I recently heard a news story that perked my ears.  In this story, there was a man who had committed a crime and got caught very easily.  The crime wasn’t very interesting.  I don’t even remember what he did.  All I remember is in order to commit this crime, he gave his personal information to the victim.  This made catching him easier than catching a heavy footed preschooler who is supposed to be in bed.  The thing that really caught my attention was what the sheriff said regarding this case.  He was blunt and to the point when he said, “Life is hard.  It’s even harder when you’re stupid.”

How many times have you heard the old Proverb, “Train up your child…and they will not depart from it.”  Most believing parent’s of unsaved grown children hold onto this verse for dear life.  Many think it means that no matter how awful of a heathen there child is, eventually they will turn back to Jesus.  I don’t believe that this is what that verse means.  I believe that if we teach them, they will have the knowledge to face anything, even if they don’t know Jesus.  Let me try to break this down.

We all know the saying, “Knowledge is power.”  I have observed that many Christian homes try to avoid giving the “wrong” kind of knowledge to their kids.  There are just some things you don’t talk about.  Things like sex, death, money, divorce, and even God  Many parents’s either don’t know how to talk to their kids about these, or get too uncomfortable that they avoid these topics altogether.  The problem with this philosophy is that just because you don’t talk about it doesn’t mean that your kids aren’t learning about it.

I was recently in one of our church programs when a group of girls began to talk about “THE VIDEO” they saw in health class at school that day.  You all know what video!  The teacher, knowing that not all the girls saw it or had even had any resemblance of the “Talk” with their parent’s quickly diverted the conversation.  This is just one example of places that your kids are learning about these topics.  Here are a few other places: school, the playground, friends houses, the internet, tv, movies, music, etc.  You see the question is not when should they learn?  But, how are they already learning it?  And, why are they not learning it in the godliest way possible?

There is a great resource out called Talk Now And Later: How to Lead Kids Through Life’s Tough Topics by Brian Dollar.  I highly recommend it no matter what stage of life your kids are at.  In his book Brian says, “We can prepare them by talking openly—and age-appropriately—so they’re ready when the time comes to process these events.”  We need to give our kids knowledge of healthy godly ways to deal with the very topics that most of us try to avoid so they can deal with it.   I would rather my kids learn from me than from their friends.  I want to train them and empower them because, “Life is hard.  It’s even harder when your stupid.”

I am often amazed by the simple and even subtle things that God does for us that have a profound impact. One of my favorite portions of scripture is when Jesus serves His disciples at the Last Supper. In the first 17 verses of John chapter 13, we see the most amazing yet humble picture of who God is and what He calls us to be like.
We all probably know the story. The night of Jesus’ arrest He shares the Passover dinner with his closest friends and His soon to be betrayer. During this meal, He teaches them everything He needs them to know before He is to die on the cross.

However, Jesus doesn’t just teach them with His words. He shows them an incredible example of what He has called them to be like. He has not called them to be powerful, warrior types that will help Him overthrow a government. He calls them to be servants. This is shown by his stripping down to His skivvies and washing their dirty, nasty, stinky feet. They are all amazed that Jesus would do this. This is the job usually reserved for the lowest of the servants in the household. And here Jesus, the King of the Jews, the Son of God is stooping himself so low. The thought of this causes Peter to go into a tizzy. Once Jesus calms Peter down, the servant of all explains that He has come to serve and if the master is called to serve, how much more are we, His servants, called to serve.
Verse 17 gets to what I think is one of the most powerful things that Jesus says in the whole bible. “Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.”

Basically, Jesus is saying here, “I have told you and shown you everything you need to know to follow me. Now go do it and I will take care of everything else.” Our only job is to do what He says and He will take care of the rest. What a relief that is to me! I don’t have to worry about the outcome. I just have to serve others in love and humility as my master has shown me.