The Visitor…

She came for a visit needing a break from the bright sun. She found solace in the shade and so rested as her yearling and fawn grazed nearby. As she rested, the yearling and fawn soon took up a resting spot nearby and before long they began grooming themselves, making themselves presentable, after all they were visiting the King’s house. It was simply breathtaking to watch these beautiful creatures interact. As you can see our church is nestled on a beautiful wooded piece of property, so we often have visitors stopping by to rest or scrounge for food. As I watched them, I thought about what we are teaching our children. Children learn from the actions and instructions from their parents or guardians and even others around them. So what are we teaching the next generation?

Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.

Proverbs 22:6

They walked around like they hadn’t a care in the world looking out for each other, a lesson we could all use. These precious visitors looked out for each other protecting one another as they listened for signs of danger. Often times we as people see only the bad things that take place in world around us. Not a surprise when you consider we are after all living in a fallen world. The enemy is in his element and uses it to his advantage. He pits man against each other, laughing with glee as he puts a wedge of discrimination between them. He will use well meaning people to drive the wedge deeper taking their words and twisting them around so much so that even the person who spoke the words can become confused. So what do our children learn from us?

My son, hear the instruction of your father, and do not forsake the law of your mother.

Proverbs 1:8

It starts with a kind word. The Bible tells us in Luke 6:27-29 “But I say to you who hear, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. Whoever hits you on the cheek, offer him the other also; and whoever takes away your coat, do not withhold your shirt from him either.” Growing up as a child, I didn’t understand what the Lord was trying to teach, after all I didn’t have an enemy. And who in their right mind would turn the other cheek? As an adult, I wish I had grasped a better understanding of what He was trying to teach much sooner. If we teach our children to bless and to pray for their enemies wouldn’t the grip the enemy has on discrimination begin to loosen? There is so much hatred out there with people talking about racism. So I went to our handy dandy internet🤔 and typed in “what does the Bible say about racism”. I found this website called GotQuestions.org and they had an answer that started out reminding us that there is only one race – the human race. I liked that because it is so true. I also liked how the article reminds us that we are all equally created in the image and likeness of God. Huh. And we teach our children what?

So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.

Genesis 1:27

Did you see anything in that verse that mentions ethnicity? Me either. Near as I can tell, we are all created in His image. No one else’s image, just God’s. And in my humble opinion, I imagine it saddens Him to see the enemy’s strong hold in the area of discrimination. Earlier I mentioned Luke 6:27-29. Jesus knew that there would some who wouldn’t hear what He was saying to them. He even starts out saying as much. I also mentioned we should teach our children to bless and pray for their enemies. Prayer is how we communicate with God. When we pray, we must also be quiet so we can hear what the Lord is speaking to us. Sound familiar? Isn’t that also what we teach our children? To be quiet and listen so they can hear what we are teaching them? Maybe as we teach our children to pray and to bless their enemies, we can begin to change the world for the better. God bless! 💖