Encouragement from Brooke
In their book, Instructing a Child's Heart, Tedd and Margy Tripp have this to say about foolishness: "The Bible's definition of foolishness is concise. 'The fool says in his heart, 'There is no God.''
(Psalm 14:1).
If there is no God, I am autonomous - a law unto myself. There is no consideration in life more profound than, 'What will please me?' Children don't say those words, but such foolish thoughts are the underlying justifications for hundred of impulses every day. It is expressed in all the acts of disobedience, selfishness, willful temper, and compulsive self-love." (p 112)
He sits across from me with his head down, this little love of mine who steals my heart and breaks it all at the same time. I ask him for the fourth time that day to tell me how many kinds of men there are in this world. His answer? Two.
The foolish man, who says in his heart there is no God, and acts like a law unto himself.
The wise man, who fears God and obeys Him.
Foolish choices bring unpleasant consequences. But the wise man has security in loving God and all the power of heaven on his side. And I ask him again to tell me what kind of man he wants to be. His answer? The wise man.
I know there will come a day when my little love will have to own this faith, but I believe with all my heart that teaching both of my sons to think in biblical terms now will help them choose in biblical terms later.
I look forward to when my boys are old enough for me to teach this very lesson about the foolish and wise men!
ReplyDeleteLove this!
ReplyDeleteEven though our son is only 3, we are working with him on this. We want him to be wise and educated, however we, like Ken Ham, would prefer that he be a ditch digger who loves Jesus (though a PhD who loves Jesus would be great too.) We had gotten away from attending church until after our son was born. We started attending again when he was about 4 months old, so for us teaching him to be godly and focusing on accomplishments and life-experiences has been pretty much equal. I pray that as time goes on our focus will be more on all of us being godly. Thankfully our son hasn't had to face any choices like David's yet, since he is so young, but I hope that we will continue to instill a love of God in him and that we will live in an area and attend a church where he will have friends who will challenge him to be more like Christ.
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