I’m in my kitchen cooking dinner and just thinking about if I had to speak to a group I would not have anything to say. I had the thought, "All I can talk about is my children." And immediately God said, "Me TOO!!"
I wish I could take credit for coming up with that, but it was actually one of my incredible daughters-in-law who texted it to me a few days ago. What a sweet Holy Spirit moment! I've pondered this thought almost every day since. We ARE one of God's children, and He DOES love to "talk" about us. He likes showing us off as His own! He likes talking about us to other people.
Take for example Matthew 11:7. It says, "As they were leaving, Jesus began to speak to the crowd about John. 'What kind of man did you see when you went out into the wilderness? Did you expect to see a man who would be easily intimated?... Or did you encounter a true prophet out in the lonely wilderness? Yes, John was a prophet like those of the past, but he is even more than that!... I tell you the truth, throughout history, there has never been a man who surpasses John the Baptizer…’ “
Can't you just feel the pride Jesus had in His voice as He turned attention to His forerunner, John the Baptist, to the crowd standing around? It makes me smile to think about the Lord bragging about one of His children to others.
Throughout the New Testament, we are told that God's plan from the beginnng was to use the Church, the collective Followers of Jesus Christ, to show the opposing forces (Satan and his minions) who the real victor is. And God the Father is proud of us!
So when I see our own children and grandchildren honoring God by respondong to His Spirt,, reading His Word, obeying His voice, and loving His Son, I have reason for my heart to feel blessed and full. Not only am I flooded with holy joy to see our five-year-old granddaughter praying aloud before our whole congregation...
Or our soon-to-be-daughter-in-law being baptized and declaring before both families her allegiance to Jesus as her Lord and Savior...
Or our sweet ten-year-old granddaughter being baptized in our lake before our collected families--the first of the grandchildren to take this decisive step--
I know all of heaven celebrates along with me!
What a happy thought: we are filled with joy by the same things that please the Lord! God's plan from the beginning of creation was to reveal Himself to the world through His Son Jesus. And when Jesus followed the Father in perfect obedience, God let the world know He was proud of Him.
"And a voice from heaven said, 'This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased' " (Matthew 3:17).
This is a beautiful picture to me of a parent showing honor to a son. Our children need to know when they make good choices and do the right thing, they bring joy to the Lord as well as to us. I believe we parents should be the loudest cheerleaders for our children for the right reasons. They need to hear our words of affirmation spoken about them in their presence before other people. We need to praise them, not for the things the world esteems worthy of praise, but for the values that are worth something in God's sight.
In other words, when our children are God's children, and they're pleasing Him, we have rights--holy, sanctified, and heavenly sanctioned--braggin' rights!