Training for Grace

When we think of disciplining by grace or disciplining the Gospel way, what is usually the first and main consideration? Is it not that someone else pays the penalty for my debt? In training our children, it seems perfectly appropriate for the parent to offer to pay the debt (punishment) for a child’s misbehavior for the purpose of illustrating the magnificent gift God gave us in offering His Son to pay our entire sin debt. If using this method of training:

1. Make the example clear — Christ died to pay all. He only needed to die once for all.

2. The parent cannot pay for sin. The parent can offer grace in demonstration of what Christ did, but it is a puny illustration. Full explanation and teaching should accompany your decision to take the punishment for the child’s failure or misbehavior.

3. Remember that grace is always GIVEN. It can never be assumed, demanded nor expected. Imagine us going to Christ and demanding pardon for our multitude of sins. Or imagine yourself standing before God at judgment and telling Him you assumed you would have pardon because He is a good God.

4. Be careful of offering grace and thereby teaching that sin can be thought of lightly. Training should always include God’s opinion of sin. Even slight infractions are horrible in God’s eyes. Sin is the very opposite of all of God’s perfect attributes. It defies who He is. (See Proverbs 6:16-19, 8:13; Romans 3:23, 6:23; Psalm 5:4, 97:10; 1John 1:9, 3:4; 2Peter 3:9; Colossians 3:5-6 and many more).

5. Remember and teach that in God ALL of His character (attributes) work together ALL of the time. When He is offering us grace through Christ for our sin, His justice is at work. He is present. He knows all about the situation from past and now and future. He is showing love. He is the one with the power to offer the grace. His grace is never separated from His judgment, His justice, His wrath, His love.

In this age of demanding our individual rights, let’s encourage and challenge one another to adhere strongly to the Word of God. Let’s agree to search the Word that we might know God’s way in training our children to be like Him. Hold before your children that Word that shows that they are His image. Train with that image in mind, knowing that God created each for His own good purposes.

Suffering

We’ve been dealing with this topic frequently. We know that we will continue to grow in understanding suffering but we also know that:

“The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us” (Deuteronomy 29:29a). As we face suffering it is very helpful to keep not only this Bible verse handy and reread it but to go over other verses that assure us of God’s promises, His sovereignty, His goodness and His omnipresence (Philippians 4:19; Jeremiah 23:24, 29:11; Proverbs 15:3, 21:1; Psalm 107:1, 115:3; Isaiah 46:10; Nahum 1:7).

Whether thinking of suffering as evil or for our profit we see God relates to evil by:

• permitting it (2Corinthians 12:7)

• restraining it (Genesis 20:6)

• overruling it (Genesis 50:20)

But God does not do evil. If an act of God appears evil to us, we are failing to understand the full picture. God has good purpose for all He does.

Suffering may profit:

• by bringing judgment to an unbelieving world

• by helping a believer bear witness to the world or to produce Godliness in the believer. (See Chapter 6 of The Beauty and Glory of Christian Worldview by Brian Cosby)

In all things, including suffering, our God is trustworthy.

Academic Hint This is a good time in your academic year to pause and focus on excellence in spelling and writing.

Talk about what makes good writing — writing with a purpose, writing that is easily readable and understood.

Talk about setting goals to improve writing. As you agree on goals, making corrections will be less painful.

Ask some older homeschoolers to share some of their good writing with your student. But above all practice. Writing is improved by writing and willingly accepting editing help.

Consider:

1. Writing should have a defined purpose, specific topic, limited scope.

2. Paragraphs should include information on only one point or idea.

3. Essays — best to keep to one limited topic with several points. Each point can have its own paragraph for easy composition.

4. For very young beginners copy work still is an ideal way to practice making excellent sentences. Enjoy sharing ideas in writing. Culminate your work by mailing it to someone whose day you can brighten.

Resources to Consider

When looking for help in leading your students to understand and grow from Bible Studies consider:

1. Scripture overviews by JB Nicholson. He gives a 5-10 minute overview of each book of the Bible. He has many teachings available on YouTube that I’ve never watched and cannot describe their worth. But these individual Book studies of a few minutes each are available through RightNow Media. If you don’t have access to RightNow Media, you can find them at UPLOOKTV: “Scripture Snapshots”

2. The Gospel Coalition has free series called “Knowing the Bible Series.” His is 45 different studies to cover the entire Bible. Each of the 45 studies is 12 lessons. These are not audio but are written for efficient reading.

Here is the point: You may not need either of these resources, but we want to share them with you so that there is no excuse for skimming over “hard” parts of the Bible and so that you are encouraged to keep growing and digging.

But ALWAYS go directly to the WORD for daily reading that you may know God and grow to be like Him.

Teaching Help from Hebrews I want to share some ideas I had during a recent Bible study by Michael Kruger from Reformed Theological Seminary (View Study). From Hebrews 2 verses 7 and 8 we notice that God chose humans, from all of His creation, to reflect His glory (Genesis 1:26 carry His image) and rule His world.

How will this affect teaching? You could list many ways. I’ll share a few of the thoughts that came to me as I studied this.

1. Every student has tremendous value and potential. As I teach each one, I must consider and remember God’s image is who I’m teaching.

2. As I choose subjects to teach and methods and materials to use, I must keep in mind my human purpose to reflect His glory and to challenge my student(s) to reflect that.

3. My studies must include stewardship for ruling over creation. This awesome responsibility is also an incredible privilege but both teacher and student must be teachable. God has a design for how this ruling will prosper.

4. Realizing each one is “in His image” will help me respond well to those who annoy me, or those with whom I disagree. Each response I make I am making to the image of God. Think of the magnificent training opportunities you have in your home. Consider your response to a politician, whether agreeing or disagreeing. God’s image must always be a factor as no human escapes that. Offer your school the Hebrews advantage of God’s creation, God’s purpose, man’s response and Christ’s hope.

5. Seeing each created human in God’s image also helps us value each one’s participation. Consider sports. No player has more value than another because each reflects His image and that is the highest value. No person regardless of his ability is more “valuable” than another.

How marvelous are God’s ways. Continuously will we teach His goodness to us. “This is the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes!” (Mark 12:11)

Love, Becky