Family

(enjoying Family Night at Chili's and Books-A-Million with my family)

"And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength. And you must commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these commands that I am giving you today. Repeat them again and again to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are on the road, when you are going to bed and when you are getting up. Tie them to your hands and wear them on your forehead as reminders. Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates." (Deut. 6:5-9)

As parents we have the responsibility of teaching and training our children to know, love, and serve God. For so long families have often times seem to have put the responsibility of their kids spiritual well-being when in fact it is theirs. The churches responsibility is to equip the parents (or partner) with the parents in assisting them in their childrens spiritual well-being.

Ephesians 4:11-12 says, "Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. Their responsibility is to equip God's people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ."

Simply put, when the church equips the saints (or families) to do the work of the ministry it will help build up the church. Strong families build strong churches.

I'm blessed

I can remember my senior year of high school when I made my big "come back" to the football field. Weeks prior to my coming to the Lord I had gotten in a street fight which left me with a broken wrist. I kept my wrist bandaged before games and would have the word "Remember" with a Cross beneath it. Every time I ran the ball, would get tired, and would feel like giving up I would look at my wrist and "remember". I would remember what Christ has done for me and it would inspire me to keep going.

This morning in prayer I was reminded of just how blessed I am. God has saved me and my family from our sins. God has given me a beautiful wife to do life with and a lovely daughter as well. We are all healthy with a roof over our head, clothes on our backs, and food on the table. My wife is able to stay at home to "train" our daughter while I serve God full-time at the greatest church I know-Family Church. I am truly a very blessed young man.

There is a story in the gospel of Luke 17 where ten lepers cried out to Christ to heal them. It goes on to say in verse 14, "He looked at them and said, "Go show yourselves to the priests." And as they went, they were cleansed of their leprosy." One of them, when he saw that he was healed, came back to Jesus, shouting, "Praise God!" He fell to the ground at Jesus' feet, thanking him for what he had done. This man was a Samaritan. Jesus asked, "Didn't I heal ten men? Where are the other nine? Has no one returned to give glory to God except this foreigner?" (Luke 17:14-18)

Jesus Christ had healed ten lepers with the power of God and only one came back to give him thanks. Only one remembered. Only one didn't forget where God had brought him from. The other nine had forgotten what Christ had done. May we be like the one leper who didn't forget what Jesus Christ had done in his life. We are blessed people.

What has Christ done in your life? What are you to be thankful for? Do you remember or have you forgotten?