Boy's Brigade Enrolment Service 2009

Sermon on Discipline
Text: 2 Tim. 2: 3-7

Boy’s Brigade Enrolment Service 2009
29 March 2009
Holy Light Church, Johor Bharu

Introduction
Welcome to the Boy’s Brigade (BB). You are now member of a proud organization. It was estimated in 2003 that there are 500,000 BB members in the world.

One of the purposes of the Boys Brigade (BB) is to build character, to make you a better person. That is what all your officers and church members here are teaching you. All the activities: marching, Christian education classes, badge work and camping are to help you build character.

There are four pillars to build character:
(1) obedience
(2) reverence
(3) self-respect
(4) discipline

William Alexander Smith, the founder of the BB was born in Thurso, Scotland in 1854. He moved to Glasgow in his teens and became involved in church activities. William was also a lieutenant in the 1st Lanarkshire Rifle Volunteers in 1883 while he was teaching in the North Woodside Mission Sunday School. While working with the children in church, he discovered the need for wholesome activities for children outside school hours. William Smith shared his ideas with his two friends, which later invited boys from North Woodside Mission Sabbath School and formed the first company of The Boys' Brigade, 1st Glasgow Company on 4th of October 1883.

Motto
William Alexander Smith is a Christian and he loved to study the Bible. That is why he took the motto of the BB from the Bible. The motto of the BB is SURE & STEDFAST (taken from Hebrews 6:19). "We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure." The original Old English (King James Version) spelling of "Stedfast" has been retained. The BB’s purpose was the advancement of Christ's Kingdom among members and the promotion of habits of Obedience, Reverence, Discipline, Self-Respect and all that tends towards a true Christian Character.

Apostle Paul’s teaching on discipline


Paul was writing to his student, Timothy as recorded in 2 Tim. 2: 3-7
3 Endure hardship with us like a good soldier of Christ Jesus. 4 No one serving as a soldier gets involved in civilian affairs--he wants to please his commanding officer. 5 Similarly, if anyone competes as an athlete, he does not receive the victor's crown unless he competes according to the rules. 6 The hardworking farmer should be the first to receive a share of the crops. 7 Reflect on what I am saying, for the Lord will give you insight into all this.

Here he uses three examples:
(1) Soldier
(2) Athlete
(3) Farmer
What do these three persons have in common? Discipline or self-control.
A soldier will not be a soldier if he or she has no discipline. Without discipline the soldier will not be useful to his army and country. To be a soldier, he must first learn how to obey orders, how to fight, how to use his weapons and how to work together with his team members. This does not come naturally. A soldier does not become a soldier overnight. It takes years and years of training.

An athlete also needs discipline. For example, a footballer, a basketball player and a table tennis player needs years and years of training. Though they may have natural talents, they still need the discipline to rain their bodies and home their skills. A professional golfers need to hit 1,000 golf balls a day.

Does a farmer needs discipline? Yes, he does. A farmer needs to know when to plant his seed, when to fertilize his soil and when to harvest his crops. If a farmer has no discipline, he will not have a good harvest.

Lessons on Discipline

(1) Do what you promise
Promise to attend BB activities
May have to sacrifice hanging out with your friends at the mall
Preparing your Christian education studies
Return your friend’s manga
Go home on time
Keep your word

(2) Make friends with the right people
· Right type of friends will make you better
· Bad type will destroy you

(3) Study hard
· Why are you in school?
· You can be anything you want

(4) Avoid taking drugs (dadah)
· All types of drugs and smoking
· Destroy your health
· Destroy your life

Conclusion

An enrolment service is for you to welcome and affirm new members. For those who are already members, this service to for you to reconfirm or rededicate yourself to the ideals of the Boy’s Brigade.

Soli Deo Gloria

Are Babies and Children Saved?

Are Babies and Children Saved?
Spiritual Formation of Children
Text: Mk.10:13-16; Lk. 18:15-17; Matt. 19:13-15


Summary
Children are born into the kingdom of God but as they grow into the age of accountability, they will be required to choose to follow Jesus or not. It is the responsibility of parents, other caretakers and the Church to nurture their spiritual formation to make the right decision.

Introduction
Ron Buckland, former National Director of Scripture Union in Australia wrote in his book, Children and Gospel, that he once conducted a survey, approaching a variety if Christian men and women from different denominations, both clergy and layman. He outlined the following scenario:
“Imagine there are two families, living on either side of you. Each has a two-year-old child. One set of parents are atheists; the other set are committed Christians. Now imagine that in tragic circumstances both children were killed on the same day and you are to visit each home. What would you say to their child’s destiny and on what grounds would you say it?”
All but one person he interviewed said they would want to say to both sets of parents that their children are with God. One person wants to tell the atheist parents that their child is in hell and it was their fault!

Are babies and children saved? If they die now, are they going to hell or to heaven? What we believe influence the way we do children ministry. It will also affect the way we bring up our children.

Let us consider the various possible scenarios:
1.All children start life outside the kingdom of God.
2.The presence of a Christian parent establishes right standing before God.
3.The experience of baptism establishes right standing before God.
4.All children belong to God.
5.All children start life in the kingdom of God until they reach the age of accountability.

1. All children start life outside the kingdom of God.
This assumes that babies and children are in the same category as adults, even though they are too young to be able to exercise repentance and faith. To ‘make a decision for Christ’ means repentance and faith. What does a baby know of repentance? What does a baby have to repent for? Roman 3:23 states ‘that all have sin and fall short of the glory of God.’ Does this means babies and children too?

This comes back to this discussion of the original sin. Because of Adam and Eve’s disobedience in the Garden of Eden, sin has entered the world. And with sin comes death. Now there are two theological way of looking at this original sin:

(i) It is inherent in our nature. It is inherited. This is like a genetic disease where it passes from one generation. In this thinking, we have no choice at all. We are condemned to hell at the moment of conception or whenever the time human life begins.
(ii) It is a change in the makeup of our nature that makes us want to sin, to turn away from God. Until we make a choice, we have not sinned. For this way, there is a choice on whether one want to sin or not.

In this first option, babies have already sinned at birth. Hence there is an urgency to ‘convert’ children as soon as possible. Our entire parenting efforts and children ministry has an urgency to help children make a decision for Christ. Unfortunately, we manipulate children to ‘make decisions for Christ’. Many children do things to please the adults. So many children have made ‘decisions’ for Christ repeatedly until they became confused.

2. The presence of a Christian parent establishes right standing before God.
The basis for this thinking is based on biblical teaching about covenant. The presence of at least one Christian parent covers the child from the consequences of the original sin until he or she comes of age. Covenants like God with Moses (Ge.17), with the people of Israel (Deu.29) and the Christian church (1 Peter 2:9-10) makes participants people of God. Children born into this covenant automatically enjoys the benefits of it. Paul says in 1 Cor. 7:14
14 For the unbelieving husband has been sanctified through his wife, and the unbelieving wife has been sanctified through her believing husband. Otherwise your children would be unclean, but as it is, they are holy.

3. The experience of baptism establishes right standing before God.
The Roman Catholic Church and the Orthodox churches believe that the sacrament of baptism has the ability to wash away all sins and to claim the forgiveness of the Cross. Hence there is an emphasis on infant baptism. There is also an interesting tradition. During infant baptism, aside from parents, certain older members of the congregation are appointed as sponsors or god parents to help the parents in the spiritual growth of the baby. In the reformed tradition, infant baptism is done more on a basis of the covenant as stated above.

4. All children belong to God.
This is a nice option. Jesus taught about this when he spoke about children and the kingdom of God. Let us look at what the synoptic gospels teach. (The synoptic gospels are Mark, Matthew and Luke).

What Jesus said about children (synoptic gospels)

Mk.10:13-16
MK 10:13 People were bringing little children to Jesus to have him touch them, but the disciples rebuked them. 14 When Jesus saw this, he was indignant. He said to them, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. 15 I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it." 16 And he took the children in his arms, put his hands on them and blessed them.

Lk. 18:15-17. Gk. Babies instead of child.
LK 18:15 People were also bringing babies to Jesus to have him touch them. When the disciples saw this, they rebuked them. 16 But Jesus called the children to him and said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. 17 I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it."

Matt. 19:13-15 cf 18:1-5
MT 19:13 Then little children were brought to Jesus for him to place his hands on them and pray for them. But the disciples rebuked those who brought them. MT 19:14 Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these." 15 When he had placed his hands on them, he went on from there.

Matt.18:1-5
MT 18:1 At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, "Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?" MT 18:2 He called a little child and had him stand among them. 3 And he said: "I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. 4 Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. MT 18:5 "And whoever welcomes a little child like this in my name welcomes me.

Jesus said the kingdom of God belongs to the children. Children are already there where adults may end up if they become like children or by an act of ill become childlike. All three follow Jesus meeting with the children with their version of the rich, young man (Mk.10:17-27; Lk.18:18-27; Matt. 19:16-26). He cannot give up all and be helpless. Utter helplessness is the basis of Jesus speaking about the kingdom of God belonging to children.

This is nice and good. All children are already in the kingdom of God. But what happens when they grew up and did not become Christians? Did they drop out of the kingdom of God? This is the problem with this option that all children are already in the kingdom of God.

5. All children start life in the kingdom of God until they reach the age of accountability.
In this option, children start off in the kingdom but as they grow, their sinful nature (original sin) began to manifest itself. They began to realise that they can choose. There are two biblical texts that mention a period before and a period after which a child can choose.

Deu. 1:39
39 And the little ones that you said would be taken captive, your children who do not yet know good from bad--they will enter the land. I will give it to them and they will take possession of it.

Isaiah 7:13-16
ISA 7:13 Then Isaiah said, "Hear now, you house of David! Is it not enough to try the patience of men? Will you try the patience of my God also? 14 Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel. 15 He will eat curds and honey when he knows enough to reject the wrong and choose the right. 16 But before the boy knows enough to reject the wrong and choose the right, the land of the two kings you dread will be laid waste.

We call this age the age of accountability. Is this a sudden moment or a slow gradual wakening? It may be both or either. Some children sudden come to a point when they realise their sinfulness and their need for forgiveness. Such children have reached a conversion experience. Others, especially those who grew up in Christian families may gradually grow into this age of accountability and became Christians without them knowing it. Hence some period has a specific time for their ‘conversion’ while others do not.

It is my personal conviction that ‘All children start life in the kingdom of God until they reach the age of accountability’. It makes senses to me in view of what Jesus teaches about children and the kingdom of God and other verses about the ability to make decisions.
W.H.Griffith Thomas, an Anglican theologian argued, ‘all children are included in the great atoning sacrifice, and belong to Jesus Christ until they deliberately refuse him’.
This also means that it is our responsibilities: father, mother, brothers, sisters, grandparents, uncles and aunties that we help in the spiritual formation of the child so that he or she grows into the age of accountability with the ability to make the right choice for Christ. This is where parenting plays a large role. The church complement parenting with the community, mentoring and teachings as these children matures.

The Spiritual Formation of Children
(1) GENIUS parenting.
GENIUS parenting is based on Luke 2:52 in which 14 words covers the whole concept of parenting. GENIUS is an acronym for
Growth
Emotional Quotient (EQ)
Nutrition
Intelligence Quotient (IQ)
Utmost to Potential (Potential Quotient)
Spiritual Quotient.
It is the duty of all parents to ensure our children grows in all these 6 areas.

(2) Basis of GENIUS parenting.
The basis of GENIUS parenting is a balance between behavior and being. Generally, there are two approaches to parenting which starts from the 18th century. One approach is ‘to break the will of the child’. The child is to be forced, seduced into conformation to acceptable social practices. John Wesley, the founder of Methodism is an advocate for this. This approach emphasis the child’s capacity for evil. The emphasis is on behavior. For most of the late 19th century and all of the 20th century, our parenting has been greatly influenced by the behavioural sciences. Techniques of behavioural modification were introduced into parenting.
The other approach is to emphasis the child’s capacity for good. The advocate for this is Jean-Jacques Rousseau. He believed that children are basically good until they were influenced by adult. This ‘romantic’ approach gives more freedom for children believing that in some ways, children are wiser than adults. The emphasis is more on the being.
I think both approach are correct but I believe that they must be balanced. There should be behavioural modification but there should also be inner growth and maturity as a person.

(2) Components of GENIUS parenting.
To achieve this balance, there should be 2 components in GENIUS parenting:
(a) Relationship to maturity.
(b) Empowerment to maturity.
Relationship is important in parenting. Relationship is to each individual child in the 6 areas of development. It is much easier to work with the child when there is a good healthy relationship. But relationship is not enough. There must be empowerment. The child must be allowed to try things out and to fail if necessary.

(3) Objectives of Spiritual Quotient in GENIUS parenting.
(a) Children who are Christians are able to call God ‘Abba/Father’ through the work of the Holy Spirit who dwells in them (Rom.8:15)
(b) Children who are Christians will have assurance of their salvation through the inner testimony of the Holy Spirit (Rom.8:16)
(c) The desires of children to call Jesus ‘Lord’ is the outcome of the work of the Holy Spirit in them (1 Corinthians 12:3)
(d) Children who are Christians are candidates for the fruit of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22)
(e) Children who are Christians are candidates for the gifts of the Spirit (1 Cor. 12:4-11)

Closing Remarks
Children are born into the kingdom of God but as they grow into the age of accountability, they will be required to choose to follow Jesus or not. It is the responsibility of parents, other caretakers and the Church to nurture their spiritual formation to make the right decision.

Soli Deo Gloria

Children: God's Gift, Our Responsibility

Text: Psalms 127:3-5; Luke 2: 39-40; 52

Summary
Children are God’s gift to us. It is our responsibility to ensure their healthy mental, physical, spiritual and social growth.

1. Introduction

I have been privileged to be working with children for more than 20 years of my professional life. I love children. Children are not easy to work with. They have ‘pee’ on me, ‘dodo’ on me, vomited on me, wiped their dirty hands on me and even bitten me. But somehow, they also like me. When they come to my clinic, they like to give me hugs and kisses, share the sweets in their mouth with me and one even offered me her baby brother. Children are a joy and a blessing. This evening, we shall consider children as God’s gift and our responsibility to this gift that God has given us.

2. Children: God’s Gift

Psalm 127
1 Unless the LORD builds the house,
its builders labour in vain.
Unless the LORD watches over the city,
the watchmen stand guard in vain.
2 In vain you rise early
and stay up late,
toiling for food to eat—
for he grants sleep to those he loves.
3 Sons are a heritage from the LORD,
children a reward from him.
4 Like arrows in the hands of a warrior
are sons born in one’s youth.
5 Blessed is the man
whose quiver is full of them.
They will not be put to shame
when they contend with their enemies in the gate. (NIV)

3 Children are a gift from the Lord;
they are a reward from him.
4 Children born to a young man
are like sharp arrows in a warrior’s hands.
5 How happy is the man whose quiver is full of them!
He will not be put to shame when he confronts his accusers at the city gates. (NLT)

Don’t you see that children are God’s best gift?
the fruit of the womb his generous legacy?
Like a warrior’s fistful of arrows
are the children of a vigorous youth.
Oh, how blessed are you parents, with your quiver full of children!
Your enemies don’t stand a chance against you;
you’ll sweep them right off your doorstep. (The Message)

Contrary to popular belief, it is not easy to produce children. It is always a miracle when a child is born. From the time of conception when a sperm fertilised an ovum to the time when the fertilised ovum is implanted in the uterus to the development of a newborn, hundreds of things can go wrong. 60% of fertilised ovum are aborted spontaneously – due to abnormality of the fertilised egg, or failure to reach the uterus, failure to implant in the uterus and failure of the uterus to sustain growth. And during the process of growth in the uterus, the fetus is susceptible to infections, changes in the mother’s health, mother smoking or taking drugs, and maternal diseases like hypertension. Thus it is a miracle everything a baby is born. Life is so precious.

3. Children: Our Responsibility

39 When Joseph and Mary had done everything required by the Law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee to their own town of Nazareth. 40 And the child grew and became strong; he was filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was upon him.
52 And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men. (NIV)

3.1 The Parents

3.1.1 Joseph
The foster-father of our Lord (Matt. 1:16; Luke 3:23). He lived at Nazareth in Galilee (Luke 2:4). He is called a “just man.” He was by trade a carpenter (Matt. 13:55). He is last mentioned in connection with the journey to Jerusalem, when Jesus was twelve years old. It is probable that he died before Jesus entered on his public ministry. This is concluded from the fact that Mary only was present at the marriage feast in Cana of Galilee. His name does not appear in connection with the scenes of the crucifixion along with that of Mary (q.v.), John 19:25.
At 5 years old, children began to learn the duties of life under the care of their fathers (Deu.6:20-25; 11:19). Joseph would have begun to teach Jesus at 5 years old.

3.1.2 Mary
Hebrew Miriam. The wife of Joseph, the mother of Jesus, called the “Virgin Mary,” though never so designated in Scripture (Matt. 2:11; Acts 1:14). Little is known of her personal history. Her genealogy is given in Luke 3. She was of the tribe of Judah and the lineage of David (Ps. 132:11; Luke 1:32). She was connected by marriage with Elisabeth, who was of the lineage of Aaron (Luke 1:36). While she resided at Nazareth with her parents, before she became the wife of Joseph, the angel Gabriel announced to her that she was to be the mother of the promised Messiah (Luke 1:35). After this she went to visit her cousin Elisabeth, who was living with her husband Zacharias (probably at Juttah, Josh. 15:55; 21:16, in the neighbourhood of Maon), at a considerable distance, about 100 miles, from Nazareth. Immediately on entering the house she was saluted by Elisabeth as the mother of her Lord, and then forthwith gave utterance to her hymn of thanksgiving (Luke 1:46–56; comp. 1 Sam. 2:1–10). After three months Mary returned to Nazareth to her own home. Joseph was supernaturally made aware (Matt. 1:18–25) of her condition, and took her to his own home. Soon after this the decree of Augustus (Luke 2:1) required that they should proceed to Bethlehem (Micah 5:2), some 80 or 90 miles from Nazareth; and while they were there they found shelter in the inn or khan provided for strangers (Luke 2:6, 7). But as the inn was crowded, Mary had to retire to a place among the cattle, and there she brought forth her son, who was called Jesus (Matt. 1:21), because he was to save his people from their sins. This was followed by the presentation in the temple, the flight into Egypt, and their return in the following year and residence at Nazareth (Matt. 2).

There for thirty years Mary, the wife of Joseph the carpenter, resides, filling her own humble sphere, and pondering over the strange things that had happened to her. During these years only one event in the history of Jesus is recorded, viz., his going up to Jerusalem when twelve years of age, and his being found among the doctors in the temple (Luke 2:41–52).

In the earliest times, mother do not wean their children until they were 30 months to 3 years old, and the day they were weaned was kept as a festival day (Gen. 21:8; Exo.2: 7,9)

Mary and Joseph are ordinary people living in extraordinary times.

3.1.3 Observance of the Law

They were devout Jews. They observed the Law, which is the greatest compliment anyone can give a Jews. They understand the role of the Messiah.

How do you bring up a child who is to be the Messiah of your people?
§ Premier school?
§ More tuition?
§ Special motivational courses?
§ Ballet, art and piano classes?

Deu.6:4-7
4 Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. 5 Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. 6 These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. 7 Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 8 Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 9 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.

(1) Start with you
(2) Teach your children – Role modeling. Total immersion in a lifestyle that shows what is confess is the same as what you confess.

3.2 Taking Care of God’s Gift: Our Responsibility (Luke 2:40; 52)

3.2.1 In Wisdom (Mental)

I always wonder why Luke lists wisdom before stature. Mental development before physical development. Now I realise what he has done. Brain development is always faster than physical development and is often not so apparent as physical development. As the brain grows, it acquires new knowledge, now experiences and new skills. It is interesting that Luke did not emphasis on knowledge but wisdom. We can have a lot of knowledge without being wise. And it is the most difficult part of parenting to teach our children to be wise. We can teach our babies flash cards, train them to recognise pictures and words early. Our school education system teaches our children to absorb knowledge like sponges and regurgitate it for the examinations.

3.2.2 In Stature (Physical)
As parents, most of us concentrate on meeting the physical needs of the child. That is important. The child needs food, shelter and good healthcare.

3.2.3 In Favor with God (Spiritual)
It is our responsibility to help our children grow spiritually. We need to teach them to pray, to read the bible and to attend children’s program in church.

3.2.4 In Favor with Man (Social)
The other area we need help our children develop social skills. The dangers we parents faces is either over-protectiveness or being too permissive. Being on the School Board of Hilltop for many years, I have seen many of both types of parents. One will turn up with a list of things the child cannot do – cannot run, cannot sit near the window, cannot go to play in the sand pit, etc. Others, when we told them that their child is spoilt or is bully other children will either get angry or say. “Tidak apa. Boys will boys”.

4. Lessons for us

4.1 Role Modeling

As our Prime Minister said, ‘Leadership by Example’. Children learn more by what they observe than by what we teach them verbally. How we behave in our personal life at home, how we behave to our spouse and how we deal with others in our work and our social lives are object lessons for our children. Most of us put up our mask and appear an angel outside but behave like a devil at home.

It saddens me greatly to when one parent attacks his or her spouse using the children. One person that I know complains continuously about her husband to her children; “Don’t be like your father. He is good for nothing. Cannot hold a good job. Cannot bring enough money home. I hate him. Don’t be like your father when you grow up. He doesn’t come to church. Now when you grow up, you must be a good Christian like me. Jesus said we must love one another as He has loved us.” What type of message do you think the mother is giving to the child? Do what I say, not what I do.

4.2 Teaching
We are to teach our children. It is important to realise that children are not miniature adults. That is where many of our teaching failed. I have seen mother trying to reason with a 3 years old child. “Now if you take this toy from the shop, it will be stealing. The Bible said stealing is bad.” The child has absolutely no idea what the mother is talking about.

Piaget has done a lot of work in understanding the mental development of the child.
(1) 0-2 years: The stage of sensorimotor intelligence.
During this stage, the child is primary sensory and motor. The child does not internally represent events and think conceptually, although cognitive development is seen as schemata are constructed.
(2) 2-7 years: The stage of preoperational thought.
This stage is characterised by the development of language. Reasoning during this stage is dominated by perception and thus prelogical or semilogical.
(3) 7-11 years: The stage of concrete operations.
During these years, the child develops the ability to apply logical thought to concrete problems in the present.
(4) 11-15 years and older: The stage of formal operations.
The child becomes capable of applying logical reasoning to all classes of problems.

Thus our teaching must be appropriate to the learning level of the child. Must damage have been done, when our teaching is inappropriate to the child’s understanding level?

In the Disney’s movie, The Kid, starring Bruce Willis as a highly paid image consultant , Russ Duritz, who is approaching 40 years old. In his job, he is successful but his personal life is a mess. He cannot relate to people, is obsessive compulsion and has a nervous tic of his eyes. As the story develops, he met a younger version of himself 8 years old and he tried to help his younger version to deal with his problems so that he does not end up the way he is now. Initially they thought the problem was that he was bullied in school. In the end, the found that the mother was dying of cancer, the father was angry because he was so helpless. He was so angry that he said to the kid that you are causing your mother to be sick. Stop crying. The mother died a short while after that and the Russ grew up thinking that he has caused his mother’s death. He never cried since them. This is a powerful story about how as adults we have the potential to seriously damage our children’s lives.

4.3 Praying

We must be praying for our children. As Psalms 127 indicate, it is the Lord who helps our children to grow and is incharge. Do we have a prayer list for our children? What are the things we should pray for our children?

q That there will never be a time they don’t walk with You
q A saving faith (thanksgiving if already Christian)
q A growing faith
q An independent faith (as they grow up)
q Persevering faith
q To be strong and healthy in mind, body and spirit.
q A sense of destiny (purpose)
q A desire for integrity
q A call to excellence
q To understand their spiritual gifts
q To understand the ministry God has for them and their spiritual gifts
q Values and beliefs, a Christian worldview
q To tithe 10 percent and save 10 percent of all earnings
q To set and work towards realistic goals as revealed by the Lord
q That I will set aside times to spend with them
q To acquire wisdom
q Protection from drugs, alcohol, tobacco, premarital sex, violence, rape, and AIDS
q The mate God has for them (alive somewhere, needing prayer)
q To do daily devotions
q Forgiveness and to be filled with the Holy Spirit
q Glorify the Lord in everything

5. Concluding Remarks
Let me end with a story. One day, a time management consultant stood before a class of CEOs. He has a big jar on his desk. Beside his jar, he has a dozen fist sized rocks, a pile of gravel, a pile of sand and a pail of water. Then he told the students to fill the jar. One of the students poured in the gravel, then the sand and the water. Then he began to fill the jar with the dozen rocks but just cannot fit the rocks into the jar. The lecturer than took another set of jar, rocks, gravel, sand and water. First he carefully placed the rocks into the jar until it is filled. Then he put in the gravel and shook the jar until the gravel settled in between the rocks. Then he did the same with the sand. Finally he pours in the water and the jar was able to contain everything. The he asked the student, “You have the same jar as I have. Why does your jar not contain all the rocks, gravel, sand and water as I did?” The student answered, “I put in the rocks last’. The lecturer said, “That’s true. If you cannot put in the big rocks first, you’ll never get them in at all”.

What are the ‘big rocks’ in your life? Your children, your loved ones, teaching and mentoring others. Remember to put these ‘big rocks’ in first or you’ll never get them in at all. If you sweat the small stuff (the gravel, the sand), you’ll fill your life with little things about which it don’t really matter, and you’ll never have the quality time to spend on the big important stuff. So ask yourself, “What are the ‘big rocks’ in my life?” Then, put those in your jar first.

Soli Deo Gloria

Recommended Reading
Barry J. Wadsworth, Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive and Affective Development (White Plains, NY: Longman, 1996)
Patrick M. Morley, The Seven Seasons of a Man’s Life (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1995)