Category: Positive character building

In Love with Love

“Even a beautiful God-scripted love story can never satisfy the way Jesus does. Even the most heroic and Christlike man on earth can never fulfill the longings of our heart like the true Prince and lover of our soul (Jesus Christ). And until we are able to truly make Him our first love, until we are willing to give up our dream of an earthly love story for His sake, […]

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A Bible Study on Humility

“Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.” (Philippians 2:3, ESV) God promises some great blessings to those who are humble: A humble person receives God’s favor (Prov. 3:34) A humble person finds wisdom (Prov. 11:2) A humble person finds riches, honor, and life (Prov. 22:4) A humble person will be exalted by God (1 Pet. 5:6) A humble person has the […]

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Training Our Children to Help with Household Chores

In the days when our children were little, I used to jokingly wish we could afford to hire a maid once in a while to help with routine household chores. Well, that maid never made her appearance. Instead, we decided to hire our own boys. Why not pay them to do work that we would be willing to pay someone else to do? Suddenly our live-in mess-makers became live-in maids […]

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God Rebuilding

I love this quote from C. S. Lewis’s Mere Christianity: “Imagine yourself as a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what He is doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on; you knew that those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised. But presently He starts knocking the house about […]

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Grumbling

“Do all things without murmurings and disputings” (Philippians 2:14). Children grumble. So did the Israelites. Children (and parents) who grumble are grumbling against the Lord. Sometimes, like the Israelites as they faced the Red Sea with the Egyptians at their backs, our children grumble because they are afraid. We can challenge them with our questions and instruction: “What are you afraid of?” “Is God strong enough to take care of […]

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We Need Each Other!

I am so thankful for the work I see God doing in the lives of our children! I am learning from them! I’ve been especially delighted, over the past few months, to see both our at-home daughters growing in their appreciation for the community life of believers and the fellowship and encouragement that thrives in that community. Today I would like to share a post that our daughter, Bethany, has written […]

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Helping Our Children Confess

“Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted” (Galatians 6:1, ESV). Yesterday, as I read the first chapters of Joshua, an account brought back memories of the “old days” — the days when it was obvious that one of the kids had done something naughty. The evidence was all […]

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Two Choices — Lady Wisdom or Dame Folly

“Whoever is simple, let him turn in here!” (Proverbs 9:4, ESV) Learning the truths of Scripture can be a lot of fun! Host a feast to help your children remember and understand the contrast between pursuing wisdom and pursuing foolishness. Proverbs 9 paints a vivid picture of wisdom and folly, personified as two women. One woman, Wisdom, has prepared tasty meat and mixed wine. She sends out her young women to call […]

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Ways to Saturate Your Children with the Proverbs

“For the merchandise of it is better than the merchandise of silver, and the gain thereof than fine gold. She is more precious than rubies: and all the things thou canst desire are not to be compared unto her” (Prov 3:14-16). Can you and your children identify the proverb illustrated in the picture above? It is in chapter 2 of Proverbs. The Book of Proverbs is full of wisdom — true, […]

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Against Tolerance…

Those of you who have children online, children who follow blogs — do you know what they are reading? The internet and social networking make it much more difficult to know our children’s “friends” and the people who are influencing their thinking. People “come into” our homes through the internet that we may never “meet”. And just because a blog is written by someone who claims to be a Christian […]

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