What do you need in order to obey? In my last post, I suggested that sometimes courage is needed. Obeying always involves thinking, choosing, and following through. As a child, I loved my parents and teachers and did not question authority. Pleasing them was important to me. As a compliant child, maybe I didn’t need as much courage in order to obey as a stronger willed child might need. I have noted Continue reading
Posts Tagged With: spiritual growth
What Do You Need in Order to Obey?
Categories: Parenting, Spiritual Growth
Tags: Character, family, obedience, Parenting, spiritual growth, temperaments
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Singing Along — On the Obedience Train
What character qualities are riding along on the obedience train, singing in harmony? I’m rather embarrassed to tell you how many, in my opinion, of our 57 character qualities fit on this train. I went down the list and checked off 19! I must lack discernment or judgment! But then, maybe there is something to this! In our last post, I said that love is the entire enchilada – all 57 qualities rolled into one, describing the perfections of Christ. Obedience as a subset of love also has its entourage. Remember Continue reading
Categories: Being Like Jesus, Parenting, Spiritual Growth
Tags: Faith, family conversations, love, obedience, spiritual growth
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Character con Carne
What do these words have in common? Carne. Incarnation. Carnival. Carnivorous. Carnal. Yes, you see the similarity. They all have the syllable, “carn” in them. In the Latin, this means “flesh” or “meat.” We may go to the carnival (a festival, a time to feast on meat) to have fun and to eat chili con carne. A carnivorous species eats meat or “flesh.” Scripture uses the word “flesh” in several ways, often negative, but not always.
When Jesus Christ became flesh, he became the one perfect human being (John 1: 14; Phil. 2: 5-8). Christ is the beautiful picture of “flesh” as “flesh” was meant to be in human perfection. We call this teaching “the doctrine of the incarnation.” Then there is the negative use where “flesh” represents the sin nature or the old nature of humans (Rom. 7:18). This is the carnal nature – of the flesh, motivated by sin and self and for self. In contrast is the new nature – of the spirit, motivated by God and for God, good, and His glory (Romans chapter 8). Continue reading
Categories: Being Like Jesus
Tags: Be Like Jesus, Flesh, Good Characteristics, spiritual growth, transformation
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Thanking the Lord of Beginnings
Happy New Year! Without time, there would be no beginning. “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1). One of the many virtues of God’s orderly creation is the renewing quality of rhythms and patterns. God created both matter and motion – things in space and time – “All things came into being by Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being” (John 1:3 NASB).
Speed up to the present. The year 2012. Thank You, Jesus, for creating seconds, minutes, hours, days, and weeks . . . (Heb. 1:2; Col. 1:16). Teach us to number our days that we may gain wise hearts (Psalm 90:12). Thank You for the rhythm of the revolutions of the earth, the orbits of the moon around the earth and the earth around the sun. Thank You for the faithful dance of matter with motion. Here am I, a little dust fleck on planet earth, infinitesimal in the universe, yet stunningly created in line with the character of my Creator, bearing Your image – Your child! Thank You! Continue reading
Categories: Spiritual Growth
Tags: beginnings, challenges, Character, spiritual growth, thankfulness, time
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Let This Two Year Old Lead Us
Welcome back. Jesus said, unless we “change and become like little children,” we won’t “see the kingdom of heaven.” Last week, you read about my experience as a four year old. Now, I’m going to tell you about a two year old. What are the characteristics of little ones that we big ones need? And do we need to change our attitudes about the development and propensities of our young ones? Let’s consider another story.* Continue reading
Categories: Being Like Jesus
Tags: Be Like Jesus, holy, Little Children, spiritual growth
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The Adventure Begins
“Does anybody here need Jesus?” asks Milton Carroll in his modern, Christian chorus. Does anyone reading this blog want to know Him, not only as your Savior, but also as your friend, intimate companion, and mentor? Does anyone want to be more like Jesus? Are you a parent, a student, a teacher, a coach, a staff member, a grandparent? We’re on this journey together.
This is a new blog for our Troy Christian Schools family. Journey North Character. Here at TCS, we aim to focus on character development as the heart of our endeavors, and by that, we mean growing in Christ from the inside out. So, this blog is a place where we can talk about spiritual growth and the Christian walk. Continue reading
Journey North Character 