Is It Time To Rebuild?

Years ago, when my wife and I were newly married, we bought our first house. That first house had some real problems.  The main one was that whoever built it did not take the time to put a footing under the foundation.  Therefore, the house had settled on one end.  The 20 foot living/dining room dropped about 12 inches from one end to the other. It took an incredible amount of time and effort to try to get that house back to level.  Eventually, someone had to come and dig out the old foundation, and put in a new footing and foundation, so that the house could be solid.

Today I see many families struggling.  They will say things like, “My kid is on suspension from school.”, “Our marriage is falling apart.”, “My kids won’t listen and obey me,.”, and the list goes on…

When you get a chance to talk with them and challenge them, you realize that their lives and families have a foundation problem.  They need to return to the Biblical principles, and teaching, and Jesus Christ in their lives and families.  Matthew 7:24–27 (NKJV) ²⁴“Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: ²⁵and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock. ²⁶“But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: ²⁷and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall.”

Some of you may think that you are fine, because the storms of life have not yet hit, but they will.  Many others are facing the storm and seeing their homes beginning to sink. and oOthers are seeing them collapse.  I want to let you know there is hope!  Remove the foundation that is allowing your life and family to fall apart, and start rebuilding on the Rock of Jesus’ teachings.  I am not here telling you it will be easy. It will be harder than rebuilding the foundation of our house, but it will also be more rewarding when you are done.  I also am not telling you to do it alone, in fact, I will work to help you in this process, or connect you to someone else who will point you to the Biblical principles that are needed in the life of you and your children.  Don’t put it off, because the longer you wait, the more difficult the job becomes.  If your children are young the job will be easier than if they are old, if you are working from multiple generations of the improper foundation your work is cut out for you, but don’t lose hope.  Do the job “one brick” at a time, then slowly and surely, you will see the benefits of your efforts as you submit to God’s Word in your life and family!

For assistance contact: First Baptist Church 309-257-2290 or littletonbap@mtcnow.net

The Bully Solution

This comes as no surprise to anyone, but the issue/problem of “bullying” has grown to epidemic proportions. Many are saying “Stop bullying!” or “We need to stop bullying!”, yet they are not addressing foundational principles that will help get to the heart of the issue.  Rather, they are address symptoms and say they are “helping,” which is like saying a Band-Aid is “fixing” cancer.  Please read through the following principles and consider how we need to address the foundational issues of bullying.

What is Right?  We must teach a standard of right and wrong that is unchanging.  Nearly everyone will say that the bully is wrong.  Yet, one must admit is that in the majority of cases the bullied has broken God’s standard of righteousness by wrongfully responding to the bully even before it becomes a “bullying” situation, and usually afterward, as well.  We must bring both parties to the point of recognizing that God sets a standard of right and wrong His standard does not change with society’s whims.  We therefore bring them back to the truths of God’s Word.  Psalm 119:9, 11 (NKJV) “How can a young man cleanse his way?  By taking heed according to Your word.  Your Word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against You.”

Who am I?  We must teach individuals that they are created in the “image of God” (Gen. 1:26-27), as the greatest of all of God’s creation.  Our value, therefore, comes from the fact that I am “fearfully and wonderfully made.”  Psalm 139:14   My value or worth does not change when someone calls me a name, or makes fun of my clothing.  My value does not change by how smart, good-looking, or talented I am.   These things are all temporary, and will pass away.   The bullied needs to change the way they look at themselves, to see how God looks at them.  The bully needs to recognize that they are attacking one whom God specially created for His purpose, and they will give account to Him for their behavior.

As one created in God’s image, all of us are to be reflecting the character of God by striving to be loving, caring, holy, forgiving, gracious servants of Him.

How do we resolve our conflict?  The majority of bullying situations grow out of unresolved conflict.  This conflict and fighting comes as a result of our own selfish desires (James 4:1). We must learn not to respond to others sin by attacking them.  I must learn to respond calmly (Prov. 15:1).   We must learn that retaliation is never right (Prov.  20:22; Rom. 12:17; I Peter 3:9).  We must know that God has saved revenge as His right and responsibility (Rom. 12:19; Heb. 10:30).  He sees and knows all, and He is all-powerful, and therefore able to deal with the problem.  We must trust Him to deal with the problem through the authorities that He has set up or personally.  It may not always be the response for which we were wishing, but we can be certain God will deal with it.

Our response is to do everything in our power to live peaceably with all men (Rom. 12:18).   This does not mean we can compromise the truth of God’s word, or disobey His

commands, but we can do everything up to that point to bring about peace in our relationships.

The starting point:  In just this short space we have recognized that there is a standard of right and wrong that has been compromised in our relationships.  This “missing the mark” of God’s righteousness is called sin.  And the “wages of sin” is death (Rom. 6:23). That is bad news, but the good news is that the “gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord” (Rom 6:23).  God in His love sent Jesus Christ to die on the cross to pay the penalty of our sin (John 3:16).  We therefore must recognize our sinfulness and the consequences or our sin and believe that Jesus Christ is the only remedy for that sin.  Are you ready to put your faith in Christ to take the punishment for your sin? 

This bullying problem will continue to increase if we do not teach and train individuals with these truths.  For more help, daily encouragement and more thorough explanations, as well as, other topics such as love and authority: find “The Bully Solution” on Facebook or twitter (@BullySolved) and follow so you get all the updates, or look up www.thebullysolution.blogspot.com to follow our blog.   The bully solution is a ministry of First Baptist Church of Littleton, IL . www.fbclittletonil.org

Faith-based counseling to help those struggling on either side of this issue is available by calling 309-257-2290.