What to do When our Children Complain...Again

It is difficult being a husband and a father. I am the father of four children who are blessings from the Lord. I have two older and two younger. The younger ones are 3 and 1-1/2 years old.

One of the greatest difficulties I find is dealing with my children when they whine and complain. Sometimes I do not know what to do about it. I decided to look into the Bible to see what God thinks about complaining.

As I searched the Bible, I found out that God actually hates it when his people whine and complain. The Israelites were in the wilderness for forty years due mostly to their complaints. They were slaves in Egypt for four-hundred years prior to their forty year desert experience. The people were being provided for in every way, yet complained about almost everything. When they would complain, the Bible says that God’s anger burned within him. Have you ever felt that way? Ya, me too.

What happened in these circumstances is that Moses would intercede for the people. Moses would plead to the Lord that he would show mercy to the people; that he would not give them their deserved judgement. Moses here is a picture of Jesus Christ. He is the one who intercedes on behalf of his complaining sheep.

What does this mean for us and our complaining children. Well first, it is not wrong to have anger burn within you when your children are complaining against your authority. Ephesians 5:1 tells us that we "are to be imitators of God." This means that in every way, we are to mimic God. He is perfect and we are to strive towards that goal with the help of Jesus and the Holy Spirit. If we are putting good and righteous restraints upon our children, and not unjust and needlessly burdensome restraints, then we have every right to have anger burn within us at times. But then what? We are to look for the Person Moses pointed us to, to Jesus Christ; he is to be the mediator between my anger and my children's sin of complaining. My children deserve to be punished for their complaining. Jesus pleads with me on behalf of his shed blood for their sins. He accepts them because his death was sufficient to make atonement for their complaints. And because of this, my anger is suppose to subside. Then, I must use good and godly wisdom and discipline to correct them towards thankfulness. After all, the Israelites still needed to wait forty years to make it to the promise land.

It's hard being a dad, but not nearly as hard as being God! He is infinitely more patient and kind than me.  

Looking at Worthless Things

Psalms 119:37 Turn my eyes from looking at worthless things; and give me life in your ways.

How many things do you look at during the day that are worthless? I'm not here even thinking about things that are sinful to look at like pornography and the like; but things that have no worth.

The writer of Psalm 119 is contrasting having life in God's ways, from looking at worthless things. So presumably looking at worthless things takes away the ability to have a life which accords to the way God intended, and looking at things of worth gives a life which does accord with the way God intended. How many of us want to live a life the way God wants us to live that same life? I do, I do! But is it as simple as changing the things that I look at? Maybe.

What are the things of worth that God intends for my eyes to be gazing upon? Well, Psalm 119 alone mentions the Hebrew word for life 15 other times. Each time the word is mentioned, it is linked with some synonym for God's Word (the Bible). Whether it is a promise from the Bible, or a precept, or a law; each time the author of Psalm 119 mentions what gives us life, it is linked to something God has said in His Word.

So, I ask the question again; how many things do you look at during the day that are worthless? I am sorry to say that I look at plenty. Mostly these days, the worthless things I look at are associated with screen time. Things that I see while I am browsing through Flipboard, Reeder, or Safari on my iPhone or iPad. They are not things that are sinful to look at, but they sure don't have much worth. They are mundane things, like the third news article of the same event, but from yet another perspective; a rumor as to what the new iPhone will look like, or Monday morning humor from Kevin DeYoung's blog. Maybe you do not have any issues of looking at these worthless things, but how about the TV, Home and Garden magazine, Readers Digest, or E! Hollywood gossip?

I am not going to keep listing the things that we look at that are worthless, you know what your eyes linger over way better than I. You know those things that occupy your mind and that they are not giving you life according to God's ways. Will you give them up? Will I give them up? What is on the line if we don't? Whatever you determine the answer to this question is, we must begin where the author of the Psalm did; by praying through Jesus that God will turn my eyes.

An Obvious Break From Blogging

It is nearly irrelevant that I would write a post on the topic of taking a break from blogging; as I know that it is blatantly obvious that I have taken a break from blogging because I am indeed not blogging. Nonetheless, I thought I would share a couple of the reasons why.

I have not only taken a break from writing blogs, but largely from reading them as well. I find that for myself, I grow more by reading books rather than blogs. Blogs are nice as they are short snippets of truth that are easy to read. But I see that they lack the depth to produce any change in my life. The blogs that do have an impact on me are written by individuals that I know are avid readers. Out of the overflow of what they are reading, they blog. This has not been the case for my blog writing. I have not written out of the overflow of my reading of books and I think it is evident in the content that I write.

Another reason I am taking a break is that I have four children and my wife to shepherd. I have been using the time I would normally blog to write devotions and things for my family instead of the world of bloggers. I think this is a better use of my time, and I think it honors God more.

I am not deleting my blog, but rather I will post from time to time on various topics as The Lord provides opportunities.

In Christ,

Scott