I was reading a familiar passage in Hebrews today and was encouraged in my mothering by it. The phrase that stood out in my mind was from Hebrews 12:3. It says, "Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart." Some days I feel like I do grow weary and lose heart in my daily training of my children. Some days it feels like I'm not making any ground with them - like they'll be completely selfish and mean forever. When I'm feeling like this, it's easy to discipline my children in a frustrated, upset way. It's easy for them to sense this in me as I correct them.
As I looked at the passage more and the preceding verses, I began to see more of how to parent without having this weary, frustrated attitude. The first thing we are to do comes in verse 1. We are to, "throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles..." First I need to look at my own life and see what is keeping me from having a close walk with the Lord. There are sins and areas of baggage that keep me from walking with the Lord and in his perspective and power. I need to spend time regularly asking the Lord to show me these things and then dealing with them and getting rid of them.
The 2nd thing I need is perseverance for the race marked out for me (from verse 1). It isn't an easy, do these things for a week or a month and the kids will be perfect little children. I certainly haven't become the perfect, godly mom that I want to be so how do I expect my little ones to throw off all their bad habits and selfishness in a few weeks with a certain discipline program. It takes perseverance for me to continue doing what is right in the Lord's strength over years and years.
The 3rd thing these verses call me to do is to "fix my eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of my faith". Faith for my daily trials comes from Jesus - he is it's author. Faith will be perfected by Jesus. Why do we fix our eyes on Jesus for this? Because as we reflect on what Jesus went through in dying for us "for the joy set before him", we can see that God can take us through hard things and allow us to walk in joy through them. We can find joy and faith that Jesus has won the victory through his death on the cross and that he empowers us to have that same victory. It takes faith to see our trials and see that God is working through them - to believe that our training and loving in God's strength is accomplishing something though we don't always immediately see the results.
This takes us back to the verse I started with, "Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart." We face opposition from sinful children, sinful spouses, sinful families, sinful friends, sinful people in the world around us, and our own sinful selves on a daily basis. Sometimes the affects of sin around us seem to overwhelm us. At these times, we need to consider Jesus who endured the ultimate opposition from men and cry out to God for his wisdom and power and presence to help us. We must keep our faith in God strong so that we don't grow weary or lose heart in our daily moments. When we walk in faith, we can deal with the daily issues, fights, and frustrations in faith that God is in control and at work. We can remain calm and at peace through God and his strength. May we keep our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith and not grow weary and lose heart!
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• Tue 7 Aug 2007 - Untitled Comment
~Connie