All the Marbles Day 38

Stop for a moment and journal what you vision your child will be like at 21. What did you include? Which worldly values did you include? (success, intelligence, money, fame, looks, athletic ability, etc. Which Godly values did you include? (kindness, gentleness, patience, wisdom, discerning, caring, loving, forgiving, etc.) Which are listed first? Which are you investing in and equipping them with today, in light of tomorrow?

As parents, we spend hours: on the ball field, in the football stands, at the gym, traveling for "club" sports--none of which is bad-but do we give equal weight (or any) to intentionally discipling them each day? Do we talk/show them Godly values/ characteristics as they participate in their activities? Are we, as their parents, equipping them to be followers of Jesus?

Over the past few months, our extracurricular activities have been suspended, and we have had our children with us 24/7. As the world phases into reentry, what will change about your discipling of your children? Will you use your involvement in community activities to teach your children Godly values, or will you jump back in going a hundred miles an hour and forget about discipling them?

I want to encourage you as a fellow believer in Jesus, saved by grace, to enjoy the journey, and use “all the marbles” to equip your children for tomorrow, in light of eternity! Praying for you!

If you are interested in a simple “journey guide” to discipling your children, sign up for “All the Marbles” daily email at the top of this post, and it will come straight to your inbox.

Discipling is a journey, I encourage you to start with Day 1 of the Blog, but more importantly, I encourage you to start!

Today’s Disciple Moment

We are still digging into how our leather-bound or Superhero Bible came to be. The books/letters included in the Bible didn’t just happen by chance! Their history is amazing!

(1) Review: Continue to talk about Questions 1, 2, and 3 from day 37 until your child understands how the books and letters came to be a part of their Bible.

(2) Our Christian Protestant Bible was not put together overnight! But, the individual biographies and letters were the center of the apostles and early Church father's teachings for the 2nd and 3rd-century believers. And the TaNak scrolls had been taught in the Jewish temple since before 400BC! So, what were the criteria for “canonizing” the books in our Old Testament (Hebrew Bible or TaNak?) (There is no simple answer to this question because no criteria are listed, nowhere do we find any standard listed, about the decisions that were made, about the books that eventually became part of the Old Testament Scripture.)

(3) What about the New Testament? (The Biographies/Letters/Sermon/Prophecy included in our New Testament, would have: (a) if apostolic authorship and read in the churches, then it would have had immediate acceptance, (b)if not authored by an Apostle there would have been the guidance by the living apostles to help the church determine what was, and what was not, written with God's divine authority. The fact that what is included in our New Testament were copied and recopied shows the value they were perceived to have.*)

Check out the details in the following resources:

https://www.blueletterbible.org/faq/don_stewart/don_stewart_395.cfm

https://bible.org/article/content-and-extent-old-testament-canon

https://answersingenesis.org/the-word-of-god/the-canon-of-scripture/

Teach your children to look for resources and how to evaluate them for “truth.”

(4) How is your Genesis 1-11 summary coming? Tomorrow we will look at things to make sure you included!

Even if you don’t use anything written here, use your Bible, and disciple your children!!! It is a great honor and our responsibility as parents!

I am praying for you and your family, and this journey together!