The Destination of Desperation

"During His earthly life, He offered prayers and appeals, with loud cries and tears, to the One who was able to to save Him from death, and He was heard because of His revererance." -- Hebrews 5:7

As a parent, do you teach and model crying out to God?

(start sarcasm) Undignified, isn't it. Crass. Raw. Crude. Just . . . image destroying. We can't been seen like that! What will our kids think? (end sarcasm)

THAT WE DEPEND ON GOD. That we desperately need Him. That we are real enough to say it and show it.

I'm not suggesting we have a nightly wailing session. But let's consider Jesus' model.

Jesus consistently:

-- Offered prayers and appeals. His habit was to communicate with His Father. That should be ours, too! 'Prayers and appeals' suggests more than merely 'give me' prayers, but real communication.

-- Prayed passionately. When we fall in love, we show passion. When we want something badly (even something shallow and very earthly), we show passion. Do we show passion when approaching God Himself, who is both God and our personal Father? We should, out of reverance, love, and for a good example.

-- Did the above out of an acknowledgement that the One He was crying out to was able to deliver Him! When we are struggling, do we model turning to God for the answers? Our kids will go where you go for answers. Do you go to pop psychology? Comfort food? Drugs or alcohol? Denial? or God your Father?

-- Was heard. Because He showed reverance! How amazing, if anybody ever had a right not to show reverance to God (and no one has that right) it would be the One Who also was God Himself. But He was humble. He was still dependent. We don't even teach our own children reverance for us, much less God, or reverance for authority.

Let's model passion and appeal to God. Let's gather as a family and lift our needs to Him together. Let's not be afraid to let our children see us needy, hurt, even desperate, because they have to know what to then as anything.

Notes, Links, Quotes


* A Discipleship Journal article on seeing God in th Dark, good for tough times; yours, or sharing with another. You might have to create a password to access, but it's free. http://www.navpress.com/magazines/archives/article.aspx?id=12961

* A Great Encouragement for Moms, from our friends at DiscipleLikeJesus, who did our parenting conference: http://www.disciplelikejesus.com/blog/

* "If at first the idea is not absurd, then there is no hope for it." -- Albert Einstein. OK, Einstein wasn't writing about Jesus, but I offer you this quote to stimulate thinking. When you get a crazy idea about how or when to minister, are you SURE it's crazy? Jesus did some pretty wild stuff.

* "Grace is not the permission to sin but the power to not have to sin!" -- Rick Warren

* Here's a tough one to make your children (or yourself!) understand, but keep trying:
"Waiting to FEEL right before DOING what's right is immaturity. Doing it no matter how you feel is Godliness." -- Rick Warren

* George Orwell: "In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act."

* "Somebody once said that the biggest difference between you and God is that God doesn’t think he’s you." -- via Josh Hunt

* "You can get all A's and still flunk life." - Walker Percy