I was recently listening to a talk given by Michael Ramsden, who speaks on the subject of Apologetics. Apologetics is the discipline or practice of defending, or explaining, the reason’s for Christian belief.

Apologetics is very much the concept discussed by Peter in 1 Peter 3:15 writing, “Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.”

He posed a question to the audience listening and said, “Why are you a Christian?”

This question takes a bit of thought. Explaining how you became a Christian, when and where is much easier. The “why” is something deeper. CS Lewis the Christian author gave this metaphor, We are like machines, and the fuel we run on is Jesus Christ. Without Christ living in us, there is something missing. People spend their lives looking for it in many places, but in the end, the missing fuel for our lives is Jesus. Each of us may have our own way to describe it, but we are Christians because we allowed God’s Holy Spirit to come and live in us.

Dear Lord, You are the piece that is needed to complete each of us. We cannot experience the peace and joy you intended for us without you. Help us think about this and as Peter says, be prepared to explain the “why” for the hope and joy we have because of your salvation. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Proverbs 19:18, says, “Discipline your children while there is hope. Otherwise you will ruin their lives.”

I think people sometimes mistakenly consider discipline and punishment as the same. In my view, discipline eliminates the need for punishment. My simple definition of the word discipline is, “knowing the right thing and doing it.”

Our responsibility as parents, for those reading that are blessed to have children, is to make capable and responsible adults of them. When they are small, they don’t necessarily know right and wrong, and need to be taught. As they age, they may have moments where they know what is right, but need parents to provide the discipline to do what is right. With God’s help, they mature to the point that they can know and do what is right by themselves,”self” discipline.

The most important “right thing” we need to teach them is the Good News of Salvation through Jesus.

Like all the standards God sets for us, we can never completely achieve this, but we must try.

Proverbs 22:6 says, “Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it.”

Dear Lord, help us remember that we are not alone in the responsibility of raising children, you are with us, and will support us if we bring them up with the fear and love of you. Give us the patience, wisdom and determination to raise our children in the way they should go. In Jesus’ name we pray.

I drove by my old house a few days ago, and in the yard was a tree I planted 20 years ago. When I planted it, it was about four feet high and a couple feet across. Now it is 20 feet high and spreads about 10 feet in each direction.

Psalm 92 uses the growth of a tree as a metaphor for the life of a believer, it says in verses 12-15, “But the godly shall flourish like palm trees and grow tall as the cedars of Lebanon, for they are transplanted into the Lord’s own garden and are under his personal care. Even in old age they will still produce fruit and be vital and green. This honors the Lord and exhibits his faithful care. He is my shelter. There is nothing but goodness in him!”

When we submit ourselves to God and honor him, he transplants us into his garden, and promises to care for and shelter us.

Dear Lord, thank you for the knowledge that if we honor and submit to you, you will care for us and make us flourish. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

Jesus meets a man named Nicodemus, who is a Pharisee, one of the smart/educated men of his time, and tells him he must be “born again” to enter the kingdom of heaven. Nicodemus replies, “How are these things possible?” Then Jesus says to him John 3:8, ”The wind blows wherever it wants. Just as you can hear the wind but can’t tell where it comes from or where it is going, so you can’t explain how people are born of the Spirit.”

Jesus then said, “You are a respected Jewish teacher, and yet you don’t understand these things?

I assure you, we tell you what we know and have seen, and yet you won’t believe our testimony. But if you don’t believe me when I tell you about earthly things, how can you possibly believe if I tell you about heavenly things?” John 3:10-12

Aren’t we like Nicodemus on many occasions. Though we all know there are many mysteries in our world, we often will reject the things we do not understand. However, it is the things God tells us that we don’t understand that are the critical things to accept. Things like, Grace, Eternal Life, the Holy Spirit’s work in people, how God answers prayer, and the many miracles that occur in our world.

A book I recently read says it like this, “Failure is a blessing when it forces one to depend less upon material forces and more upon spiritual forces.” This made me stop and think that this is how God would have us live. We should depend more on God’s power than the material things we can understand.

Dear Lord, We tend to think that we must know how things work in order to accept them. But you teach us that we must put our trust and faith in something we do not understand, which is your power and love. Help us make this shift. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

One of the amazing blessings we have living in modern times in the developed world is how little time it really takes working to provide for our basic needs. Prior to the industrial revolution, most people spent long hours 6 days per week just to have shelter and enough food. In modern times, full time work is 40 of the 168 hours we have in each week. Removing 8 hours per day, for sleeping, leaves 72 hours to do what we want, or an average of over 10 hours per day.

In the democratic world, we have very few limitations on what we do with this time. This is a wonderful situation for people that control themselves, but as is written in the Living Bible version of Proverbs 16:27, “Idle hands are the devil’s workshop;” We must put our freedom to good use.

Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 10:23, “I have the right to do anything,” you say—but not everything is beneficial. “I have the right to do anything”—but not everything is constructive.”

Just because something is our right, or is legal in the eyes of men, really doesn’t have any significance with God. We need to look for God’s will, and fill our free time with activities that Glorify God, show love to our neighbor, and make us more effective Christians. If we don’t, we will be at risk of being pulled into things that may be our right, but are not “beneficial” or “constructive” as Paul puts it.

Dear Lord, we thank you for the incredible possibilities that exist in our lives. You have put us in an amazing time with access to things even Kings and Queens of the past could not have dreamed. Help us and remind us to use these blessings for your glory. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.