Todays devotion... Grow Up Quinn G. Caldwell My child, keep your fathers commandment, and do not forsake your mothers teaching. Bind them upon your heart always; tie them around your neck. - Proverbs 6: 20-21 This is a quote often attributed to Mark Twain: When I was a boy of 14, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be 21, I was astonished at how much the old man had learned in seven years. Whats true of the fathers of know-it-all teenagers is also true of Mother Church. More to the point, whats true of know-it-all teenagers is also true of know-it-all churchgoers. As a teenager, you see hypocrisy all around, sell-outs everywhere you look. Then you go out into the world, live a little, get knocked around a little, screw up a little with nobody to blame but yourself. You fall short of your own ideals a few times. Suddenly, your parents make more sense. Lots of us approach church like self-righteous fourteen year olds. We toss out ancient prayers and creeds for little more than the fault of not being what we would have written. We spit out anything we dont like the taste of and shout, I wont and you cant make me! Sometimes, the teenagers are right. But sometimes, the parents are. What about the church did you used to think was dumb—but now think has improved with (your) age? What song did you used to hate but now think is kind of brilliant? What biblical text have you come to appreciate now that youve gotten over yourself a little? What prayer has managed to engrave itself on your heart, now that youve matured some? Good parents let themselves be changed and challenged by their teenagers—but not too much. Mostly, they put up with their teenagers self-righteousness until they get over it on their own. Prayer God, sometimes Im totally right in my brilliant critique of all this faith stuff. On the other hand, the church has been around a lot longer than I have. So help me to be more humble than a fourteen–year-old. After all, thats a pretty low bar. Amen.
Posted on: Wed, 05 Mar 2014 14:26:02 +0000
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