Category: parenting godly children

The Ever-Luminous Beacon

Saturday, October 15, 2011

“Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path” (Psalm 119:105 KJV).

Life is sometimes a lonely, dark, confusing maze. During these disappointing and chaotic periods, where should we turn for advice? Today’s Scripture enlightens us. The Bible is a beacon shining brightly in the midst of life’s troubles.

Proverbs 2:6 says, “For the LORD giveth wisdom: out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding.” The Bible is “given by inspiration of God” (2 Timothy 3:16): it came from His mouth (Deuteronomy 8:3; Matthew 4:4). Scripture gives us God’s wisdom regarding marriage, the workplace, parenting, friendships, enduring difficult times, but most importantly, how to be saved from our sins and obtain eternal life through Jesus Christ.

“The entrance of thy words giveth light; it giveth understanding unto the simple” (Psalm 119:130). God never intended His Word to answer every possible question. Contrariwise, God gave us His Word to teach us what we need to know—information that is of eternal value. We need sound doctrine that will carry us through this earthly life and right into eternity. The Bible does not give us all the answers, but it does educate us about God’s purpose and plan for the heaven and earth. Furthermore, Paul’s epistles of Romans through Philemon teach us what God is doing today.

God has “magnified [his] word above all [his] name” (Psalm 138:2). “The word of the Lord endureth for ever” (Isaiah 40:8; 1 Peter 1:25). The Bible is “truth” (John 17:17). God’s Word is unlike any other book. The King James Bible is God’s preserved Word in English, so it should serve as your final authority in life. As we study God’s Word rightly divided as 2 Timothy 2:15 instructs—understanding what Scripture is written to and about us versus what is written to Israel—and place our faith in what we read, God the Holy Spirit will then take His Word and use it to work within us for His glory.

With the King James Bible in hand, we always have the (free!) counsel of God, the ever-luminous beacon, literally at our fingertips….

The Future Generations

Thursday, September 1, 2011

“Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it” (Proverbs 22:6 KJV).

The greatest gift a parent could ever give his or her child is a firm foundation in God’s Word, the rightly divided King James Bible. God, knowing this, put today’s Scripture in His Word.

In Deuteronomy chapter 5, Moses taught God’s Law (the Old Covenant) to Israel. The LORD commanded the Jews to daily meditate on His Word, memorize it, and write it everywhere in their homes (Deuteronomy 6:8,9). In addition, they were to educate their children in God’s Word (verses 6,7): “And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: and thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.”

Parents, not preachers and teachers, should be the primary instructors of their children. God has given the father-husband the role of teaching the children (his wife helping him, of course). In Ephesians 6:4, Paul writes: “And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.” Bishops and deacons were to have godly children instructed in God’s Word (1 Timothy 3:4,5,12).

Comparing 2 Timothy 1:5,6 with 2 Timothy 3:15, we learn that Timothy’s mother Eunice and his grandmother Lois taught him the Old Testament Scriptures… and just where was his father?!

The local church should then build on the foundation that the parents stored in their children. Older men in the church served as role models for the younger men in the church, and older women served as role models for the younger women in the church (Titus 2:1-8).

One day, if the Lord tarries, our generations will pass, and new ones will take over. As adults, we owe it to the future generations to teach and preach God’s Word now, while we still can. Those future generations need a firm foundation in God’s Word so they can pass it on to their future generations.