for ties. Our youngest son, Bryndan, who was about eighteen months
old, was with me. Bryndan was holding on to my pant leg as I exam-
ined the ties, and as long as I felt the tug of his little hand I knew where
he was and everything was okay. But I got really into looking at these
ties and forgot about Bryndan. Then it dawned on me that I no longer
felt the tug on my pant leg. My son was gone, and my reason for being
in that store instantly changed. Ties were suddenly unimportant, as
well as everything else in the store. I was consumed with finding my
son. A few frantic moments later I found Bryndan hiding behind a
rack of clothes. Of course he thought it was great that Dad had to
come find him, but I didn’t think it was too funny!
The judgment of God is meant to rock our private worlds. It is
meant to cause us to examine our priorities and passions. It is a mir-
ror to show us how things really are and not what we think they are.
It’s as if God takes a step back and says, “If you want me, then walk
out of your self-absorption and complacency and make me the sole
object of your desire!” Simply said, the judgment of God is meant to
get us to seek Him.
Oh, how our families need to be consumed with a longing for
God! Who God is and what He wants are ultimately the only things
that matter in life. Our families need to interpret their sin and the sin-
fulness of our culture as God’s call to get busy seeking God. God
Himself is our only solution.
The fourth requirement is repentance, to “turn from [our] wicked ways.”
God desires His church to reflect His character in the world. When
we embrace the values and sinful lifestyles of our culture, He is not
pleased. We need to look closely at our lives and listen to the voice of
God and determine what we need to repent of, and then repent.
Although it can be quite difficult, repentance is our friend, our
ally. It should be embraced as a lifestyle, an identity. The Puritans
referred to themselves as “Repenters.” I like that, because it aptly
points to repentance as the path, the means of experiencing God’s for-
giveness, of becoming Christ-like, and of demonstrating authentic
Christianity.
We need to encourage each other, in our homes, to embrace this
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