HOLD ON BECAUSE THEY'RE HOLDING ON TO YOU: Titus 1:9

"He must hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it has been taught, so that he can encourage others by sound doctrine and refute those who oppose it." Titus 1:9 

My faith, my holding on to to Christ as he holds on to me, not only helps me abide in Christ but those in my circles of influence, starting with my family. 

In my school district there has been this infestation of "coaches" for about the last decade. There is nothing more nullifying than a coach who couldn't teach trying to tell other teachers how to do their job. In the same way my wife and children are not going to hear me if I am living a godless life yet talk like I am a saint. 

Now, I must offer a disclaimer. In Ephesians 5:21-33 Paul tells wives to submit to their husbands and husbands to love their wives. Please notice that it does not say submit when your husband is Christlike or love your wife when she is loveable. It also does not say you are free to not submit or love when your spouse is un-Christlike. My point is that perfection is not what is being taught. Faith relies on the cross because we need mercy, grace and forgiveness. 

My children need me to encourage them to follow Christ when everyone else is not. My children need me to help them refute the lies taught to children about the origin of man and the reality of our Creator, Savior, Father and Friend. We don't need to be brilliant apologists of the gospel, we just need to point our families to Christ.

Father, help us to follow you as parents and spouses and to encourage our children and spouses to trust in you. Praise be to you in us today! 

DECEPTION AND TRUTH: I Timothy 4:1-2

"The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught my demons. Such things come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron." I Timothy 4:1-2

I don't want to be too much of an alarmist, but, I am cognizant of the overt attention to things like demons and extraterrestrials in the media.  The skill of the magician is really his ability to deceive his audience into to seeing what he wants them to see, not what he is actually doing. 

Be careful where you get your truth from. Jesus is the Truth and he is the only way to the Father and eternal life (John 14:6). The Bible stands alone as inerrant and infallible. If you want to know if someone is teaching the truth (say me for example), you check to see if what is being taught is in sync with the Bible.

I short time ago my son and I where watching the PBS show NOVA. Well, they are of course pretty dogmatic in their belief of evolution. I am not. I happen to believe that the Biblical account of creation actually explains the reality we live in better than the idea that all was created by time plus chance. So, I taught my son the truth that God is the Sovereign Creator of heaven and earth, time and space. While I appreciate NOVA, it is not my source of ultimate truth. The Bible is. 

Father, thank you for your word. Help us to learn to apply your word to our lives. Praise be to you in us today!