, “So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” – Matthew 6:31 – 34
I want to encourage you to not be like an unbeliever. Do not worry. Once followers of Christ start living in this way and the world sees what it really means to be His followers, they will have to stand up and take notice. We need to love. We need to learn from people’s mistakes and successes of the past. The key to the present and future lie in the past.
“Prepare for the unknown by studying how others in the past have coped with the unforeseeable and the unpredictable.” – General George S. Patton Jr.
For further study:
If you call yourself a Christ–follower are you really following Him and His ways or are you a Christian by name only?
Have you truly given over all the areas of your life over to God?
Who and/or what do you really fear?
Do you really trust God or just say you do?
Do you agree with Jason’s take on this subject? Why or why not? Back your answer with scripture, not with what you “think is right” or “feel is right.”
What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun. - Ecclesiastes 1:9
We live in an interesting time. The fact of the matter really is though that everyone has lived in interesting times. Whether it be new technological inventions, politically charged times or through natural disasters. Every generation has its challenges. Every one.
As Christians we need to take this to heart. Truly not worrying about anything. We need to trust God in supplying our needs and sustaining our lives. Jesus speaks of this in Matthew 6:25 - 34 / “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?
“And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”
So do you actually believe this?
How much more valuable are you and your family than the flowers of the field or the birds of the air? You are much more valuable because you are created in the image of God. Do not be like a pagan who runs after trivial things. Trust your heavenly Father. He will supply no matter what you are going through.
My family and are doing our best to actually put this teaching into practice in all that we do. We also have been learning to trust Christ –followers to hear God’s voice and obey as well. Sometimes He puts it on people’s hearts to help us out in some way. You will notice though the Christ-follower must obey. We cannot just hear God's leading and then do nothing. We must do what He is calling us to do. What is so amazing is when He calls us as a family to do something that just makes no sense at all like helping someone in a financial way that we cannot afford in our mind or with time we don’t think we have and how He blesses us right back. In fact, we have actually sent money to someone we were led to help or support and then, usually, not soon afterward we receive what we gave to the ministry or people we gave to.
Let’s keep in mind that everything is God’s. He owns it all. I write this because other times we do not receive financially in return. We are blessed by giving and we keep James 1 in mind. "Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love Him."
Remember that Jesus said this in John 8: "If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." Hold to His teachings then the truth will set you free. Seek Him out. You will not be sorry! Your adventure in serving the God of the Universe is ready to begin. All you need to do is say yes, and then hear God’s voice and obey.
Live today. Tomorrow will have enough worry.
James 4, Focus on verses 13-17
Hear and Obey. Considering the recent shooting in Arizona and all of the lies and misreporting that immediately came after that tragedy, I would like to challenge all Christ-followers to raise the bar.
We need to always tell the truth. We cannot get entangled in telling lies or half-truths to further the Kingdom of Jesus Christ. This will only be a detriment to the cause of Christ. We must seek truth and then tell the truth no matter where it leads. Truth is truth. Jesus Christ is very clear in His teaching: “The truth will set you free.” We tend to forget to read that verse in context. It is true that the truth will set you free but only in light of the whole text: Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
We must be His disciples to really know the truth. We must read and study God’s Word. We must listen to and then obey the Holy Spirit’s leading. If you are not a sold-out follower of Jesus Christ in everything you do and are not striving to serve Him in all you do, then at certain times, as is clear from the text, you will not know the truth and will be deceived with lies from the evil one.
We need to heed Scripture. If we, as true Christ-followers, obey God’s Word and follow the Holy Spirit’s leading, we can influence this dying world. We can encourage those who think they are Christ-followers to wake up from their slumber and choose to truly follow Christ.
It’s time to actually live what we believe. When we do this, those who hear God’s voice and obey Him will be set free with the truth.
For further study, read John 8:31–47, Joshua 24:15, and James 3:3-12.
One final note: I would like to remind everyone that sometimes it’s best to simply refrain from saying anything (for instance, choosing not to comment on an internet thread, rather than joining in the debate). Self-control is a very good thing!
"A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on." - Winston Churchill
We have been designed by God to follow Him. He placed within us a desire to worship Him. However, Satan takes what God means for good and twists it. For instance, Satan used Scripture to tempt Jesus to sin. However, Jesus quoted Scripture to combat Satan and cut through his lies. Putting Scripture to memory in your mind and heart is one of the best ways to be on the attack against Satan’s wiles.
Satan can make sin look so appealing sometimes. From the earliest days of the world, Satan has twisted the truth to try to draw mankind away from God. He convinced Adam and Eve in the Garden that the forbidden fruit was appealing and harmless. They succumbed to his conniving ways and chose to disobey God, introducing sin into the world.
God told Adam from which tree he should avoid eating fruit and informed him of the consequences he would receive if he sinned against God. He gave Adam and Eve free will.
Did you spot the morsel of wisdom there?
In that little story, God showed us an incredible lesson in being a godly parent. He showed us that we should not force our children to obey. As Ephesians instructs, we should not exasperate our children.
I can imagine that students reading this right now are thinking, “Sweet! See? We can do anything we want.” Well, yes, that is true, but there is a catch: We must face the consequences of our actions.
As parents, we need to teach our children that there are consequences to our actions, just as God taught Adam and Eve. In fact, the human race is still reaping incredible strife from the choice they made to disobey God . . . but don’t blame them. We would have done the same thing.
Students, I know that consequences of bad decisions can hurt and are painful for a time, but discipline is not meant to be enjoyable. It is meant to teach us what we should and should not do. By accepting the consequences of our actions, we learn personal responsibility. We learn to mature and stop being children. I understand that, as a student, you want to feel and be treated like an adult. I know I did. Keep in mind, however, that it is a painful — but rewarding — path in learning to be a responsible adult and to live a godly life pleasing to our Lord.
Here are my challenges to you: Start to become observant of Satan’s temptations — when he twists the truth to try to draw you away from obeying God. Begin memorizing Scripture and storing it away in your heart. That way, when Satan does tempt you and twists the Word of God, you, like Jesus, will be ready to attack with the truth of God’s Word. However, when you do give in to Satan’s bidding, as we all do at times, stand up and accept the consequences of your decision. Not only will you be less inclined to make the same mistake again, but you will also be stepping toward a godly life of obedience as an adult. Something all of us adults still need to work on every single day with the help of the Holy Spirit.
For further reading, check out these Scripture passages:
Hebrews 5:11–6:6
1 Peter 4:1–19
Ephesians 6:1–4
Proverbs 22
