Saturday Seeking - "Baby Shower Memories"

An afternoon outing today brought back memories of a similar event some years ago.  At the time, it prompted me to do a Saturday Seeking devotional.  Turns out it was about eight and a half years ago.  Have I really been doing these writings that long?  They do say time flies when you're having fun!

Looking over the reading to share again, I see a few similarities and a few differences.  Yes, it was a busy Saturday in my life today.  No, I did not have to do teller duty this morning at Farmers State Bank.  Yes, there was a baby shower today, only this time for just one baby.  No, it was not at our church, but in a nice room off the lobby of our new motel.

Although I did not have to supply a devotional, something made me think of the lesson given me back then.  And yes, the message is still relevant today!

01/21/06 Growing as a Christian

Today was a busy Saturday in my life. The morning found me doing teller duty at Farmers State Bank, and in the afternoon we hosted a double baby shower at our church. The babies were just two weeks apart in age, and it was fun to see them together. As a part of the shower I was asked to have a devotional. All week I was running ideas across my brain as to what I would say to these young mothers. Finally it was the night before and I still didn’t have a definite plan in mind.

With the modern age of computers I was sure I could find a quick solution on the Internet. Two hours and many searches later, I still didn’t have anything profound to share. As a last resort I picked up my Bible and started paging through for inspiration. Low and behold, I found some verses to inspire me and decided to speak on growing in our Christian walk. 

Looking back, I wonder why the Bible was my last resort? Sometimes we try so hard to find answers elsewhere, when they are all right there in God’s book. What we need is a little faith He will show them to us. And faith is just where my lesson had its start. As I was searching for something special to share, I came across 2 Peter 1, verses 5-8. These verses say, “For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

In these verses I could see qualities beneficial in the role of a mother, qualities to help them guide their daughters into a relationship with God. As we send our children out into the world, we can’t go with them, but God can and does. Therefore we need to establish their identity in Christ so they will have an eternal purpose and meaning in life.

These verses spoke to me of a growing process we need to go through, which reminded me of the “Wordless Book” evangelism tool I have used in my Wednesday night lessons with kids. This book is made up of a black page, a red page, a white page, a green page and a yellow page. The black page represents our life of sin, the red page is Jesus’ blood shed for the forgiveness of our sins, & the white page represents how His blood washes us white as snow. The green page stands for the growing process necessary in our life as a Christian, and the yellow symbolizes the promise of our heavenly home with streets of gold.

In my experience, many people want to skip over the green page. God gave me the following lesson guide to share in my devotional on growing in the Lord:

G is for Going to Church--Hebrews 10:25 tells us we should not give up meeting together. It is not only a time of instruction, but also a time we can encourage one another.

R is for Reading the Bible--In Psalm 119 verse 105, we read God’s word is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path. 

O is for Obeying God’s Commandments--In the Old Testament God gave Moses a list of ten commandments which later Jesus summed up into two: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. The second most important is like it, in that we shall love our neighbor as ourselves”. (Matthew 22:37 & 39)

W is for Worship--Hebrews 12:28 tells us we need to be thankful and worship God acceptably with reverence and awe.

This week take time to evaluate how much you have grown in the Lord. Are you are using the tools God has provided to draw you closer to Him? Keep the faith, and let it lead you through the steps in 2 Peter 1 to a life filled with God’s love. Then remember to share those qualities with everyone around you!