I am very interested in knowing how to get a point across. I’m a lifetime writer, earned a communications degree back in the day, and have spent about 20 years professionally attempting to convince big audiences from big stages, about all sorts of things. My most important audience, though (and maybe the first one I’ll be asked about when I stand before God) is my children. I’m supposed to train them in knowing God, and that task is no joke.
One of things I have to teach them is how to live in this place, and how to work for its prosperity.
Let me elaborate- or, more specifically, let’s let the Scriptures elaborate.
Now I hope it goes without saying around these Abrahamic parts that we believe in your home being a place of prosperity. (So does the Bible.) Well gee whiz, Wally: doesn’t it go without saying that, if your home is to be a place of prosperity, then by extension, your street (which ideally is packed with prosperous, God-honoring families) is prosperous, your city (packed with prosperous, God-honoring streets) and your nation (packed with prosperous, God-honoring cities) are to be as well?
Maybe you don’t believe me. “Who really cares what happens to my city? All those idiots can go to hell!”
Nay, I speaketh unto thee. Nay. Thou shalt care. Exhibit A:
Seek peace and well-being for the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the LORD on its behalf; for in its peace (well-being) you will have peace.
Jeremiah 29:7
So you DO care about the city (and by extension, the state, province, etc. where you live… and your nation! So “are we nationalists?” Well… in the case that you care about where you live more than other places… yes!) and want its best.
Now, if you want to TEACH “wanting the best for where you live”, then establishing good stories for the young uns is a must. This is why, for instance, we have our grandparents and aunts and uncles share about when they first met Jesus when they join us for Sabbaths or vacations. We want our kids to ESTEEM the relatives!
Similarly, we want our children to ESTEEM where they live so that they’ll CARE ABOUT IT and be better practitioners of Jeremiah 29:7.
There is a real hot trend running around these United States lately (I’m sure it’s not new) in which we demonstrate our Erudite Sophistication by running down whomever is generally lauded. It’s… stupid.
- “Oh sure Martin Luther King Jr. changed civil rights for millions of people… but he was terrible with women!”
- “Oh yeah right, Thomas Jefferson helped invent the most powerful nation ever and wrote the greatest nation-building document ever… but he was a creep with slave women!”
- “Lebron is very good at dunking a basketball, and gives schools away as presents… but he’s a flopper and whiner and other stuff too!”
- “Dwyane Wade and James Hardin…”
(Wait this isn’t where I meant to go with this)
The point is, somebody’s flaws don’t eliminate their accomplishments. So we could all sit around and run down grandpa (or you, or MLKJr, or LeBron… God forgive me!), OR we could talk about his good qualities. I prefer the latter (and have a feeling God does too). So:
Review the great things about American history on American holidays.
That’s my big idea.
It’s not hard. Doesn’t take a lot of research. And I’d recommend the same for people living in Zimbabwe, Peru, or Indonesia. Make your children appreciate where they are! Give them a godly tendency to obey Jeremiah 29:7.
Today’s lesson: Christopher Columbus. Did you know this guy said, “For the execution of the journey to the Indies I was not aided by intelligence, by mathematics or by maps. It was simply the fulfillment of what Isaiah had prophesied”?!
Okay he might not have been perfect at navigation, and he also might not have TOTALLY had all his Bible understanding just so (he wrote a book late in life called the Book of Prophesies in which, well, there was some tremendous stuff, and some off stuff… he thought the world was about to end, so that’s why he felt an urgency to find all of it before it was destroyed in a giant ball of fire).
By the way, I already know he was a sinner, so save your emails (I knew that before I read any history books). But do your kids a favor today and, in addition to telling them that in 1492 he sailed the ocean blue, read them this account from ol Chris:
- [O]ur Lord opened to my understanding (I could sense His hand upon me) so it became clear to me that it [the voyage] was feasible. . . . All those who heard about my enterprise rejected it with laughter, scoffing at me. . . . Who doubts that this illumination was from the Holy Spirit? I attest that He [the Holy Spirit], with marvelous rays of light, consoled me through the holy and sacred Scriptures . . . they inflame me with a sense of great urgency. . . . And I say that the sign which convinces me that our Lord is hastening the end of the world is the preaching of the Gospel recently in so many lands.
- It is possible that those who see this book will accuse me of being unlearned in literature, of being a layman and a sailor. I reply with the words of Matt. 11:25, “Lord, because thou has hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hath revealed them unto babes. …”
- No one should fear to undertake any task in the name of our Savior, if it is just and if the intention is purely for His holy service. The working out of all things has been assigned to each person by our Lord, but it all happens according to His sovereign will even though He gives advice. He lacks nothing that it is in the power of men to give him. Oh what a gracious Lord, who desires that people should perform for Him those things for which He holds Himself responsible! Day and night moment by moment, everyone should express to Him their most devoted gratitude.
Let your children esteem this American historical figure, if for nothing else, for being a man of faith and vision! He went out there and did something nobody said could be done! And did it in Jesus’ name! Good on ya, Chris.
Next American teaching opportunity: Halloween! (Okay, actually All Saints Day, Nov 1, during which you’ll tell the kids that we esteem martyrs and want their faith…)
