Daily Devotional, Year 2 – May 18 (What Is True Love? Part 2: Parenting)
By admin On April 6th, 2015.
.
Daily Devotional, Year 2 – May 18
.
.
.
.
What Is True Love?
.
Part 2:
“Parenting”
To read Part 1, click here…May 16 (What Is True Love?)
.
.
.
.
.
“Correct thy son (or daughter),
and he shall give thee rest;
yea, he shall give delight unto thy soul.”
Proverbs 29:17
.
.
.
.
.
.
“I love hot dogs and pizza!”
.
“I love baseball!”
.
“I love my wife!”
.
.
.
.
The word, “Love” is a catch-all word which encompasses many different forms of affection. And so, it becomes somewhat confusing when somebody says, “I love this!”, or “I love that!”
.
Fraternal love (Prehispanic sculpture from 250–900 A.D., of Huastec origin) wikimedia public domain
Kartoffel pizza – cropped image – Wikipedia – Share-alike License
.
.
.
.
.
LOVE, A MANY-SPECTRUMED THING!
.
There are many Christians who are likewise confused about what it means to love.
.
And in the May 16 devotional, the many qualities of love were spotlighted: self-sacrifice, patience, forgiveness, purity, temperance, honesty, and many other virtues are all part of true agape love, and cannot be separated or eliminated for there to be genuine love.
.
And in the May 16 devotional (click here to read), these aspects were pointed to, in the Crucifixion of Christ.
.
Sign of the Son of Man Constellation – made of the various constellations on this website
.
.
.
.
.
.
LOVE FOR OUR CHILDREN
.
Now in today’s devotional, the spotlight will turn to the family. Because there is great confusion about just what is, “true, genuine love” for our children.
.
Yes, there are many parents who make the claim that, “I really love my kids!”
.
And some of these parents would actually lay down their lives for their children, if for example, they saw their children drowning.
.
Family Portrait – cropped photo – Wikimedia – Share-alike License
.
.
.
.
.
BUT WOULD YOU LIVE FOR THEM?
.
And many parents would die for their children.
.
But the question to be answered today is, “Would I live for my children? Would I lay down my daily life for my children, right now? Would I sacrifice my everyday life, my selfish pleasures, my career, my free time for my children?”
.
Question Marks – At a loss – svg – Wikimedia Commons – Share-Alike License
.
.
.
.
.
KIDS SLIGHTED FOR SELF-INDULGENCE
.
The fact is, rather than devote their lives to patiently guiding their children on the upward heavenly pathway, many parents instead indulge themselves in nearly everything but that!
.
Yes, so many parents devote more time and energy to their needlessly high-paying careers, or to their personal hobbies, or to their entertainment, than they devote to their children.
.
And as a result, the children get pushed aside, or get seated in front of the TV, video games, or hand-held devices, or encouraged to go play with the neighborhood kids, or go to public schooling and endless sports programs.
.
And of course, Satan uses such circumstances to do his own brand of “child-rearing”.
.
ABOVE PICTURE: TV, The Babysitter From Hell
Girl Texting – cropped photo – Wikimedia – Creative Commons 2.0
.
.
.
.
.
SALVATION: HIGHEST FORM OF LOVE
.
But what is true love?
.
Well, true love is to desire the highest good for our children!
.
And what is the highest good?
.
The Salvation of souls! That is the highest good!
.
That is the reason that Christ came to this earth.
.
Woman praying – Heinrich Seufferheld – 1893 – Wikimedia – Public Domain
.
.
.
.
.
THE WORLD CONTINUES (FOR A TIME)
.
And so, God has allowed this world to continue, from His great hope that Mankind might finally realize our error, and turn once again back to the Lord…
.
Listen… “For the creature (i.e., Mankind) was made subject to vanity (a meaningless existence), not willingly, but by reason of Him who hath subjected the same in hope,” Romans 8:20
.
Yes, as this above verse reveals, God has allowed this world to continue these past thousands of years, for the express purpose of showing Mankind the error of our ways, but also to show Mankind the glory of Heaven’s government of “unselfish love”, as we look at Christ, and at the beauties of Creation.
.
People on Times Square – cropped photo – Wikimedia Commons – Share-Alike License
.
.
.
.
.
LEADING OTHERS TO CHRIST
.
Now, when we understand God’s over-arching purpose for allowing the world to continue, then we begin to understand what true love is.
.
And true love will cooperate with God’s eternal purpose, by working together Him, in leading others back to Heaven’s unselfish government.
.
And so, those households which have two Christian parents, will want to show their children true love, beginning while the children are still young.
.
And such parents will have to stand up to the outside pressures from the world, and worldly Christians, to allow ungodly influences into their children’s daily life.
.
.
.
.
.
.
REAPING THE WHIRLWIND
.
But the fact is, quite often, it is not made manifest just how terrible their role-model and example has been, until the child reaches his or her teens.
.
And by the time the wrongly trained child reaches those years, it is probably too late to undo the incredible damage which has been done upon that child for the past dozen or more years, by such self-indulgent parents.
.
Girl – Depression by Danielzanetti for Wikimedia – cropped photo – C.C. Share-alike License 3.0
.
.
.
.
.
WITH ALL THY HEART
.
The Good News to all this is, we have a very tenderhearted and forgiving God, who can work, and does work miracles on a daily basis.
.
This is the only hope for your children. It is futile to try to argue them back to God. It is only by spiritually blessing your own life, can you ever hope to bless your now-almost-grown children.
.
David’s sorrow – Wikigallery – Public Domain
.
.
.
.
.
FULL IMMERSION
.
Change my music to the most holy and heaven-like music. Stop watching TV myself, even if they refuse to give it up (We’re talking about rebellious teens. Younger children may be pliable enough to set back on a heavenward course). Give myself to reading and listening to Scripture. Begin to pray and contemplate the Bible without ceasing! Rid my life of worldly-minded associations. Create a Heaven-on-Earth in my home. Don’t “talk” my religion so much as “live” my religion. Because it is God who changes the hearts of wayward individuals. But He will only do this for me, as I allow Him to burn away the dross from my heart and life. Oh yes, there may be many fiery trials ahead, O Christian parent. But it will all be worth the pain, as we finally see strangers… “bring thy sons in their arms, and thy daughters shall be carried upon their shoulders.” Isaiah 49:22
.
Yes, God has His own ways of bringing back our wayward children, back into His fold! But right now, both you and I must begin to order our own lives aright, in the fear and service of Jesus Christ.
.
USMC – Prayer before Bible study – Wikimedia – Public Domain
.
.
.
.
.
.
TODAY’S PRAYER…
“Dear Lord, Help me to live by Thy agape love, laying down my life for my children, making my home an intelligent, gentle, and loving, Bible-based home….
Woman Praying – cropped image – Wikimedia – Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license
.
.
.
.
READ MORE…
To explore deeper into this subject, please read… “Ark of the Covenant Constellation, Pt. 2: How To Enter The Most Holy Place”, or you can also read this shorter article… “MARCH 21 (The City of Morality, Part 2: Raising Children) “
Question book magnify svg – Wikimedia – GNU license
.
.
.
.
THE END
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
TODAY’S FEATURED HEAVENLY SIGN
.
.
.
THE REVELATION 12 DRAGON
.
This Dragon constellation appears in the eastern horizon about mid-summer in the pre-dawn hours, spewing his flood-waters northward toward the Revelation 12 Woman in Travail (not pictured in this chart).
.
The Wave of Water is primarily composed of the Constellation Auriga. There are two dimmer stars (#’s 1 & 2) which are closest to the Dragon’s mouth. These two dimmer stars are also part of this Wave of Water.
.
THE ZODIAC NAMES
It is not the purpose, nor the desire of www.theheavensdeclare.net to give any validity or recognition to the Zodiac or any pagan deities. But unfortunately, the common names of many constellations (such as Scorpio or Sagittarius, etc.), must be given, solely for the purpose of locating them on star-charts.
.
.
.
.
.
READ MORE…
To explore deeper into this subject, please read… “The Dragon of Revelation 12 Constellation”
.
.
.
.
.
TOMORROW…
“May 19 (A World of Lies, Part 6: It’s a Cuttlefish World!)”
Giant Cuttlefish – Wikimedia – Creative Commons Attribution
.
.
.
.
.
.
20+ MINUTE AUDIO STUDY IN JEREMIAH
.
ALL ‘NOBLE BEREANS’ (open-minded seekers of Bible truth)ARE ENCOURAGED TO BEGIN FOLLOWING THIS 650+ AUDIO BIBLE STUDY THROUGH THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH EACH DAY ON THIS DAILY DEVOTIONAL.
.
THIS STUDY #503 IS PRESENTED BY THE LATE HAROLD CAMPING…
.
above picture: Prophet Jeremiah – www.christianimagesource.org – Public Domain
.
Those who are interested in using photos on this page may click on provided link below each photo, to get to Wikimedia Commons for various licensing details & tags, and all other necessary information on any particular photo.
Leave a Reply