Making the Most of Free Time

The students are about to have what they look forward to all school year--summer break.  A recent conversation reminded me the importance of helping your teens avoid 2 extremes during summer break.  The first extreme is allowing them to take the summer "off", meaning they spend all day doing absolutely nothing (after they wake up, of course).  The second extreme is keeping them as busy as possible doing stuff.

There are 2 verses that I think will help offer guidance to how the students can spend their summer.  Ephesians 5:16 tells us to make the most of every opportunity, and Matthew 6:20 tells us to store up treasures in heaven.  The Bible teaches that 3 things will last forever: God, his word, and men's souls.  By focusing on these 3 things, we store up treasures in heaven.

Try discussing with your son/daughter some ways they can constructively spend their summer.  Is there a specific part of their Christian walk you can help them work on?  Is there something you can teach them to do (change a tire, plant a tree) or work on together as a family?

As summer break approaches, I encourage you to help your student think of ways they can spend their summer storing up treasures in Heaven, as opposed to killing time until school starts.

A Challenging Question

During our Spring Retreat, Eric (our speaker) asked us all a very challenging question.  The question was based on 3 John 2.  In this passage, the apostle John is writing a letter to his friend Gaius.  John had heard that Gaius was living out the faith he claimed to have.  John was so happy that Gaius' spiritual health was so strong that he prayed that Gaius' physical health would be as strong as his spiritual health.

Eric then asked us, "would you be comfortable if someone prayed that your physcial health matched your spiritual health?"  That's a pretty sobering question!  If someone prayed that for us and it actually happened, what condition would we be in?  Extremely healthly, a little sick, a lot sick, in the hospital on life support, or (GASP) dead?  I encourage you all to work on your spiritual health so that, hopefully one day, if someone prays that for us, we will be in good shape!  

Passing on Truth

Earlier this week I heard a story that is a great reminder that ministers and parents need to partner together to pass on biblical truth to teenagers and children.  Judges 2:6-7 takes place after the Israelites have conquered the promised land.  Joshua has given a challenge to the people to not forget about God while He gives them a time of peace and prosperity.  And, for the most part, the people rise to that challenge. 

But then, just two verses later, we read something remarkable.  Judges 2:10-11 describes how the generation after Joshua grows up not knowing anything about God.  This group falls into worshipping every idol under the sun.  How did this happen?  One generation is faithful in serving God; the next generation worships idols.  The answer is straight forward--the faithful generation did not teach the next generation. 

There are several times in the Bible where this happens.  Looking at history, we can also see where this has happened since the time of Christ.  God has called us to teach our children the Bible and what we have learned about who Jesus is.  Let's join together to make sure the generation coming up doesn't forget about our Lord and Savior on our watch.