CHILDREN: Out of the mouths of babes and bottles!

A woman was trying to get the catsup out of the bottle when the phone rang. Determined to win the condiment war, she asked her four-year old daughter to answer the phone.

“It's the preacher, Mommy,” the child reported. Then she added back to the phone, “Mommy can't come to the phone right now … she's hitting the bottle.”

Children, Christianity,
Illustrations, Religion

HYPOCRISY: Parenting, the greatest example!

"Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD is one! You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontals on your forehead. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates."

Deuteronomy 6:4-9

The “greatest commandment” means, quite simply, we must put the love of God first; not in word only, but, as James says, as “an effectual doer”!

A few years ago, in a study of apostasy among adult children of the faithful, the primary cause given for leaving the faith of their parents was hypocrisy among family and church members. [“Parents teach by example in matters of faith,” New York (AP); reported in Lake County Record-Bee, Friday, May 14, 1993, p. A8, in “Religious News.”]

The predominant perception of these adult children was that the lives of those who should have most reflected the teachings of Jesus, did not!

If our lives reflect a biblical faith and a child-like trust in God, our children will want what we have; they learn from us that life is only meaningful and only complete if Christ is the head of our homes.

Christianity, Hypocrisy,
Illustrations, Religion

CHRISTMAS: OK, I'll hurry just don't push!

"You too be patient; strengthen your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is near."

James 5:8

A young girl, dressed for the children’s Christmas program, was running as fast as she could to get to the church on time. As she ran, she prayed, “Dear Jesus, please don't let me be late! Dear Jesus, please don't let me be late!”.

In her rush she caught her toe on the hem of her costume, tripped and fell. Her shepherd’s costume got quite a nasty grass stain when her knee hit the church lawn. She got up, brushed herself off, and started running again, praying, “Dear Jesus, please don't let me be late! Dear Jesus, please don't let me be late! Only, DON’T PUSH!”

The prayers of children have much to teach us.

"The effective prayer of a [child] can accomplish much."

James 5:16b [my personal translation]

Needless to say, most of the prayers saved in golden bowls in heaven [Revelation 5:8b; 8:3] will be those of kids (the remainder will be from little old ladies).

Christianity, Christmas,
Illustrations, Prayer, Religion

HUMOR: Elephant Feeding!

"But Jesus called them unto him, saying, 'Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for to such belongeth the kingdom of God.'"

Luke 18:16 [ASV]

Three mischievous boys went to the zoo on a school outing. They decided to visit the elephant cage. It wasn’t too long before they were picked up by a zoo security officer for causing trouble.

The deputy hauled them off to zoo central for questioning. The supervisor in charge asked them to give their names and tell him what they were doing at the elephant compound.

The first boy innocently said, “My name's Gary, and I was just throwing peanuts to the elephants.”

The second added, "My name's Larry, and I was just helping Gary throw peanuts to the elephants."

The third boy, looking pale, said, My name's Peter.... but all my friends call me Peanuts.”

Children, Christianity,
Humor, Illustrations, Religion

THIRST: Take a long pull on the Living Water!

SPIRITUAL THIRST: [John 4:1-26 or Revelation 21:6]

My wife and I were involved in foster care; we’ve had a foster child with us for over six years. From time to time we were required to take certification classes. In one session, the instructor was explaining how some children are abused by depravation.

She told us of three siblings who had been deprived of water. When they arrived at her home they were fascinated by the availability of water … they ran around turning on every faucet, inside and outside. But what fascinated them most were the toilets, they flushed them again and again.

A negative side to these discoveries was a sense of desperation when leaving home; their new mom solved the problem by getting each of them a mini-water bottle.

When people are deprived of a thing they “want,” they generally get along pretty well without it; however, when it’s something they “need,” or require, they suffer horribly in its absence.

These little boys didn’t consciously know they were suffering from a lack of water, but they were … so too is man as he is deprived of God’s living water! Just as he thirsts for physical water, so too he thirst for spiritual water. Only One can satisfy that thirst: The Living Water of Life!

COHABITATION - Unintended consequences of doing so!

"Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary."

Galatians 6:7-9

According to a column by Leslie Carbone, a policy analyst with the Family Research Council, a 1992 study found that couples who lived together before marriage are 46% more likely than others to divorce. In addition, women in such relationships are more likely to suffer physical and sexual abuse than their married sisters.

Carbone also writes cohabitation is even worse for the children involved. She cited a British study which found that children living with the unmarried biological parents are 20 times more likely to be abused than children living with their married parents.

Also, three-quarters of children born to cohabiting parents will suffer parental breakup by the age of 16 as compared with only one-third of children born to married parents.

Amazing ... I wonder if anyone noticed those with a Judeo-Christian worldview have known this for years. [American Family Radio News Network, © 1999]

Christianity, Cohabitation,
Illustrations, Religion