Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children; and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma.
- Ephesians 5:1-2
- Ephesians 5:1-2
My family and I have been blessed to be worshipping with the believers are Grimsby Bible Church Sunday evenings the past few months. We have been working our way through I Peter and a few weeks ago Kirk Wellum brought a message from I Peter 1: 22-25 in which he spoke about the importance and priority of love, especially among believers. As always, it was both exegetically sound and challenging. In the days that followed, we Marshes have been presented with numerous opportunities to serve others in often unpleasant ways. It has been inconvenient and tiring, disruptive to our schedules and distracting from our plans, but we are thankful that God in His grace and by His Spirit has reminded us of His command to walk in love and given us the discipline and willingness to serve. I can not say it has been easy, but we all feel the satisfaction that obedience to the Lord brings and I pray my entire family will continue to learn how to love one another cheerfully, and from the heart.
I am sometimes asked why I blog on the ten commandments. After all, we are under grace and the Law of Christ, not the Law of Moses. We ought to focus on love alone. While I heartily agree that the chief end of Christ’s law is to love God and to love our neighbours (Mat 22:37-39) I also freely acknowledge my own sinful and deceptive heart. In a day when love has lost much of its objective meaning and had become largely self-defined, the ten commandments, especially the final six, serve as practical examples of how I am to love my neighbour. I can so easily justify my own selfish desires that I thank God He has given commands to not covet, to be honest with others in all things, and to bear with one another.
May the God of all grace glory help each one of us to “walk in love”, sincerely, truthfully and sacrificially.
Since you have in obedience to the truth purified your souls for a sincere love of the brethren, fervently love one another from the heart,
- I Peter 1:22
- I Peter 1:22
2 comments:
David,
We have been following, with interest, your instalments regarding allowance for your children. It is a subject that we are just beginning to address in our own home. I LOVE the idea of keeping track in an account book... what a wonderful habit to instil! Thank you for that suggestion. I would be interested to know how you come to the AMOUNT of allowance given to each child. Does each receive the same amount, or does their age come into factor? Are they saving for something spacific, or just in general "saving"? Do they have "spending" money within that as well? Right now we have the children divide their money into three jars - church, spending, saving. Since we are so new to this we really haven't done much beyond simply taking our church money to put into the offering. We are considering taking a trip to the bank to deposit the "saving" money... but I'm sure there is a minimum deposit for that.
At any rate, this is a very long comment, I just wanted to say "thank you" for addressing this subject, and I'd love to hear a little more about the spacifics of how it works for your family.
:)
Rachel,
Thanks for your encouraging words. I’m pleased that the comments/thoughts have been helpful. I like the idea of jars for storing the money; it has a very visceral appeal to it, especially for the younger children.
To answer your questions…
Currently, as soon as a child is able to count and do simple addition and subtraction, we will begin an allowance (usually about five years old). The amount varies as they age, but it is still a pretty nominal amount for even the eight year old. It is really the principles we’re trying to instill.
The “savings” encompasses both spending money and “long term savings” (being the piggy bank). It is rare for them to save toward a specific item, although Emily saved up for the Play Mobil Horse Ranch using a portion of her allowance and gifts she had received from relatives for her birthdays.
I pray that all is well with you and Jeff.
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