Today’s
Scripture Reading (July 24, 2012): Leviticus 26
Sometimes, in the middle of the chaos that surrounds us when we live in
houses with small children, we forget the purpose of raising the children.
Often the purpose seems to become just making it through the day, or getting
the child to eat the green vegetables that we have placed on their plates. But that
was never the reason behind the why we bother. All of the struggles that we go
through as we raise our children are for only one purpose – so that one day our
children will be able to make decisions that will set them up well for life. We
know that the day is coming when we will no longer be able to stand beside them
and force them to follow the rules that we have set out for them. On that day,
the decisions of life will be all theirs.
The discipline of God serves the same purpose. The Idea is that the God,
who loves us, wants us to be able to make good decisions. And just like our
children, we do not always understand the connection between the directions of
God and our ability to live good lives – but also like our children, just because
we do not see the connection does not mean that the connections does not exist.
As God speaks his message of discipline in this passage, he adds the
phrase “I will break down your stubborn pride.” For God, and often for us as
parents, pride becomes the real problem. Pride stops us from being able to
learn. It says that we already know the best way. For us to be able to learn –
and for our children to be able to learn – pride has to be broken.
And that is exactly what God decides to do. He will break the pride, not
so that we are put into our place, but because we need to have the capability
to learn. Because learning is essential to being able to live and enjoy life as
God intended that we should.
Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Leviticus 27
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