THURSDAY, JUNE 25
“Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.”
Ephesians 6:4 (ESV)
PATIENCE REORDERS OUR PRIORITIES
Dr. Tony Evans talks about a major league baseball superstar’s recollection of his boyhood home. He, his friends, and his father played baseball quite often in their backyard. As a result, the grass had really taken a beating. It didn’t look good anymore, unless you were a child looking for a nice place to play ball.
One day, as the kids and the father were playing and having a great time, the boy’s mother leaned out one of the windows and called, “Can’t you guys find somewhere else to play? You’re killing the grass.” The man looked at his wife and answered, “Honey, we aren’t raising grass; we’re raising kids.”
Ephesians 6 reminds us that we are raising kids. And the goal isn’t to do things that would cause them to be angry and rebel against God. Instead we want to raise them up by teaching them discipline as disciples of Christ. For any parent that is one of our top priorities.
Our kids will do things to test our patience. And so will other people in our life. A few good questions to ask is what is the goal of this relationship as a Christian? Why did God put my coworkers in my life? How does God want me to treat my neighbor? How does God want me to respond to service workers? What’s most important to God in all of these and other relationships that I have?
