When “Charge It” Didn’t Pay

“If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom a father does not chasten? But if you are without chastening, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons. Furthermore, we have had human fathers who corrected us, and we paid them respect. Shall we not much more readily be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live?” HEBREWS 12:7-9

 

PONDER THIS

When I was about five, I went with my dad in West Palm Beach, Florida, to the community grocery store on Georgia Avenue. I saw something that day that astounded me. My dad went into the store, gathered some groceries, and as he walked out, he said to the man behind the counter, “Charge it.” I’d never heard that phrase, “Charge it.” The man wrote something down in a book, and my dad just waved and walked out.

My brother and I had discovered a very special word. For about two weeks, we would visit the community grocery store, buy what we want, walk out, and say the magic words, “Charge it.”

But one day, my dad called us in, and I learned two things. I learned the difference between cash and credit, and I learned that whom the father loves, he disciplines. My dad had to teach me what I didn’t know and train me in a new way. God is still growing you and has so many things to teach you when you come to Him. He does so out of love.

What are some ways you have been disciplined in your relationship with God?

What are the ways you resist God’s discipline and teaching? Why is it hard to receive instruction from God?

PRACTICE THIS

Share with a friend what you feel like God has been teaching you and ask your friend to pray for you in listening to God.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

How Does Respecting Parents Affect Our World?

“Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the LORD your God is giving you.”

EXODUS 20:12

 

PONDER THIS

The Ten Commandments address a vertical and a horizontal relationship. They start with our relationship with God; that’s the vertical relationship.

Then the last six commands talk about our horizontal relationships—our relationships with others. Only ten commandments and one is given to the important subject of honoring father and mother. It is also the first commandment with a promise. God says there's a reason you honor your parents: that your days may be long in the land God gives you.

Society cannot long endure when children fail to honor their parents. Our parents are the first people we meet. And if we're not right with our parents, if we cannot love and respect our parents, how can we expect to love and respect others? The home is the foundation, the basis of expressing the love we have for God first and foremost. The very next step is to love and honor our parents.

What is challenging about following this command to honor one’s parents?

How can we do this, even if we have broken relationships with our parents or even if they are no longer living?

PRACTICE THIS

Pray that God would equip Christian parents and strengthen them as they raise up the next generation. Pray also for children to honor their parents and the ways of the Lord.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Are You Teaching Respect?

BIBLE MEDITATION

“Therefore, a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh” Genesis 2:24 

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT

I have a friend with a wonderful Christian wife and two fine, godly sons, but one time one of the boys was really rude to his mother. The dad took the son aside and said, “Son, I want to tell you something. When you talked like that to your mother, you sinned against God because God says you’re to honor your mother, so you’re going to have to answer to God for that. And you sinned against your mother. She went down into the valley of the shadow of death to bring you life. That’s so ungrateful for you to speak to your mother like that, and you’re going to have to answer to her. But not only is she your mother—she’s my wife, and you’re not going to talk that way to my wife. So now you’ve not only got God to deal with, and her to deal with, you’ve got me to deal with, because you disrespected my wife.”

What a lesson for a kid! I think it’s one of the greatest I’ve ever heard, to see a husband come to the protection of his wife, even if he has to take sides with her against his own child.

ACTION POINT

This is the kind of teaching and training you should be giving your children. If you are a father, show them that a husband will protect his wife like this. It will be one of the greatest lessons you can give them.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

What if my parents aren’t worthy of respect?

BIBLE MEDITATION:

Honor thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee. Exodus 20:12

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

Whether you are young or old, you can honor your parents. How? By showing respect. Leviticus 19:3 says, “Ye shall fear every man his mother, and his father, and keep my Sabbaths: I am the LORD your God.” The word “fear” doesn’t mean to quake in the presence of your parents, but to have a holy respect for your father and mother.

“Honor” literally means to add weight to. To take our parents seriously; to reverence and respect them.

You may say, “But my parents aren’t worthy of respect.” With all due respect, you aren’t either. None of us are worthy. Only perfect children can demand perfect parents. They are imperfect; we are imperfect. But God is holy, and He says we are to respect our parents.

Their life blood flows in us. Their very life is in us. They would give their life for us. I believe the closest, greatest illustration on earth to the love of God is the love of parents for their children.

ACTION POINT:

What’s your relationship like with your parents? If you’ve been showing less than the biblical respect God requires, then begin today to turn that around for His glory. If your parents are still alive, show that love, show that honor, and do it now. Dead noses smell no roses. I urge you: write that letter now, pay that visit now, send that gift now, do that chore now, give that kiss of affection now. Whatever you’re going to do, do it, and do it now.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

A Little Love Respect and Kindness

I recently heard these words from a very wise, down on his luck black man "sometimes you just gotta love the Hell out of em".

He was referring to the people who we often think of as a lost cause.

You know, the people we avert our eyes from as they pass by.

This man had a book written about him.

It's called, "Same Kind Of Different As Me" by Ron Hall and Denver Moore.

The book is about unconditional love between a wealthy white couple and a black homeless man.

It's also about how God prepares the way for His divine purpose through the hearts of those who trust in Him.

God is very specific in His commands to share your love with the downtrodden.

And the King will answer them, 'Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.' - Matthew 25:40

 Love is:

4 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant

5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful;

6 it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth.

7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

8 Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away.

9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part,

10 but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. - 1 Corinthians 13:4-10

The background to the above verse and the implications of not being obedient.

31 "When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne.

32 Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.

33 And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left.

34 Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.

35 For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me,

36 I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.'

37 Then the righteous will answer him, saying, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink?

38 And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you?

39 And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?' - Matthew 25:31-39

Lack of love for those less fortunate, including those in prison, the homeless, those in the prison of addiction and mental illness.

These are sinful attitudes that will have dire consequences.

41 "Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.

42 For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink,

43 I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.'

44 Then they also will answer, saying, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?'

45 Then he will answer them, saying, 'Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.'

46 And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life." - Matthew 25:41-46

Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins. - 1 Peter 4:8

Honoring Our Parents Always

BIBLE MEDITATION:

“Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.” Exodus 20:12

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

Whether you are young or old, you can honor your parents. How? By showing respect. Leviticus 19:3 says, “Ye shall fear every man his mother, and his father, and keep my Sabbaths: I am the LORD your God.” Now that word “fear” doesn’t mean to quake in the presence of your parents. That is, you are to have a holy respect for your father and your mother. 

You may say, “But my parents are not worthy of respect.” With all due respect, you aren’t either. None of us are worthy. Only perfect children can demand perfect parents, and no children are perfect. Our parents are imperfect. We are imperfect. But God is holy, and He says that we are to respect our parents.

ACTION POINT:

What’s your relationship like with your parents? If you’ve been showing less than the type of biblical respect God requires, then begin today to turn that around for His glory!

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers