How Great Is Our God

On Being Salt and Light

picture by John Vanderkruk

A quote from David Turner (a member at All Souls and a friend of John Stott’s since 1972):

I recall early in my legal career going to see [John Stott] to discuss the possibility of leaving the bar, at which I was just beginning to practise, to explore possibilities of ordination. He was gracious but firm in discouraging me from that route. “We need Christian lawyers” he said. The seriousness with which he took so-called ‘secular’ work was wonderfully affirming. There was no message that such work would be ‘second best’, there was no arena in which God’s people were not needed, where they could not serve effectively.

I know he reflected a lot on the ‘salt and light’ metaphors of Matthew 5. He liked to stress the radical difference that Christlikeness demanded. To that distinctiveness, however, there needed to be added permeation of non-Christian society. Salt did no good if it stayed in the salt shaker. Finally, he was powerfully persuaded of the capacity of Christians to change society. Salt hinders bacterial decay. Light dispels darkness. This was not a call to create a perfect society – John knew that was an impossible brief – but it was a call to be incarnated in society, to be ‘in it but not of it’, to improve it. That teaching, which I heard and read in many different strands from John, has proved vocationally steadying for me in what is by now nearly thirty-five years as a barrister and judge.

Truth?

"we speak words and creating happens"
The truth will set you free - if it is good or bad - time will tell.

Sexuality and Our Children

Talking About Sexuality With Our Children

May I encourage you to talk to your children about sexuality? In God's Word, Leviticus 18, God gives information on sexual sins from a man’s perspective,and from a female perspective in Leviticus 21:9. Reading these passages in a familial devotion may be awkward, but may be handled in the context of a ‘reading through the Pentateuch’, ‘inconvenient’ but needed. It is helpful to comprehend all: if you allow for respectful discussion and disagreement this may be a huge blessing!.

This is especially true when you can point out that Jesus came to fulfill the law, not to abolish it, As such in the NT Jesus calls for ‘thinking’ as already being sin instead of just the doing, as related to Genesis 4: 7. A good book that may help is The Beauty of Holiness: The Book of Leviticus Simply Explained, by Philip Eveson (Welwyn commentary series).

On the point of sexuality and teaching, I made a mistake by many times (in light of Leviticus 21:9) not respecting my husband as I should and admonishing my girls to respect him. Unfortunately, I am a perfectionist and wanted him to be – we always see the mistakes of others better than our own :(. I also NEVER red these passages to my children; for me, they were too difficult to address. However, the reading will give you openness to understand together what God’s intention is in these areas and what God thinks of a sin like that (punishable of death). It shows also, how in chapter 18, He (God) protects any girl that lives under the same roof with any man.

Furthermore, the respect for the head of the clan is important; let him do all to be just and merciful in love as his Heavenly Father! How important this is for all involved! Together, these may develop openness and mutual respect.

It is also good to mention about dreams and dreaming (awake or sleeping). As a teenager, I dreamt with/about a man, how he should look, act, love. I read books that stimulated me in understand Godly values, and teach me how to recognize them. For boys, I have understood that they physically ‘dream’ with the girl’s body, enjoying it tremendously – and this is NO sin, it is inbuilt in the action of testosterone: a leftover of paradise! However, suggest to them that the ‘body’ should have a head, mind and heart. Suggest them that in their dreams they can learn to say ‘no’ as did Joseph in the house of Potiphar, even though it meant imprisonment to him. Tell them that the fact that they can blush is not a shame but a virtue (Jeremiah 6:15, and 8:12). On dreams and active engagement, the most beautiful story I read was from Mrs. K. Lynskoog in ‘Dreams’. In it she describes teaching her son to fight wolves that constantly haunt and scare him in his dreams. One good morning, she finds him lying in a bare bed, pillows and blankets everywhere, with a huge grin on his face ‘I won’! Never more to dream about it…

In general, empower your children to be able to say ‘no’ to wrong. Create opportunities, be it just a cookie on an empty countertop, or a candy in a jar, and help them to confess their sins and forgive. Furthermore, encourage and create opportunities to support, help, and empower the weak, ugly, the disabled, the lonely, and the foreigner. Above all, teach them the ability respect and give dignity to all. As in all of these the face of our Savior may be seen. Enable them to be frank, but also forgive, in love. Being ‘watchman’ (Ezekiel 3:17), not judges (Mathew 7:1-5 - and I do believe Mat 7:6 should apply to both!). In it, they can develop, create and form a Godly character.

Finally always remember that by you living out the fruits of the Spirit to them you enable them to do likewise – we learn much more by seeing it done than hearing how to do it! We enable them to do by doing.