I ski up mountains. I know, you might ask “Who does that?” I do. It’s an opportunity to physically exhaust myself in order to strengthen my resolve to be a true disciple of Jesus. You see, I’m naturally self-focused and pride-filled (Jeremiah 17:9). Maybe this resonates with you?

On my latest climb up a popular ski mountain in Arizona, I was reminded how important encouragement is. Weary and tired, I struggled to reach the top of the 2000 foot climb. Close to the summit, several groups of downhill skiers took the time to bolster my determination with kind words.

One fellow mountaineer took the time to belittle my less than stellar efforts to summit in a timely manner.

As I climb, my purpose is to lay aside my needs for comfort, security, and pleasure to embrace service, sacrifice, and selflessness. In order to become a servant to all I must first yield. For me climbing a ski mountain symbolizes this posture. I enjoy going off to a quiet place to ask the Lord how He would like to stretch my attitude and thinking about such things. He is my primary source of encouragement.

I consider how the God that created the Universe cared enough about me and you to come to earth to wash the feet of His disciples and to lay down His life in service for me (John 13:8). What greater aspiration could I have then to do the same for my family, friends, neighbors and colleagues (John 15:13)?

I’m called as a true disciple to implement this posture each day (Matthew 16:24). We will grow weary in our efforts apart from encouragement from the pulpit, the Christian radio station, my daily devotion, my husband, my small group, and my mentor mom.

Our children need regular doses of encouragement if they too will grow to become true disciples of Jesus. Consider where and when they are receiving encouragement.

And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds …  — Hebrews 10:24

To encourage another is to bolster, stimulate, refresh, fortify, strengthen, reinforce, and sustain one’s confidence in a resolve.

Truthfully, I don’t think I would have reached the summit on that day without the helpful words from the downhill skiers. I was strengthened in my decision to summit by their enthusiasm for my endeavor even though they did not grasp why I was skiing uphill.

We are made for more than this world has to offer. You can REACH for the glory of heaven every day.

R – Resolve to be a living sacrifice as an act of worship (Romans 12:1).

E – Envision Jesus washing the feet of His disciples as a motivation (John 13:5).

A – Acquiesce temporal pleasures found in this world to store up treasure for the life that is truly life (1 Timothy 6:19).

C – Count the cost to be a true disciple (Luke 14:28-30).

H – Be holy as HE is holy (1 Peter 1:16).

DAY 7 : HUMILITY

“Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.

- Matthew 5:5 {ESV}

“Ok, sweet girl, we are going for a ride,” I said to my 7 year old niece..

“I’m ready, Aunt Laura,” she replied with a big smile while sliding her Mickey Mouse sunglasses onto the top of her head.

I gasped.

“She just slid her sunglasses upon her head exactly like I’ve done a hundred times. Melissa is imitating—me.”

That was a wakeup call, a little thump of humility from the Holy Spirit. This precious one was watching my every move. Her tiny, impressionable mind was taking notes on the way I dressed, how I treated the waitress, the way I spoke to my husband, and so much more.

Terrified by the enormity of it, I prayed for wisdom. God revealed that children grasp more of what is “caught” than “taught.”  It stirred me then—and now— to live a life that clings to Christ.

Today, ask God to help you see your family through a child’s eyes. What things are causing them to grow or stumble?

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 ~ Resource of the Day ~

Grace Based Parenting

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This is Day 7 of our 31 Days of Prayer for Your Children Challenge.

Please be sure to follow along this month as we encourage parents to be intentional about praying for their children. Read all of our 31 Days of Prayer for Your Children posts by clicking here.

We’ve also created a calendar (two color options) that you can download and print to keep at your desk, on your fridge or wherever you’ll see it and be reminded to pray.

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Click here to download 31 Days of Prayer for Your Children {Option 1}

Click here to download 31 Days of Prayer for Your Children {Option 2}

It seems to be an ongoing trend for some Christian organizations to promote the idea that all good Christians will boycott certain business establishments because of their business policies regarding political and social issues in society.

This is a great idea.  But, I really think we need to go all the way with this. Choosing just one chain of stores isn’t good enough.  There are other sinful people out there that also need boycotting. 

I am proposing a solution that I think all good, clean Christians will really love.

We need to start a Christian grocery store chain.   We can call it “Jesus Saves”. It will only play music that starts with Hill and ends with Song, or maybe it should just play hymns written before 1937.  We’ll have to have a membership meeting to decide on that, but we’ll make sure to get a quorum by offering free-hotdogs and a bouncy castle after the meeting.  Mental note – make sure they’re kosher.

Of course, these stores won’t be open on Saturdays, because after all, that’s when the real Sabbath is. Come to think of it, we should probably close it on Sundays as well, just to be safe.  You know how God loves to smote those who disobey the law. 

We can have a nice Christian Coffee shop located at the front entrance called “Holy Grounds”. Your favourite libations can be bought in sizes Little Luther, Mid-Size Methodist, and Big ol’ Baptist.  We will form a committee to decide whether or not we can serve Guinness, or at least wine.  Although, with all those Christians in one place, maybe no one will belly up to the bar, so we might have to forgo that idea altogether.

The bottom line is this:  Christian can shop and drink in peace knowing that everything that is on the shelves and over the counter hasn’t come in contact with sin before it touches their sanctified hands. 

Or not.

Maybe instead of running away and boycotting businesses not run by Christians, that make decisions that we feel are contrary to what is biblical, but totally in line with what popular culture insists is right, we should instead encourage interaction. 

What if we flooded these places with Jesus-loving, abundant-thinking, life-giving Christians so they could begin to build genuine relationships – business and otherwise with people; not for the purpose of proving how right Christians are, but so that others might see how good God is.⁽¹⁾⁽²⁾

What if, through our love, conversations and life examples, these people came to have a personal relationship with Jesus and then we let the Holy Spirit convict them of what is right and wrong? ⁽³⁾⁽⁴⁾

Sometimes I wonder if we don’t think God is up to the task, so we better make lots of noise and tell people how bad they are, just in case He can’t get it done.

What if we stopped acting like these battles are going to be won first through paltry slacktivism and government policies instead of us doing the work of changing our own prideful hearts, admitting how much grace we all need and entering into real relationships where hearts and minds can be changed.  I remember a story (or four) in the bible about Jesus breaking bread and being friends with some pretty un-Christian characters.  Maybe that’s to be our example. ^(5)(6)(7)

I’m not saying Christians shouldn’t have any standards, or that one might have things that they choose not to support with their time and money. I just don’t think it’s as cut and dried as some would make it out to be.  I do think that Christians and Christian organizations should hold one another to a biblical standard.  But let’s make sure that the reason we choose to do or not do something doesn’t come from a place of self-righteous arrogance, but of grace-filled conviction.  We need to be very careful that the message from Christ-followers to those who are not under the influence of the Holy Spirit doesn’t come across sounding like “Thank God I am not like those sinners over there.” ⁽⁸⁾ We need to run everything through a filter of grace, first.

God is bigger than the boogeyman.  He doesn’t need us to cut the ear off of those who come against Him. ^(9)(10) He can handle it. He is in the heart-changing business.

If involvement in sin is going to be the measure for where we can and can’t shop, or eat, or drink, or buy, then we should all realize that we are going to be left cold, naked and hungry, because we won’t even be able to buy from ourselves. ^(11)(12)

We all have sinned.  We all fall short of God’s glorious standard, every single day.  If it wasn’t for the grace of God, none of us would have any hope.  But God can redeem anything.  And that is a message I can get behind and take with me just about anywhere. ⁽¹³⁾

Let’s drink (or eat, or shop) to that.

^{(1)I Corinthians 9:19 – 23 (2) John 13:34-35 (3)I Peter 2: 12(4)Matthew 7:1-6 (5)Matthew 9:10-12 (6) Luke 7:37-43(7)Luke 19:5 – 7 (8)Luke 18:10-14  (9)Luke 2:47-53  (10)John 18:3-11(11)Psalm 14:3  (12)Romans 3:10 (13)John 3:16}

A cute elderly couple in matching Christmas sweaters stepped aside so that my family could slip into the pew to their left. Their Santa Claus hats seemed a bit much for a Christmas Eve candlelight service, but it was the season. Just about everything that could be decorated gets decorated during this time of year, so why not be a bit festive with the top of your head?

Somewhere, a handful of musicians played woodwinds through a gentle medley of familiar holiday songs. I sat back in the pew and took in my first relaxing breath of that demanding day. Last minute shopping, cleaning the house, and helping to prepare for our annual December 24 th gathering of the extended Kimmel family had kept both Darcy and me jumping since dawn. We had both looked forward to this capstone to our Christmas Eve celebration; this hushed hour when we would sit as a family in the soothing reverie of our church to worship our way into the first few minutes of Christmas Day.

I tend to look at people through the context of their bigger lives. Perhaps it’s an occupational hazard of what I do, but I’ve always found it difficult to separate a person from the things within their life that tend to define them. As I looked around the sanctuary, I couldn’t help but take in the burdens and challenges of the folks that had gathered to sing and pray to the familiar chords of Christmas.

The audience covered the gambit from minimum wage to off-the-chart wealthy, young to old, rudimentary to the highly educated, and spiritually clueless to ecclesiastical giants. And as I thought about the stories behind many of the people who surrounded me that night, I realized why we all had gathered under the same banner at this sacred moment in time. We were all drawn together by the enormous tug of Christmas.

Like the guy sitting by himself toward the back of the church. That’s the way he’d been sitting most of his life. It wasn’t a case of loneliness as much as the choice he had made to be a professional loner. He had spent his life working the nightshift of a security guard. It was a decision to cast his lot with those who work for very little money keeping an eye on someone else’s prized possessions. At this juncture in his life the prized possessions happen to be automobiles he couldn’t afford to own himself. He had never married. His schedule didn’t lend itself to meeting decent prospects.

Bowing their heads just a few rows ahead of us was a kind couple that had been handed some unusually difficult cards to play. They both came from good stock and had fallen in love as teenagers with all the best intentions for their future. But one poorly timed moment of affection during their last year of high school sent them to the wedding altar a lot sooner than they had planned. The baby made his debut shortly after they legitimized his last name. They were parents long before they had a chance to become seasoned lovers. It was hard on their families, their reputations, and the first decade of their married life. Their love child was grown and gone now. It was amazing that they had made it this far still hand-in-hand.

And then there was that unassuming couple with the Midas touch sitting close to each other about half way back. It seems that they had been singled out to channel the lion’s share of their income to eternal causes all over the world. They had been known to move heaven and earth for worthy efforts in Africa, South America, and the Far East long before they’d ever think of their own needs. They sat their in their off-the-rack outfits humming along with the prelude.

You’d have to be privy to a lot of insider information to realize that one of the couples sitting in the pew behind us was in the process of being audited by the government for improprieties a former partner had committed in his personal life. They were being badgered by the government’s attorneys for all kinds of information that had nothing to do with their financial review. The attorneys made life miserable for them simply because they could. And since certain entities can’t be ignored, these good people had been held hostage by irrational demands for several months.

All of us gathered to celebrate Christmas. And why shouldn’t we? Christmas was the story of all of us. The night watchman could identify with the lonely shepherds. The couple that was pregnant on their wedding day shared at least a bit of a kindred spirit with Mary and Joseph. So did the couple getting audited. After all, it was a government census that had turned Mary and Joseph’s complicated situation completely upside down. The Wise Men knew what it was like to travel thousands of miles to bring riches to strangers.

But it wasn’t the similarities to the characters in the Christmas story that brought us all out at midnight on Christmas Eve. Rather it was the baby that held the focus of all of those characters that wondrous night so long ago. Mary and Joseph changed the diapers of the Messiah. It was low paid shepherds working the night shift that ended up taking turns holding the Redeemer of the World. The Wise Men traveled thousands of miles to set up a trust account for the King of Kings. All of them found a greater meaning to their otherwise unpretentious lives through their connection to the baby in the manger. He was the child for all seasons who came to die for people from all walks of life. He was the universal Soldier who came to be the unilateral Savior.

Jesus is the great equalizer. Regardless of what we bring to the moment, He offers in return all that we need. And on that Christmas Eve night, as I looked around at all of those nice people who had gathered to celebrate the birth of this amazing little baby I couldn’t help but join in harmony—not only with their voices, but with their spirits—as we sang, “O come let us adore Him.”

© Copyright 2005 Tim kimmel