Advice #60
ADVICE DAD NEVER GAVE YOU
Ralph Sorter
Do you have a child that learns by doing? Some children have to have their hands on things or experiment before they can learn anything. The only problem with that is that they often ignore warnings. Sometimes the best lessons learned are those that came with a little pain associated with them. We are not doomed to repeat the lessons that bit us the last time we tried it that way.
I assume the second chapter of the Prodigal Son story is that he stayed home and was a much better son after trying things his way. A deficit of the bank account and a deficit of true friends left him pigfully (I’m introducing a new word to the English language) hungry. The trouble is we do not do well on a diet of cornhusks…we are created to sit at the table with our Father.
Your Father created you with a free will to choose to follow or choose to stubbornly do it your way. He warns us for our own good, but He gives us the freedom to make our own choice. His commands and warnings show us the boundary of safe freedom; they are the parameters of free-will choices without worry of painful consequences. But there’s a little bit of Adam in all of us (figuratively, because we all know it was Eve’s fault). God tells us we can play anywhere in the room, but don’t touch the walls because they’re wet with paint. So what do we do? You got it!
There are two take-home lessons from our parable: “Do not touch” signs really are for our good…but paint on the finger is visible evidence we ventured into wrong territory. Secondly, spiritual maturity has learned to be content with what the Lord has blessed us with.
A Message from HOPE’S
Marriage & Family Ministry
ADVICE DAD NEVER GAVE YOU
Ralph Sorter
Do you have a child that learns by doing? Some children have to have their hands on things or experiment before they can learn anything. The only problem with that is that they often ignore warnings. Sometimes the best lessons learned are those that came with a little pain associated with them. We are not doomed to repeat the lessons that bit us the last time we tried it that way.
I assume the second chapter of the Prodigal Son story is that he stayed home and was a much better son after trying things his way. A deficit of the bank account and a deficit of true friends left him pigfully (I’m introducing a new word to the English language) hungry. The trouble is we do not do well on a diet of cornhusks…we are created to sit at the table with our Father.
Your Father created you with a free will to choose to follow or choose to stubbornly do it your way. He warns us for our own good, but He gives us the freedom to make our own choice. His commands and warnings show us the boundary of safe freedom; they are the parameters of free-will choices without worry of painful consequences. But there’s a little bit of Adam in all of us (figuratively, because we all know it was Eve’s fault). God tells us we can play anywhere in the room, but don’t touch the walls because they’re wet with paint. So what do we do? You got it!
There are two take-home lessons from our parable: “Do not touch” signs really are for our good…but paint on the finger is visible evidence we ventured into wrong territory. Secondly, spiritual maturity has learned to be content with what the Lord has blessed us with.
A Message from HOPE’S
Marriage & Family Ministry
ADVICE DAD NEVER GAVE YOU
Ralph Sorter
Do you have a child that learns by doing? Some children have to have their hands on things or experiment before they can learn anything. The only problem with that is that they often ignore warnings. Sometimes the best lessons learned are those that came with a little pain associated with them. We are not doomed to repeat the lessons that bit us the last time we tried it that way.
I assume the second chapter of the Prodigal Son story is that he stayed home and was a much better son after trying things his way. A deficit of the bank account and a deficit of true friends left him pigfully (I’m introducing a new word to the English language) hungry. The trouble is we do not do well on a diet of cornhusks…we are created to sit at the table with our Father.
Your Father created you with a free will to choose to follow or choose to stubbornly do it your way. He warns us for our own good, but He gives us the freedom to make our own choice. His commands and warnings show us the boundary of safe freedom; they are the parameters of free-will choices without worry of painful consequences. But there’s a little bit of Adam in all of us (figuratively, because we all know it was Eve’s fault). God tells us we can play anywhere in the room, but don’t touch the walls because they’re wet with paint. So what do we do? You got it!
There are two take-home lessons from our parable: “Do not touch” signs really are for our good…but paint on the finger is visible evidence we ventured into wrong territory. Secondly, spiritual maturity has learned to be content with what the Lord has blessed us with.
A Message from HOPE’S
Marriage & Family Ministry