My Aubergine Door

Tag: child of God

  • How must we live?

    Unzip the Bible!

    Scripture reference: I Thessalonians 1:1-10

    [You’ll need a can of DEET or some other safe-for-kids mosquito repellent, and a Bible with a big zipper]

    Last week I went for a long walk through a tall, dark forest and everything was just right—except for mosquitoes!—big, hungry mosquitoes who wanted me for lunch!

    Do you know what this is? [show the can of DEET, and elicit a number of responses]

    That sounds like it would be really helpful for going on a hike through the bush, or for going fishing, or for sitting around a campfire at night, doesn’t it?

    So, what do you have to do to make this work?

    • you could carry the can in your pocket all day with the lid on tight;
    • you could use it like a baseball bat to squash the mosquitoes when they come buzzing near;
    • you could stand in the middle of the bush and shout to all the bugs that are bothering you, “I have this can of DEET, so you can’t catch me!”

    Hmmm….. would that work? Of course NOT! So, what then? …

    OPEN IT; and follow the instructions:

    Be sure to do just what it says: Cover yourself with it (spray it on yourself – on your arm)  – and then you will be protected from the mosquitoes and black flies. And then you can go hiking!

    But… the instructions say this stuff doesn’t last forever. You have to put it on again after a few hours, or the mosquitoes will come back! So keep it handy, and use it faithfully…

    So here is the Bible, closed, zipped up tight. And all around us are sinful things that buzz around us and want to catch us:

    • that make us pick fights with brothers or sisters;
    • that make us too lazy to help with chores;
    • that make us whine and complain when Mom says no gum at the store.

    So what can we do to make the Bible work? Unzip it, open it up, and use it; read it not just once, but lots. There’s a little song that goes [sing with the children, “Sing: Read the Bible, pray every day  If you follow me”].

    And we can learn how to live for God, if we open his book every day.

    Listen to the kids at Faith Baptist Church sing “Read the Bible, pray every day“.

    ♥

  • The Lord my Rock

    Ancient fortress
    Ancient fortress

    David’s Rock, Fortress, and Deliverer

    Scripture reference: Psalm 18

    Can you tell me what this is? [a fort] Yes, a fort – very old, but still a very strong fort.

    Ever since Noah and his family spread over the earth, people in all parts of the world have built forts.

    They would build a wall out of the strongest thing they could find – logs, or big stones, or bricks, or concrete. Some of the walls were as high as the ceilings of this church – or even higher! – and lots of times the walls were so thick and so wide that you could build a house right on top of the wall – like Rahab’s house on the wall of the city of Jericho!

    Those walls had to be very, very strong – because the walls stood around the houses and the streets where the people lived; they kept the people safe from all kinds of awful things: wild animals, grass fires, and especially from the attacks of enemy warriors who wanted to hurt them and steal their animals and their food, even their children. The big, heavy gates in the walls were shut and locked at night, and whenever there was trouble; and if you happened to be outside the gate, perhaps hunting on the land, you always ran as fast as you could to get inside.

    The city inside the walls of the fort had everything the people needed to live and be happy – there was water to drink and food to eat. The people felt safe. They were protected; they could sing and play and go about their daily work and not be afraid. And even when they knew there was danger on the other side, they could look up at the big strong walls around their city and be thankful.

    Now King David was a very powerful king with many soldiers and many horses. He knew all about walls and forts and warriors. He knew how hard enemy warriors would try to get through the walls of a city to kill and steal from the people inside.

    And so that’s why King David made a song to God about forts. He called God his fortress – God was the place where he could be safe, the place where he always go and stop being afraid, no matter what happened. The time a bear tried to steal a baby lamb from his flock; the time the Anakite giant Goliath came tramping down into the valley; the time King Saul threw a spear straight at his head; and all the times his enemies had chased him through the land to kill him, God had taken care of him and made him strong. And even when he let Satan get into his heart and he forgot God – when he took Uriah’s beautiful Bethsheba; and when he tried to kill selfish Nabal after he and his men had sheared all those sheep for him, God loved David even then, and pulled him away from Satan, and made him strong again.

    And that’s why David said, “The Lord is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer,” and he loved God with all his heart.

    ♥

    Listen to David’s Song of Prayer by Clint Brown performing at the Judah Music Conference.

  • Jesus the vine, we the branches

    I am the vine

    Scripture reference: John 15:5

    David is fifteen years old. He lives with his grandpa in a small house with a big garden. David’s Grandpa Joe is a short little man with very thick glasses and very, very wrinkled hands. Grandpa Joe is a gardener, and what he likes best in his whole garden are his grapevines.

    David thinks his grandpa is the best vinekeeper on the block. All during the growing season, Grandpa Joe gets up early, tugs on his big black rubber boots and, rain or shine, hot or cold, pushes open the old wire gate that leads into the garden.

    Grandpa Joe shuffles slowly between the growing vines, and now and then reaches up to the branches twisting around the wooden trellis. He turns over a leaf or two with his big, gentle hands. He peers at them closely through his thick glasses. Are the leaves green and shiny and healthy? Or are insects chewing holes in the leaves? And are there enough blossoms? He looks for branches that have diseases – maybe bugs or fuzzy fungus – and if they are sick or rotting, he snips the sick and rotting branches off the big stem and tosses them into the fire pit at the far corner of the garden.

    Days of sunshine and days of rain … In Grandpa Joe’s garden, the blossoms fall off and small grapes appear. There they hang on the branches, just growing, while the vine brings them food and water up from the soil. Slowly, slowly, they grow — round and plump and ripe.

    Days of sunshine and days of rain … Sometimes during a big storm, a blast of wind tears a branch away from the vine. The food can no longer travel to the leaves and grapes on the broken branch. The green, shiny leaves become dry and crunchy; the growing grapes dry up and fall off, and even the birds don’t want to taste them. These too, Grandpa Joe tosses into the fire pit. At the end of the summer, Grandpa Joe makes a big fire and burns all the dead and useless vines and branches.

    But on the big vine, on the healthy branches, the clusters of grapes keep on growing: juicy and sweet, tasty and good. Finally, it is time: Grandpa Joe picks the grapes and fills the baskets – one, two, three… At the end of the day, he sits in the garden with his grandson David and smiles. Grandpa Joe is happy with the harvest.

    Jesus knows all about vines and grapes like Grandpa Joe’s. His garden is the whole world, and Jesus is the vine. “Stay by me,” he says, “and you will grow strong and healthy just like the green shiny leaves that stayed on Grandpa Joe’s vine. Stay by me and I will give you all the food you need to be a child of God.” And before you know it, in sunshine or rain, good times or bad, your friends will know you love Jesus, and every little thing you do for Jesus will make Him happy.

    ♥