Letters to my son - Introduction

O' my son! 

This year has been a crazy one...you've really stirred the waters! I was beginning to wonder if being a father was in God's plan for me. I mean, I have to admit, the thought of changing another human being's poopy diapers wasn't exactly bucket list material for me. You're too young to know, but the hard rock wall between your grandpa and I, that definitely made me wonder... What if? What if I do have a son and he grows up to want nothing to do with me to live a totally different life-- could I take that? I believe that, little by little, God was preparing me for the responsibility of leading you and Mom, of guiding you both spiritually, and of loving you both sacrificially. I have to say, though, that once you "made your entrance," a lot of those questions kind of faded away. 

³ Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord,
The fruit of the womb is a reward.

⁴ Like arrows in the hand of a warrior,
So are the children of one’s youth.

 

- Psalm 127:3-4

I guess I never really saw having children as a reward, but I totally do now! I look at the above verse and think of arrows in a warrior's hand, how they must give him purpose, invigorate him, and propel him forward in being a warrior. Son, you have given me more purpose to persevere in my walk with Jesus. It hasn't all been roses these last seven months! Oh boy, I thought I knew what exhaustion was, but I had no idea. Never have I seen someone so demanding over milk! I mean, milk isn't THAT great, is it? The only other person I know who seems to love soft things as much as you is your mother... waking both of you up in the climax of your nap is a BAD IDEA!!! 

Oh, but there are so many awesome things about you! You love to giggle when I make goofy sounds and faces... and I'm pretty stoked that only I can make you laugh that way. You don't give up easily! Watching you trying to master crawling is like watching a fish flop around on dry land! You got it down, eventually, but I love that you didn't give up. 

 I want to start writing you through these blogs with the hopes that, as God teaches me new and exciting things through being a parent, you will one day grow to know His heart AND my heart through them. I KNOW, I KNOW I can be an overly sentimental dude! You will just have to get used to it. Sorry, I am now stuck with you...the good and the stinky... so I guess that means for the next 18 years, you are also stuck with me.

I guess the first thing God's taught me that I want to leave with you is this: It may be difficult to be a parent, but not hard to love you. It may be taxing when you won't be still and let me put a fresh diaper on you, but I enjoy each second. I have come to see a parallel these last seven months between being a parent and my relationship with the Lord. How come the Lord's mercies fail not? We can be such boneheads!! How can God be so gracious? I know that God's purpose, at least in part, in allowing couples to have children is to give us a window into His own heart towards us. We may be able to vicariously look into other's lives and imagine God's fatherly heart towards His beloved children when we see them love their own children so deeply, but we will never know fully until we experience it ourselves. 

In short, you are a gift as the verse above said...a demanding one, but just the one I needed to draw nearer to God and understand His heart in a new and fresh way. 

Love, your father,

James Stroud

 17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.

 

- James 1:17

 

Desiring Spiritual Maturity

My 5-year-old, Levi, wants to be a baby again.  He has been joking with me about buying him diapers (he thinks that will solve the issue of him having to wipe himself when he goes to the restroom -- sorry if that's too much info).  A few days ago, he told me, “Mom, when I grow up, I want to be a baby.”  Not sure where this is coming from, but apparently he already thinks adulting is hard!

We may laugh at this and think it’s a little cute at this age, but don’t we do the same thing spiritually as adults?  Don’t we want to stay comfortable in our onesies, letting others spoon-feed us, bathe us, and rock us to sleep?  The Bible is very clear that we are not to stay in the “infant” stage in our walk with Christ.  We must keep growing!

Hebrews 5:11-14 says, “We have much to say about this, but it is hard to make it clear to you because you no longer try to understand.  In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s Word all over again.  You need milk, not solid food!  Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness.  But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.” (NLT)

When we are first saved, we need help with EVERYTHING, just like a newborn baby!  We need constant discipleship and guidance as we learn what it means to live as a Christian, to study His Word, to pray, etc.  We are essentially being “nursed” or “spoon-fed,” and that is TOTALLY okay at this point in our walks!  It’s expected!

But what about when we come across a person who has been a believer for years and is still expecting to be spoon-fed everything?  

1 Corinthians 3:1-3 has a pretty stern warning about this: “Dear brothers and sisters, when I was with you I couldn’t talk to you as I would to spiritual people.  I had to talk as though you belonged to this world or as though you were infants in the Christian life.  I had to feed you with milk, not with solid food, because you weren’t ready for anything stronger.  And you still aren’t ready, for you are still controlled by your sinful nature.  You are jealous of one another and quarrel with each other.  Doesn’t that prove you are controlled by your sinful nature?  Aren’t you living like people of the world?” (NLT)

Christian, it’s time to grow up! 

Don't just sit on the sidelines and watch everyone around you grow.  Get into the game -- study your Bible, develop a prayer life, serve in your church, fellowship with believers, minister to people around you, and don't be controlled by sin.  Don't you want to live to the full potential God has for your life?

If you have kids, you know that they get so excited when they learn something new and are finally a “big kid”!  It should be exciting to us as believers when we are learning new truths and growing in Christ!

When we first become a believer, we spend a lot of time just learning the basic, foundational spiritual truths -- that is the “milk,” which is very important!  But what will happen if we just stay on that milk?

We will be malnourished!  We will not grow as we should.  When we reach a certain point, our spirits should crave deeper truths.

Hebrews 6:1 (NLT) says, "So let us stop going over the basic teachings about Christ again and again. Let us go on instead and become mature in our understanding. Surely we don’t need to start again with the fundamental importance of repenting from evil deeds and placing our faith in God." 

As we continue to spend time with God in prayer and reading His Word, He is going to keep teaching us new truths.  And as we learn and apply these truths, we will be taking bigger and bigger “bites” and eventually move on to meat.  The most important part of taking those bites is to chew them and digest them so that our bodies can actually use them and be satisfied!  If we just keep the bites in our mouths and never actually use (apply) them, they might taste good at the moment, but they are useless to us in the end.

When you study the Word on your own or are sitting under a teaching through the Word, be sure to ask God to show you how to apply that teaching to YOUR life, and then - get this - actually DO IT!  This is the most important part!

James 1:22 (NLT) says, “But don’t just listen to God’s Word. You must do what it says.  Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves.”

As you take these bigger “bites” and digest (apply) them, you will be nourished.  You will be satisfied.  You will get stronger in your walk with Christ.  Just as your body needs to be fed, your spirit needs to be fed!

I hope you will feast on His Word today and continue to grow in Christ!