Discontinue Nursing

 



Nursing is not new. The medical community is just recommending what God has already set in place.  All the nutrients and calories needed for growth are in breast milk which is easily digested, contains antibodies to fight viruses and bacteria, decreases the infant’s risk of asthma and allergies and limits bouts of diarrhea.  If the mother and baby find nursing difficult, formula is designed to simulate breastmilk.  Babies can grow and thrive on formula.  As babies mature, their needs change.  Toddlers no longer need as much milk and certainly do not require night feedings.  Too much milk over an extended period of time can lead to untoward effects such as dental caries, iron deficiency anemia and chronic constipation. Failure to move from milk to meat can ruin a beautiful smile.  What’s worse, it makes it harder to chew and digest solid food.

Hebrews 5:12

¹² For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food.

How long will we continue as babes in Christ learning the same principles over and over.  Yes, we all have memorized Psalm 23, but what new scriptures have been put to memory?  What kind of time have we put in personal study and meditation?  Are there classes we have passed over, group studies we have ignored and is there a Bible concordance or study Bible in our home?  Are pages tattered and worn or fresh and crisp as the day you bought the book?  Okay, how about a Bible app for the tech savvy Christian?  Spiritual growth occurs when we transition from the milk of the word to the meat.  Some are still nursing what was learned as a child.  Some saints are fighting spiritual decay, anemic prayer lives and constipated ministries unable to move out because of a refusal to dine on meat.  In order to grow, we have to discontinue nursing.  Put down the breast or the bottle and grow.

Another Form of Child Abuse

 

Last weekend, I sat next to this young father at a family wedding.  It was relatively easy to pick out which toddlers belonged to him.  They sat quietly next to their grandmother.  They did not run back and forth between their parents and grandparents.  They were happy, disciplined children.  Dad did not need to use the short, well-worn belt but he would have if the circumstances warranted a course correction.

Los Angeles psychiatrist, Robin Berman, M. D. raises the premise in her book, Permission to Parent:  How to Raise Your Child with Love and Limits, “If children don’t hear “no” at home, imagine how it will feel when they hear it in the workplace.  Protective parenting has created children who feel entitled and who are psychologically fragile because they have too much power and lack resilience because they never experienced failure.”  She argues “giving in to children’s every demand creates an unrealistic world in which to mature, much less succeed.”  Lack of discipline can undermine a child’s ability to become all God created them to be.

 

Proverbs 13:24

²⁴ He who spares his rod hates his son,
But he who loves him disciplines him promptly.

 

To withhold discipline is tantamount to child abuse.  A child’s life can be cut short because of foolishness not dealt with at an earlier age.  Failure to teach children to wait can lead to a young adult’s inability to defer gratification and do what they need to do now so that they can do what they want to do later and a result millennials are not launching out preferring to remain ensconced in the family nest.  An undisciplined child ultimately brings shame and dishonor to their family which in hindsight could have been prevented by a parent saying no and meaning it.  Dr. Berman states, “As a parent you have to be comfortable being uncomfortable if you’re parenting right.”  Dishing out discipline hurts you and your child.  But to not do it is to hate your child.  And frankly, that is another form of child abuse.

 

 

He will be back!

General Douglas MacArthur said “He would return.”  Arnold Schwarzaegger said,: “He will be back.” The first time the male stork bound for Africa left his companion he let her know he would be back.  She probably had little faith that he would keep his promise.  She, with broken wing could not make the trip.  She was perched on the little house top destined to remain in her current surroundings.  The man who lived there cared for and nurtured her while her companion was away.  What a sight when the following season the male stork returned from 8,000 miles away to care for her.  Again and again, he returned.  A female stork can remain committed and love deeply when she has a mate she can depend on and a shepherd who watches over her while her mate is away.

John 14:3

³ And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.

Our Lord is coming back.  He said He would.  The fact that He came the first time solidifies that promise.  He came for us with our broken wings, unable to fix ourselves relegated to living on sinful earth waiting for the day we fly away and will be at rest.  Our loyalty to God ought to be just as solid as the female stork.  Be sure you have a pastor/shepherd who provides sustenance to you while you patiently look for the One who is coming back.

 

The List

My son, Jared vehemently disagrees with my list of the top ten greatest basketball players of all time.  Several players on his list do not make my list, but we do agree on who is number one.  It goes without saying; Michael is at the top of both lists.  Because of his love for the game, he trained incessantly; he took competition to a whole new level and was completely sold out to the game.  No one can argue to the contrary.  MJ makes the list.

Job 1:6-8

⁶ Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan^[a] also came among them. ⁷ And the Lord said to Satan, “From where do you come?”

So Satan answered the Lord and said, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking back and forth on it.”

⁸ Then the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered My servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, one who fears God and shuns evil?”

 

If that heavenly discussion commenced this very moment, would you make the list?  Can God declare, “Have you considered my servant, ___________?”  If not, why not?  Making the list begins with loving God with all your heart. One who loves God lives a life of moral integrity, fears God and is obedient to His word.  Do that and there will be no argument.  You too can make the list.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Time

At Legend Center-Sonterra, residents walk slower, bend more, sit most of the time then lie down as their weakened bodies give way to rest.  There is no fanfare.  Just like the release of air from a punctured tire is barely perceptible; life has a slow and steady leak.  We leave with a sigh.  There can still be a spark, a slight smile, or   ray of light that says; my life mattered.  I did what I could, while I could.  I found evidence of that at my Mom’s home today.  I removed box upon box of get well, sympathy and thinking of you cards.  There were small trinkets she stored away in case someone needed encouragement.  I found years of deaconess and mission booklets and workshop folders she used to guide young women in the work of ministry.  When she could be the hands and feet of Christ, she served with all her heart.

 

 Psalm 90:9-12

⁹ For all our days have passed away in Your wrath;
We finish our years like a sigh.
¹⁰ The days of our lives are seventy years;
And if by reason of strength they are eighty years,
Yet their boast is only labor and sorrow;
For it is soon cut off, and we fly away.
¹¹ Who knows the power of Your anger?
For as the fear of You, so is Your wrath.
¹² So teach us to number our days,
That we may gain a heart of wisdom.

Original sin has caused our days to be numbered.  The brevity of life should move us to fear God which is the beginning of wisdom.  We honor Him when we do the things that please Him.  While we can walk upright without a walker or wheelchair, be a doer and not a hearer only.  Allow Him to use you to serve others, to witness, to teach and to be a light in a dark and sinful world.  Each of us has a set amount of time here on Earth.  Use each day wisely. You cannot turn back the clock.

 

 

Silence

 

Four hundred years of silence occurred between the Old and New Testament.  God did not say a word.  Silence does not mean God is not at work, that He is not listening or that He does not care.  In His wisdom, He chooses not to speak.  Therein lies a lesson for us all.  Sometimes we need to remain silent. I have nothing more to say than that. Meditate on the following scriptures this week, in silence. Listen to God speak.

Job 13:5

⁵ Oh, that you would be silent,
And it would be your wisdom!

Proverbs 10:19

¹⁹ In the multitude of words sin is not lacking,
But he who restrains his lips is wise.

Proverbs 11:12

¹² He who is devoid of wisdom despises his neighbor,
But a man of understanding holds his peace.

Proverbs 17:28

²⁸ Even a fool is counted wise when he holds his peace;
When he shuts his lips, he is considered perceptive.