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My sons are actually teenagers. It looks like simply yesterday I put them down for a nap after lunch, and now, my youngest is 6 foot 1. Not solely are the boys rising in measurement and mind, however they’re additionally rising in religion. I pray over them as I watch them wrestle to make the religion I’ve raised them in their very own.
Among the many many questions that floor is, “How will I do know which voice is God?” This isn’t a simple query to reply. Even us grown-ups who’ve lengthy been immersed in religion have a tough time discerning God’s voice inside.
I inform my sons there isn’t a shortcut; one strategy to attune your ear to the candy voice of God is to spend time with him. Once we spend time in prayer, within the Phrase and in worship, we start to know what God’s voice appears like. We can’t pretend this. It’s not only a Sunday behavior. It’s a day by day give up.
I additionally need my sons to know that it isn’t God who makes us really feel ashamed. Disgrace is a results of sin. Disgrace separates us from God and from one another. I remind them how Adam and Eve by no means felt ashamed of their nakedness till they sinned. Solely then did they cowl themselves.
I remind them of considered one of my favourite verses from St. Paul’s letter to the Romans: “Do you not notice that God’s kindness is supposed to guide you to repentance?” (2:4) He wrote this to Romans who wished to guage these in sin round them. He mentioned that even God in his righteous judgment doesn’t draw us to repentance in such a method however in kindness. If the voice appears like a schoolmarm wagging her finger or an abusive partner, that’s not God. For hundreds of years, Moses, King David, and the Apostles described God as “merciful and gracious, / gradual to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.” (Psalm 86:15) That is who our God is.
Once I was youthful and making an attempt to discern the voice of God, my seminary professors jogged my memory that God’s voice will all the time align with Scripture. That is why figuring out his Phrase is so necessary. Spend time in God’s Phrase, and his voice turns into loud, sturdy, and clear.
Once we know the voice of God, it’s so candy and loving that we’re full of gratitude and need nothing greater than to like God again. We wish to develop into holy like him. Our actions, needs, and religion comply with.
I hope my boys will quiet their very own noise lengthy sufficient to listen to God’s voice. It’s the voice that adjustments our lives.
Picture by Warren on Unsplash.
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