MY BLOG POSTS

My youngest daughter graduates from high school on Friday. This event has been looming in my my mind all year. It’ll hit at strange times, making me tear up, worry, and rejoice. It’s momentous, Graduation. It is both an ending and a beginning, a time to rejoice and a  time to mourn.

As a mom, graduation marks the end of an era. I have been, quite literally, very close to my kids all their lives: I stayed at home until they went to school, and then I went to school with them, teaching at K-12 Christian schools, where my classroom was on the same campus as theirs.

That ends Friday. When Ellie walks across the stage and receives her diploma, she steps out into the world – a world where I am not down the hall. In August, she will be going away to college – on the other side of the country. And, while I know she is a great kid and she is ready to leave the “nest”, I still grieve over that fact. I will miss her!

But then I think of something my mother-in-law used to say. Judy McGee was a godly woman who grieved the fact that all four of her kids lived far from her and her husband. Every time a visit came to an end, Judy would pull out her tissues and cry. She loved her family deeply. But then she’d remind us all, “One day, we’ll live together for eternity,” she’d say. “These momentary separations will seem like nothing compared to that.”

Judy is waiting for us there, experiencing the joy of that “forever togetherness” she always longed for. As I pull out my tissues and cry, preparing myself for this second high school graduation, knowing the last one will follow closely behind, I am reminded that all of this life is temporary. The moments – good and bad, painful and joyful – are fleeting. I am reminded to never lose focus on the eternal. I was created, not to live bound by time for however many years God gives me on this earth, but to live outside of time, to “graduate” to an eternity more amazing and fulfilling than I can possibly imagine.

I’ve been reading Psalms lately, and I’ve noticed David talks a lot about his enemies. They chase him, seek to destroy him, want to ruin him. And, if you know David’s story, you know that he really did have some pretty awful enemies, Saul being #1. The king wanted David dead, and he did all he could to make that happen.

As I’ve been reading, I find my mind placing people in the “enemy” folders. Then I start getting angry at them, and I pump my fist in the air as David begs God to rain down destruction on their heads.

But then God reminds me of this verse, “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” Ephesians 6:12. 

My real enemy isn’t those people that come to mind when reading the Psalms. They are just tools of my real enemy – Satan. He is the enemy of my soul. He wants me to remain bitter, to hate, to rejoice in the sufferings of others. And he sends his “forces” out to try and destroy me from the inside out.

I will remain defeated when I allow Satan to have victory. When I focus on the people he’s using, on the circumstances he twists, I wallow in sin. But when I climb out of that hole and look up, I am free. Satan has already been defeated at the cross. I  have victory over him, through the power of Christ. I don’t need to remain in the dark. I have the light inside me!

Our enemies are real, friends. We need to acknowledge them and go to battle against them. But we need to make sure we are battling our real enemies, not the “decoys” our Enemy places in front of us. And we must remember that we are prepared for that battle, we are equipped, and we are assured that we are on the winning side. Our enemies only defeat us if we let them.

I worked as a bank teller my last two years of college. Ironic, considering I am seriously deficient in all things math-related. But I loved the job – great co-workers, great hours, decent pay. And let me just tell you, I got to where I could count down a stack of bills in no time. Especially when the only thing keeping me at work was said stack of bills.

One day, I was given a deposit of $3000 in cash. We were always told to count money more than once, to make sure we counted it right. But I was prepared to count that stack several times. $3000 — that’s a lot of money! So I started the first count. Halfway through, something didn’t feel right.  Literally.  At this point, I knew the feel of money on my fingertips. I spent every day counting it – over and over again. And this stack went from the familiar real-money feeling to something different. So I counted again. Same thing. At that point, I knew I needed to call in some help. So I asked my boss to come over. She counted the money. Then she called her boss. Fifteen minutes later, the Feds were called in to confiscate and investigate the counterfeit bills that I (!) had discovered.

But I didn’t catch the counterfeits by studying counterfeits. I caught them because I was so familiar with the real thing.

This same principal is true for the Christian faith. How do we know what to believe? How do we protect ourselves from believing lies? How do we know – really know — what’s true and what’s not? We spend our time getting the feel of God’s word on our fingertips. We immerse ourselves in it. We get to know it, day in and day out. That way, when a counterfeit comes our way, we know right away.

It just won’t feel right.

Friends, there are a lot of “fakes” out there. Some of them may even look like Christians and talk like Christians. But they preach another gospel, or they add to the gospel, or they actually worship some other God, even though they say they worship the God of the Bible. Far too many people believe those lies because they don’t really know the Truth. Be like the Bereans in Acts 17 — they listened to what was taught, then they tested it against Scripture.

“Work hard so God can say to you, “Well done.” Be a good workman, one who does not need to be ashamed when God examines your work. Know what his Word says and means.” 2 Timothy 2:15 (TLB)

Teens today are having sex. A lot. Studies indicate that at least half of all teenagers are sexually active in high school. Personally, I think that number is conservative. It is as casual a part of many relationships as the goodnight kiss was back in the “old days.” It isn’t a stigma, isn’t embarrassing,isn’t shameful. It is considered a natural part of adolescence, necessary, even beneficial.

Those who disagree with this view of sex are seen as ridiculous prudes. We are mocked on TV shows, movies, even Broadway musicals. “What is the big deal?” They say. It’s a primal need, an itch that needs to be scratched. Monogamy in general is hopelessly out of fashion, even within marriage. So abstinence before marriage?? Laughable at best; harmful at worst.

Christian parents have an increasingly hard time with this issue, as well. Some don’t ever want to say the word. It is NOT a discussion they want to have with their “babies.” Other parents focus on just the negatives: teen pregnancy, STD’s, heartache…have sex and your life will be ruined. Some, who made mistakes in their own teen years, feel hypocritical telling their children to abstain when they chose not to, so they just stay silent, hoping someone else will have “the talk” with their kids.

Those of us – parents and teens alike – who hold to the Bible as our foundation must recognize two things:

1) Sex is a good thing

2) Sex is entirely reserved for the marriage relationship

We hear a lot about the second point. And, while people may not like it, there’s no getting away from the fact that sex is for marriage. Period. Not for people in a non-married, but committed, relationship; not for people planning to get married. Sex is for marriage.

Why?

Because of reason #1 – it is a good thing. It isn’t terrible, evil, scary, or disgusting. Sex is a gift given by a good God for our enjoyment. Within marriage, there is guilt-free, committed, life-long enjoyment of each other. It is part of the “one flesh” relationship God grants to the children He loves so much. It enhances a marriage, helps couples remain connected, provides a level of intimacy that, hopefully, carries over to all other aspects of marriage. Couples with healthy marriages have healthy sex lives.

It is because of how good this gift of sex is that we should guard it and protect it. While the desire may be there long before we can satisfy it, we are not powerless to give into it.

Teens, you don’t have to be in the half that chooses to give this gift away. Stand strong, even when everyone around you is falling for the world’s lies. God has something great for you – don’t miss out on His best.

“For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality; that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor, not in the passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God.” ~I Thess. 4:3-5