Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Teach Them Gently

A few months ago I was privileged to speak with the youth of our church. I had been given the topic of "parents" and really enjoying preparing and presenting the message. Most of the youth are not from the church, so I enjoyed the challenge of dealing with the variety of questions that came from them, specifically as their varied living situations relate to the commands to obey their parents. Some questions were ones you’d typically expect from teenagers, and others were more complex.

"I spend weekdays with my mom, and weekends with my dad. Who should I obey? When?"

"My dad doesn’t want me going to the church’s youth group any more."

"My parents are dumb and don’t know anything. How can I respect them?"

"My mom thinks school is a waste of time and wants me to help in the store instead."

"My dad’s a drunk who doesn’t care about me."

And on and on.

I was grateful to God for the opportunity to share with them that the teachings of the Bible are relevant to their situations, that God is able to be a help in difficult times, that God is willing to deal with us regardless of our current spiritual maturity.

I have been convicted of late by the words of James 3:13.

"Who among you is wise and understanding? Let him show by his good behavior his deeds in the gentleness of wisdom."

The phrase "gentleness of wisdom" has really stuck with me.

How often when dealing with the social and moral issues of our day do we who are believers come across as harsh, or intransigent or unloving because of the manner in which we present our understanding of what the Bible teaches. We can become critical and seem smug or even, forgive us, superior, to those we are seeking to convince. May God grant that we present the truth He has revealed in Scripture in such a fashion that our manner does not invalidate what our mouths are speaking. It is such a difficult thing to present uncompromising truth in a gentle, loving spirit that we need to cry out to God for His help, because we know without that assistance, we will fail. We need to pray that we will be known for love and truth, and the gentleness of wisdom.

Next time, I’ll write on what I actually taught the youth about God’s plan for children and parents.

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