by Stan Mitchell

"We will not hide them from their children; we will tell the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord, the power, and wonders he has done" (Psalm 78:4).

On the way home the little boy sat quietly in the back seat. Then mom noticed he had started to cry.

"Why Johnny, whatever can be the matter?"

"Today," the distraught boy began, "the preacher said all children should be in a Christian family."

"So why did that upset you?"

"Because," the little fellow answered, "I want to stay with you and dad!"

What makes a family "Christian"? There are, apparently, some families that assume they are Christian. To this young fellow, his parent's Christianity wasn't obvious; do you suppose he was wrong, or do our kids have a pretty good idea about what is first in our lives?

Who is first in your life? Jesus Christ, you say? Then do you move your weekly schedule around to accommodate him at worship and Bible class? When the heat of summer rolls around, does your attendance cool off? When someone in church says something you don't like, do you abandon Christ and his church? Do you read your Bible and pray to God daily? Are there habits within your home life that would contradict your fine words and actions on a Sunday, such as profanity, alcoholism, anger, or constant derision directed at the church?

Don't answer those question. Ask them to your children. They will know. The Lord does, too.

by Barry Newton

Imagine going to a Bible class or listening to a sermon where the Scriptures are never consulted. Instead, a story like Little Red Riding Hood or perhaps a current event is used to illustrate a principle such as: telling the truth is rewarding or following evil ways will get you into trouble. While we might agree that these principles are good, whose message is that? Would it not seem like the preacher or teacher simply picked out of the air what he considered to be "a good idea" and then looked until he found a suitable story to illustrate his belief?

Possibly you will agree with me that this would be a spiritually anemic manner to teach a Bible class or preach a sermon. But what would you think about someone employing a biblical story such as Gideon to encourage using "a fleece" to determine God's will? If this was not the intended message, then whose message is that?

Is this not methodologically identical to never even opening the Scriptures? If the message being taught is simply some notion which the teacher thinks is worthy, then why even feign that the message comes from the text? Will not contemporary stories work just as well?

At least in my mind, there is a huge difference between using Biblical stories to illustrate a lesson clearly taught in Scripture and compiling a bunch of stories to illustrate a principle without showing that the Bible teaches that principle. Why?

1. There is no guarantee that the message being presented will teach what God desires. Is not such a message based upon whatever the teacher considers to be a good idea?

2. Does this not obfuscate that the class is not really a Bible class but actually a diet of the teacher's own ideas?

3. Even if the teacher has a good biblical knowledge, how is the student going to grow in learning how to accurately understand God's Word?

Lord who rested on the seventh day, let us take seriously Jesus' invitation to come away and rest for a while. Our minds and bodies need time to restore themselves. Help us to respect the body's rhythms of work, sleep, and rest. May the cares of this world and the pace of our society not deter us from seeking a quiet place and moment, but be part of our reason for doing it. And while we rest the body, may we consider that final sabbath rest still remaining for the soul, when Jesus comes. Amen.