Dear Worshippers,
Last week I did not give reference for Jeremiah 29:11, Sorry about that. “I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.” Some of you may have immediately known where that reference was. If you did not, I want to encourage you to memorize it. You will need it at some point, whether you are looking for the grace to suffer, as Pastor Andy put it Sunday, or know someone else who is.
I was already privileged to know this when I asked my ordination mentor years ago what he and his wife had done to raise their three boys to know and love and serve the Lord. As a young father, I wanted to know the secret of raising my sons the same way. I wanted to do everything I could to instill those desires in my boys. What he said to me reminded me of this verse from Jeremiah.
“God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life.” I think I was expecting something a little more complex, or at least something with a few more steps to follow. But the beauty of this was the simplicity. What a wonderful thing to know that God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life.
I bless my boys at night when I put them to bed. I often will speak this truth over them with my hand placed on their little, or not so little, head. I remind them of it at other times too, when things are going great and God’s plan for their lives seems to be coming into slightly clearer focus, and when things are going poorly and they are struggling to see God at all.
The real challenge I think was what he added after that. He said that although he and his wife never had a detailed plan for raising their boys, they always endeavored to live this simple premise before them. Do you hear what I am saying? It is more than speaking it, it is living it that really makes the difference!
Some of you have heard me say, “You teach what you know, you reproduce what you are.” I can teach my boys these truths, but they I will only reproduce them in their lives in I live them myself. Here is my point.
There is someone watching you. Someone who is going to emulate some facets of your life. Parents you know this to be true. Keep working at being. For those of you who are not parents, there are people watching your godly example too. Live in a way that shows them that you KNOW God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life. I am certain you will be pleased with the results in your life…and theirs.
In Christ,
Pastor Scott
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