Daily Focus

Teach your child what “fun” is. We need to take charge of their development and help them learn how to enjoy life without sin. Sin doesn’t add enjoyment; it destroys the beauty of everything. “And you, fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord.” Ephesians 6:4 NKJV

A dead alcoholic, who died from alcohol poisoning, was asked, “What do you want most?” He said, “A sip of whisky.” Living for sin has a way of making you feel alive while the soul agonizingly dies inside.   Live is in Christ. Walking dead belongs to those outsides of Christ. “But she who lives in pleasure is dead while she lives.” 1 Timothy 5:6 NKJV

Like a gambler in some back alley game, we can find ourselves desperately feeding our “fun.” Love God. Put God first. Then enjoy the blessings of freedom and pleasure He gives you. Don’t forget nothing but Heaven is worth your soul. “traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,”  2 Timothy 3:4 NKJV

Sophie Marceau, a French actress in the ‘60’s, said, “I need the seasons to live to the rhythm of rain and sun.”   We need to know we are free and feel free. You cannot feel free when you are constantly yoked to work. Go away with your family for a time of rest and play. “And He said to them, “Come aside by yourselves to a deserted place and rest awhile.” For there were many coming and going, and they did not even have time to eat.” Mark 6:31 NKJV

              Don’t be unequally yoked with an unbeliever. If you are, you will go nowhere fast. If you are not careful, they can drag you down. Try your best in the work you do to maintain a controlling influence so you can make sure righteousness and God will always come first. If you can’t, get out. Make sure you keep this same mindset with your family. Remember, we are all trying to get to Heaven. “Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness?” 2 Corinthians 6:14 NKJV

                God is first. You know it. Your spouse should know it. Your children should know it. Now live it as a family. Put God first in the morning, in the evening. Put God first in work and chores. Put God first in your aspirations and goal-seeking. Seek first the kingdom of God, and God will take care of you. Work can distract us because the rewards are instantaneous and satisfy the flesh. Don’t bite that lure. “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.” Matthew 6:33 NKJV

              We expect others to work to a certain level, productivity, and quality. We expect this at work and at home. As a family, each one needs to work to their level of expectations of others. You work and be as productive as you would want others to do to you. It is that simple. “Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.” Matthew 7:12 NKJV

              Some people get to the top and forget the journey. They set high upon that self-made throne and deal wrongly with those under them. We, as Christian bosses, are to deal with everyone fair and justly. Give your actions and deeds some thought about how they will affect those same people. God makes it clear that though you are the boss, He expects better of you.  “Masters, give your bondservants what is just and fair, knowing that you also have a Master in heaven.” Colossians 4:1 NKJV

               Yeah, that’s right we sometimes hate work. We get to the office or workplace and simple loath the task in front of us. We trudge through the mile-high work request. We sluggishly and defiantly get things done, begging to go home to do it all again tomorrow. Wrong. You are a Christian. We do all in the name of the Lord and for Him. We owe those we work for honest, genuine, sincere, and wholehearted service.   You cannot tell me your job is worse than slaves. If at the very least, be thankful that God has blessed you with a job that takes care of your families needs. “Bondservants, obey in all things your masters according to the flesh, not with eyeservice, as men-pleasers, but in sincerity of heart, fearing God. And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men,   knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance; for you serve the Lord Christ.  ...

              Our bellies drive us. Our fleshy needs and wants cause us to go to work. Depending on how strong we let those desires rumble inside of us depends on how hard we work to satisfy them. That is not the whole of why we work and provide for our bare needs. We work to take care of others. Image the joy that would come from working to help a brother or sisters in Christ in their time of need. Even better, what about working to give for the cause of Christ. That makes me whistle while I work. What about you? “Let him who stole steal no longer, but rather let him labor, working with his hands what is good, that he may have something to give him who has need.” Ephesians 4:28 NKJV

              Steadily work at everything. As a family working consistently and diligently is a good thing. You can spend time together doing work. Children learn a great deal about life, work, and how life is. I know we grow tired of work. Partly because we focus on getting that paycheck so much, we do not take good care of ourselves. We sacrifice good rest, nutrients, mental and spiritual well being just for a dollar. This is not what God is speaking of here. Get it all in balance and work together as a family. “not lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord;” Romans 12:11 NKJV

                Thank you, Jungle Book for teaching me all about the bare necessities of life.   That image is in my head of Baloo floating down the river with Mowgli on his stomach singing “Look for the bare necessities, The simple bare necessities. Forget about your worries and your strife. I mean the bare necessities, That's why a bear can rest at ease. With just the bare necessities of life.” (The Jungle Book (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) Walt Disney Records) Of course, old Baloo was all about the life of ease. I never took it that way. I just always liked the idea that the things you need most in life are always there. Make sure your home sees it the same way. “But if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.” 1 Timothy 5:8 NKJV

                 I have never liked thorns and briers.   They make things harder and work more painful. It was because Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden that those were created. I often wonder if God didn’t place those earthly things that make our work so hard and painful out there to remind us what sin does to our spiritual lives. Getting a good day’s work in, in the hot summer heat, makes us feel good.  I wonder if   on the day of judgment, after getting all this work for the Lord done on this earth, it will feel the same “Then to Adam He said, “Because you have heeded the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat of it’: “Cursed is the ground for your sake; In toil you shall eat of it All the days of your life. Both thorns and thistles it shall [a]bring forth for you, And you shall eat the herb of the field. In the ...

              There is work that is play, frivolous work, and work that is for sustenance. Families need to work. We all need to all carry our weight in the home in our respective roles. It is amazing to me to see how much work can be accomplished with two people instead of one. Not to mention the amount of work that gets done with even more people. Work together as a family in the home, on spiritual growth, and in the kingdom. You would be surprised at what a little work can do. “Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it.” Genesis 2:15 NKJV