Teach believers with your life: by word, by demeanor, by love, by faith, by integrity. (4:12)Oh, how much Paul's words apply to me! Every single day, two little girls look to me for all of their needs and learn plenty from watching me, regardless of whether it's a good day for Mommy or not.
Day in and day out, I'm shaping their views of the world, of God, and of themselves - by my words, my demeanor, my love, my faith, and my integrity. It's daunting, to say the least, especially in this season of wrestling mightily with my own long-standing sin patterns.
I will heed Paul's advice and pray that my family experiences me maturing before their eyes:
...but a disciplined life in God is far more [useful], making you fit both today and forever. (4:8)
Stay at your post reading Scripture, giving counsel, teaching. (4:13)
Cultivate these things. Immerse yourself in them. The people will see you mature right before their eyes! (4:15)
Keep a firm grasp on both your character and your teaching. Don't be diverted. Just keep at it. (4:16)Motherhood is not glamorous or for the faint-of-heart. It's slow, hard work. Yet God's Spirit keeps impressing upon me that my strength is in Jesus. My competence is in Him. My worth is secure in Him. And even though I fail everyday, and I'm constantly challenged by my shortcomings, I know I haven't been left on my own in this eternally significant responsibility.
[I'm] banking on the living God, Savior of all men and women, especially believers. (4:10)
As I cultivate a disciplined life in God (4:8), as I immerse myself in Scripture, as I keep a firm grasp on my character and on what I teach my children, I trust that God is working, in me and in others, beyond what I can conceive:
Both you and those who hear you will experience salvation. (4:16)
Lord, how I pray this is true! I want to experience your life-giving salvation everyday, and I pray that my daughters will come to experience your salvation for themselves. By Your power alive in me, may I teach them well with my life.
1 comment:
I love Paul's word picture here - throwing ourselves into this venture so totally. Not for our glory or for credit or for reputation, but because we're banking on the living God. Prompts the question in me of what am I holding back and refusing to surrender?
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