#1st commandment

[professorgtnt]

God first

卡素(Cassels)主教以「劍橋七子」之一的名份於1885年第一次前往中國的時候，他便把God First這兩個字貼在他的每一件行李上面(也顯然在他的心頭)。他的一生所以偉大，理由和奧妙盡在此。

[mark-geoffrey-kirshner]

Have No Other Gods…..

Have No Other Gods…..

Exodus 20:1-3 And God spoke all these words: “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. “You shall have no other gods before me. . https://climbthewell.wordpress.com/2016/04/10/have-no-other-gods/

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[danhevor]

Study of the Day - Rule #1

Study of the Day – Rule #1

So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and did just as the Lord commanded. Aaron threw his staff down in front of Pharaoh and his officials, and it became a snake. Pharaoh then summoned wise men and sorcerers, and the Egyptian magicians also did the same things by their secret arts: Each one threw down his staff and it became a snake. But Aaron’s staff swallowed up their staffs. – Exodus 7:10-12…

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[tessabanessa]

Real talk

Why don’t youth ministries talk more about how to love and respect your parents when you’re mad at them? More importantly, have this discussion over and over prior to the teen years! So that kids are at least armed with some tools for dealing with the upcoming turbulence.

The late-teen years of increasing freedom and responsibility are hard on both child and parent. As the child wants to pull away the parent doesn’t want to let go and it causes a lot of tension. That tension boils over and causes frustration in other areas of our relationship with them. Eventually, it leads to us being annoyed with our parents frequently and over little things that never bothered us before. It prevents us from exercising the patience and generosity that love and respect demand. (Even more importantly, during this segment, leaders could talk about what it means to love and respect abusive or otherwise negative parents. Hint: it definitely doesn’t mean allow yourself to continue to be abused.)

Now this constant fighting and unhappiness looks different for all parent/child combos. I’m sure there are a few that don’t even have it! But most do. It’s natural and usually goes away after the child becomes independent. However, sometimes the fighting can permanently damage the relationship. That’s what I want to avoid. So I’m going to use my limited knowledge to discuss it here.

In short, my brothers and sisters, we are called to honor and respect our parents (Ex 20:12; Lv 19:18; Dt 5:16; Mt 5:43; 22:39; Gl 5:14; Jms 2:8; Mt 19:19) by not speaking ill of them to their face or about them to other to the point that others think poorly of them. I know that’s hard because parents are frustrating (I struggle with this area a lot, I think that’s why I wanted to write about it). This doesn’t mean that if they are wrong or harmful, we have to remain or obey them. But it does mean that we acknowledge that they are our parents and had the task of raising us.

A great example might be if my mom (this is hypothetical) always takes my car to drive somewhere but expects me to pay for gas to fill it up. Instead of complaining to a friend or yelling at her, I might seek council from a friend by asking something like this: “my mom has been a little bit inconsiderate with my car recently. I know she isn’t meaning to hurt my feelings and my wallet, but she is. How do you think I can approach her about it?” Or if I don’t need advice, maybe I go straight to her and say “mom you know I’m always happy to let you use my car, but since I’m paying for gas now, your driving it without reimbursement hurts my feelings and is pushing me outside of my budget.”

This is one example of possible clear and kind communication. Obviously all situations are different and since parents are people, they subject to being inconsiderate and unresponsive even to healthy petitions for compromise, like the one above. For mild vices, it’s something just something you have to swallow and accept your parent the way they are. Eg. If your mom keeps embarrassing you in public or if your mom doesn’t hound your brother to do X but she always gets on you. But if they are harming your health in any form, honoring them doesn’t mean you can’t cut them out of your life if that is what is required for your health. Please do not think that honoring your mother and father means being mistreated, ever.

Final thought: it is our duty to speak with kind and respectful words regarding our parents, but only God can give us unconditional love for our parents. Call on him to help you forgive them and love them through their faults.

Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.

Colossians 3:13 (NIV)

Honor your father and your mother; and love your neighbor as yourself.

Matthew 19:19 

And here are some articles that are written by people much wiser on I am, over the same subject: Billygraham, Christianpost, familylife, meaningfullife, Luke173minestries, preachitteachit, 

[the-problem-its-me]

Pizza will always be shared.

[lidwikenstudio-blog]

Our first commandment: Think big!

[dealsanddevos-blog-blog]

The First Commandment

You Shall Have No Other gods.

What does this mean?

We should fear, love and trust in God above all things.