Family

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Growing Up Christian - - - Or Not!

Chapter 5

Jess, Carol and the boys were sitting around the table ready for lunch. The family held hands as they went to the Lord in prayer.

Jess was leading the family "Dear Lord, we thank you for our life and all the things you've provided for us which make our life possible. I want to thank you for Carol and the boys, whom I love very much. My life would be empty without them. We pray that you will help us to love and appreciate each other and give us the wisdom to help each other overcome the temptations Satan throws in our path everyday. Give us the ability to show your love to everyone we meet each day and forgive us when we fail to do the right thing. We ask these things in Jesus name; Amen."

Each member of the family started to help themselves to the food as they passed the bowls of food around the table. "Billy please try some peas, they're good for you." Carol urged "You need to eat a balanced diet if you want to grow up big and strong like Daddy." Eight year old Billy gave out a groan but he took a spoon full of peas because he knew his mother loved him and wouldn't tell him anything that wasn't right. He loved his mother and he wanted to please her. Carol said "Thank you Billy." and smiled at him.

Ten year old Timmy said "Hey Dad, how can we be sure that God hears our prayers? Some of the kids at school say ‘There's no God’ and that I'm just wasting my time when I pray to God and try to do what the Bible says."

"Well Timmy, that's where faith comes in but we don't have to have blind faith. There are people who have blind faith in what they believe or what some religious leader tells them. Some people believe everything that some supposed ‘messenger from God’ says. They never check the Bible for themselves to see if what that leader says is true. There are even several religions that use ideas which were made up by some man and they think its fine to change beliefs any time their religion doesn't suit their fancy. There are even religions that claim all religion is wrong. A few that come to mind are Atheism, Humanism and Communism."

Carol added "There are people who make a religion out of money and power which they can get from politics, sports, education, sex or their own or someone else's physical appearance. In Short, anything that takes the place of God in your life is a false religion."

"We don't have to have blind faith in God and that what He says is true.” Continued Jess “All we have to do is look around and see the results of the life styles which are created when a person follows his own false religion. Sometimes it takes several years to show the results of these life styles but eventually false religion will lead to disgrace, ruin and death."

"Even if a person with one of these false religions gets lucky and gets along fine all his life, remember the Bible says ‘It's appointed for men, once to die and then comes the judgment.’ The person who serves God through Jesus will also die but there'll be a big difference at the judgment."

"The sins which people commit cause great pain to God and we can't be in God's presence if we cause Him pain.”

“Everyone does things which cause God to hurt but He still loves each one of us. Because He loves us, God came to earth in our physical likeness. Do you know who that person was Timmy?"

"Jesus!" responded Timmy.

"That's right, Timmy. It was God's plan before the world was made. Jesus was to be sacrificed for mankind’s sins and who ever would turn from sin and accept Jesus as Lord and Savior could be forgiven by God. You see, Jesus took the guilt of our sins upon him self and then took the punishment which we deserve. Jesus paid the price to save us so we could become Children of God. If we ignore or reject Jesus we'll be lost forever."

"That's why we have to be careful not to distort God's word. There are a lot of churches that claim to be Christian but they leave out part of God's word and add what they ever want to His word. Tim, do you think we can please God if we change His word around to suit ourselves?"

"No!" exclaimed Timmy. "We can't do that and still please God."

"That's right Timmy. We have to believe and trust God if we want to be God's children. One of the main things God tells us to do, and many people just ignore this, is to treat other people the way we would like them to treat us. It doesn't matter how they treat us, we still have to love them. This command, which Jesus gave us, is called ‘The Golden Rule."

"Anyway, back to your question. After you've been a Christian for a few years you'll be able to see that God is in control of everything. You'll see things happen that could only have happened, if God caused them to happen. Some times we ask God for foolish things which we don’t need or things that are not within His will but we have to trust God to give what is best."


"Just the fact that the Bible has survived for thousands of years is pretty good proof of God's existence. Some governments, liberal institutions and stupid people have been trying to destroy the Bible and its influence for all that time but God has seen to it that we still have His Book to guide us."

"Does that answer your question Timmy?"

Timmy nodded in the affirmative.

When everyone had finished with lunch they all got up and cleared the table. As they were doing this, Carol started singing a hymn and the rest of the family joined in. The song was "Blessed Assurance, Jesus is mine".

The things Jess had reminded them about caused their faith in the Lord to grow and helped them gain a greater understanding of the power and faithfulness of their Lord.

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