Family Relationships
July 31, 2015
Mark 10:4-16
4And they said, Moses suffered to write a bill of divorcement, and to put her away. 5And Jesus answered and said unto them, For the hardness of your heart he wrote you this precept. 6But from the beginning of the creation God made them male and female. 7For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and cleave to his wife; 8And they twain shall be one flesh: so then they are no more twain, but one flesh. 9What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder. 10And in the house his disciples asked him again of the same matter. 11And he saith unto them, Whosoever shall put away his wife, and marry another, committeth adultery against her. 12And if a woman shall put away her husband, and be married to another, she committeth adultery. 13And they brought young children to him, that he should touch them: and his disciples rebuked those that brought them. 14But when Jesus saw it, he was much displeased, and said unto them, Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God. 15Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein. 16And he took them up in his arms, put his hands upon them, and blessed them.
Family Relationships
This is an interesting passage where Jesus is not only talking about marriage and divorce, but He is then addressing the importance of children and their part in the kingdom of God. One of the greatest maladies of this age is the moral decline we are experiencing as a society and as Christians because of the breakdown of our homes and our families. We have become either too busy or too broken in our marriages to give our children what they need. There are millions of homes with single parents struggling to make ends meet and millions of children growing up with a lack of love, discipline and mentoring that they need. Even those of us who have homes and marriages that are loving and intact often find ourselves missing the opportunities we need to take advantage of, in investing into spouse and our children’s lives.
I believe Jesus, in this passage is bring out the point that marriage and family are not about putting the ones you love aside. So often we get so caught up in the process of providing for our family that the means takes the place of the object of what our lives are about. We miss out on giving the greatest provision of all, our personal time and attention. If we spend all our resources to buy a farm, but never spend time working the fields, can we expect them to produce anything but weeds? A family is an investment of our lives and it continues on even when our kids are grown and we have grandkids. The most meaningful memories we have from our childhood are probably not what mom or dad bought us, but those special one on one times that we had with them that were special and meaningful. Sometimes we don’t realize the little things that we do or give that are the most significant. God wants us to know that the most precious gift we have to give is our time and ourselves. Passing down memories, teaching and instructing our children and grandchildren are the things that matter. I have felt the Lord’s conviction on my own life that it won’t matter so much whether we were rich or poor, but where we invested our time and our love. Perhaps nothing says more to someone about how important they are and how much we love them than the personal time and attention that we give them. Seize those moments when you can have special time with your family and the ones you love. Few things are more important.
Blessings,
#kent
Tired?
March 18, 2014
Tired?
Isaiah 40:31
But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew [their] strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; [and] they shall walk, and not faint.
There are times on our journey through life that we just get tired. We get emotionally, physically and spiritually weary; in those times our excitement and exuberance wanes. Our desire ceases in its passion and we just want to turn away, escape and turn off all the demands and challenges that are present in our life.
Perhaps you’re tired of fighting the battles in your life. You know you need to get up and go, but your body is saying, “no, just let me sleep,” or your mind and emotions are saying, “I just can’t deal with it any longer.”
Our lives have many demands, pressures and expectations placed upon them. Some of them are of our own choosing and many just goes with the territory. Without the proper rest, these issues and trials of life will tend to burn us out. Maybe some of you are feeling that way even as you read this. In Matthew 11:28-30 Jesus says, “Come unto me, all [ye] that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke [is] easy, and my burden is light.” Sometimes we think, “how can this be, when it is all of this trying to live right and do right that has gotten me to this place of exhaustion.” Maybe we are trying to be everything to everybody and we just feel spent. I think women in particular experience this because of all the emotional and physical demands they carry with family, career, household and a social life.
Most of us know that a lot is often riding on our being able to keep up the pace and perform our duties. Even though we feel the strain and exhaustion we keep on pushing. Where is our rest?
Do you ever find that even if you could rest, you can’t? Your mind is always racing with all of the things that need to be done. It is like juggling, you are afraid that if you rest from your concentration you will start dropping the balls and your world will fall apart. In our drive for success we often create our own mousetraps that keep us running. But the issue is you need rest!
Jesus is telling us that He has not come to heap more on to our already overflowing plate, but He has come to give our life perspective, meaning and purpose. Maybe we think we already have all of that, but when we look at all that we do in the light of eternity and what it really means to the sum of our life, how much of it is still as meaningful?
When we come into the rest that Jesus has for us we find that place where we are not carrying the entire burden of life. The issues and trials of life we now share with our Savior. Our reliance is now shifted from our ability to His ability and strength in us. The Lord doesn’t require of us what He has not provided the resources to do. Our scripture from Isaiah says, “they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength.” That waiting is the hope and expectation we have in God, in His Word and promises. Our strength, our rest, our renewal is in laying hold of the life of Christ in us. The Word says, “I can do all things through Christ that strengthens me.” The Lord is my place of rest and strength. When I’m tired and weary, when my natural man doesn’t feel it can keep going on, it is like that story of “Footprints in the Sand”, the Lord has not deserted us, but as we come into His rest we find that He is carrying us. When we are tired we need to crawl up on our Daddy God’s lap and just rest. Let Him have all your burdens, all your cares, worries and pressures. The Lord is your rest and in Him you will find the encouragement, the hope and strength you need to carry on.
Blessings,
#KentStuck
Each Day a Page
November 6, 2013
Each Day a Page
John 20:30-31
And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book: But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.
Today is a gift from the Lord,
A new page in life, clean and pure.
Today life is still attached to that silver cord.
Life continues on for you to endure.
What words today are written on that page?
Are they words of life that you speak and say?
What meaning is life and how do you gage,
The difference you make by words written today.
Will your life speak in a meaningful way?
Or will it be wasted on words without rhyme?
Can lives be changed by the things you pray,
Or is it all written about me and mine?
What will you write upon this clean page today?
Will it add to the book of a God filled life?
Will it speak to others of a Christ centered way?
Or will the words written be of sin and strife?
Every day we choose the words that we write.
Every day is a clean page to begin again.
Will we write of love, hope and all that is right,
Or will we write on our page, selfishness and sin?
Kent Stuck
Blessings,
kent
A Loving Moment
August 14, 2013
A Loving Moment
1 John 3:18
My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth.
How do we show our love? Do you find that in the fast paced society we live in, we are constantly on the move, meeting demands, deadlines and obligations? In today’s society, especially, time is a commodity we seem to have the least of. Everything around us is in competition for the little bit we have. I know from personal experience that this is an area we easily get most out of balance in our lives. Time becomes a day to day scheduling of priorities and often what we put at the top of our list would not be what God would put at the top of His. God tells us in His Word to seek first the Kingdom of God. What is the first thing on your priority list each day and where do you spend that time? While some of us hardly have time for God, others of us are so absorbed with spiritual things we may be failing to really meet the needs of those closest to us for trying to meet the needs of everyone else. Time management is an issue that I wrestle with even as I am writing this and I am sure it is an issue with many of us. It is hard for us to be everything to everybody. While we can tell people and loved ones that we love them, nothing really communicates that like our personal time and attention. We have all seen instances where childcare, TV, electronic games, computers and other modern day conveniences and inventions raise our children. Many of us are guilty of this to varying degrees ourselves.
The point of this is not to condemn us for what we have failed to be or where we have failed to demonstrate our love in action. What we want to do is bring our time and agendas before the Lord and examine them in the light of His purpose and will for us. It is the investments of our time that are the true currency in making a difference in the ones we love. When the Word says we are to love “in deed and truth” isn’t it really talking about “quality giving,” whether it is of our time or our substance? In order to improve the quality of our love, we have to improve the quality of actions and demonstration of what we say with our words. The greatest testimony against Christianity today is that we are not demonstrating what we say with our words. We are all talkie, talkie and no walkie, walkie. As we sincerely begin to seek to move in the Spirit of God, we must constantly be willing to change our thinking, our priorities and our plans. God is not always going to move according to our agenda and schedule. We must learn the flexibility of moving to His. That means we may have let go of what we are doing, at the most inopportune times. If you are a person that likes structure and consistency in your life you will find this tuff. The Lord is shaping and molding our lives to move with the leading of His Spirit and will, not ours. We have to become like the harnessed horse that is willing to submit to the direction of the bit. Our life is all about service and surrender. When Jesus taught His disciples, He didn’t recruit them and send them off to seminary to get a good theological education. He showed and mentored them through day to day, moment to moment life experience how to walk out the love of God in a practical way. We see times Jesus and His disciples desperately needed some rest and space to themselves and how Jesus gave up His needs to meet the needs of others.
Time is a precious commodity and we all have accountability for how we use it. The Word tells us to “redeem the time for the days are evil (Ephesians 5:16).” Let us make the moments of our lives count as we invest them wisely in the lives of others rather than just the business of life. What is it that we do that will matter a week from now, a year from now, a lifetime from now? It is my prayer that the Lord will give us all a greater wisdom when it comes to how we spend and invest our time. We must remember that it is our time that can both build and make a meaningful relationship or the lack of it, which can destroy it. May our time become a series of loving moments that translate into a lifetime of loving in deed and in truth.
Blessings,
kent
tricklesoftruth 