How long is too much to carry a grudge and who are we really hurting in the process?  The story of David and his son, Absalom teach us how far resentment can damage a family structure, unless dealt with reconciliation and what practical steps you can take in healing old wounds.

This Is Us - Week 3

Parenting can become a constant struggle for control over our kids or even over our parents.  However, we must understand that in order to truly gain control we have to release our grip on it.  We will never be able to influence any change in our children through, fear, bribes, or shame.  What can we learn about parenting based on what God offers us on a daily basis?

Between the ages of 25 and 65, we spend an average of 3 months in church, while in comparison we spend a whopping 11 years at work.  If we spend so much of our lives at work, how can we then be better stewards of our the jobs that God has placed us in?

It has been said, that what manages your mind, manages your life.  As the central processing unit of our bodies, we have to take the appropriate precaution to be good stewards of our thoughts and mind.  What insight does the Bible provide in making sure that we are using our minds to its' full potential?

We live in a culture that warns us to be careful about things that are free.  It is because of this that many see generosity as a transaction, where we expect something in return.  What does the Bible have to say about generosity, and how can we make the appropriate shifts in the way we look at it?

Balance is beautiful to watch, but it’s not a realistic life goal; wholeheartedness is better. Life is too fluid, chaotic even, for balance. Instead, I am seeking to be present. When it’s time to work, I work, and when it’s time to play with my kids, I want to do my best not to be thinking about work.

Perhaps Ecclesiastes 3 is as helpful a text as we’re likely to find for stewardship of time. There is a time for every purpose under heaven. Our primary work, then, is always to discern what time it is.

ECC. 3

“There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens: a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build”

Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me. John 14:6

When Jesus told His disciples, “I am the good shepherd” (John 10:11), He also assured them emphatically that He was the “door of the sheep.” He was telling them and us, “Inside My sheepfold, My sheep are always safe, completely protected and kept close under My watchful eyes. And since I am just at the entrance of the sheepfold, nothing, not even the muffled bleat of one of My own, can escape My ears. Also, nothing evil outside the sheepfold can enter and touch My sheep without first coming through Me for I am the door of My sheep.”