iGrace

This past Christmas, my seven-year-old son was surprised by his grandparents with an iPod Touch. It was amazing how quickly he figured out how to use it and where the “app store” was! It wasn’t long before we started downloading appropriate apps, games and music. It has been almost five months and this gift has not grown old. In fact, we have had to put time limits in place to prevent too much gaming. 

We have also tried to use this gadget as a tool for discipleship. We found there were many Bible apps available for it, but the other night, the concept of the iPod became a tool. 

      My son and I were talking about grace, God’s grace shown in the cross and tomb; His unmerited favor on us to forgive our sins and transform our lives into the likeness of Christ. I was trying to find a way my son could better understand it, that God’s grace is a gift that we receive and use. In a sudden and rare moment of inspiration, I asked, “Jacob, do you remember getting your iPod for Christmas?”

“Yes,” he said.

“Would it have made sense if you just set it on the shelf and never used it?” I asked.

“No. I wouldn’t do that!” he said.

“God’s grace is like that,” I said. “We receive it as a gift, we did not earn it. But we don’t just set it on the shelf. We use it everyday. Every time you study Scripture, pray and learn something new about God and yourself, it is like downloading another app you can use.”

Knowing how much my son likes getting a new app, I hope this illustration drives home the continued, daily need of “syncing” with God. But I quickly realized I needed this reminder even more than he did. I enjoy studying Scripture as it is a major part of my scholarly work. Consistent Bible study is not as difficult for me as it used to be, however I am responsible for more than my own quiet time. As a husband and father, I am to be the spiritual leader of my home (Ephesians 5:22-6:4). Where I struggle to be consistent is leading my family in Bible study and prayer on a regular basis. Some weeks are better than others, but it has not become an expected, weekly, much less daily, occurrence. I am to be like technical support for my family and make sure I assist them with their “sync and downloads” from the Father.

Download guilt! Listening to Christian leaders on the radio and reading their books, keeps me aware of my inconsistency. They want me to not only have my own Bible study time, but prayer and study with my wife as a couple and family devotion as well. How in the world am I supposed to do this and work, teach, preach, mow the grass and get dinner to the table? It can feel like three more things I have add to our hectic and full schedule or I’m a bad parent and spouse. Dinner, carpool, and deadlines fill our week. Getting to church consistently and on time is hard enough (and we often rationalize that the hour of Bible study and prayer we get there is enough). Time seems to vanish and before we know it another week has passed and still no personal, couple, or family Bible study. Busyness builds the stress and we would much rather have fun playing a game that launches disgruntle birds than to open the Bible and study. It’s easy to find ourselves just existing through our daily life and not worshiping as a family at home.

This causes me to also miss the power of God’s grace. I so often view my role of spiritual leader as “one more thing that has to be done.” If I actually check off the “family devotion” box this week, then I feel successful. It’s the same feeling of success I have when finishing a project like building a deck or replacing the windows. But that is living by works, not in grace. This attitude robs family devotions of the joy they are meant to bring. Now, I must reassess if the things in my life are as necessary as I assumed they were. Compared to the discipleship of my wife and son, mowing the grass can wait. Loving my wife and giving myself up for her as Christ did for the Church and being used by God in her sanctification far outweighs watching the season finale of my favorite television show. Raising my son in the discipline and instruction of the Lord takes precedence over that next email, phone call or deadline at work or church. Knowing that my son is commanded by Scripture to honor me as his father, I want to be the kind of father that is easy to honor. Unfortunately, I often turn these things into checkboxes on my to-do list and my flustered attitude shows through. I am having to remind myself daily that my family’s discipleship is not to be scheduled around everything else, but that everything else is to be scheduled around my family’s discipleship.

By God’s grace, I can put the weekly schedule into perspective. My family are not items on my calendar app, they are my sister and brother in Christ. They are God’s children and disciples, and He has graciously given me a degree of stewardship in their growth. This stewardship and responsibility can only be met by God’s grace and not my own strength. It means I need to cut out the fluff in my week. At first, I pridefully didn’t think there was any fluff. I’m busy with “important” things that matter, and that makes me feel “important.” But there is plenty of fluff and it distracts me from my highest and most important calling in ministry: my family.

Our family has received the gift of grace and I pray we don’t set it on the shelf to collect dust. I pray we will increasingly embrace that gift and through it “sync” with our Lord in a surrendered life. I pray we will increasingly open the Scriptures more than our laptops and gadgets. In response to the application of grace God put on us, we will download the apps of Bible study, prayer, and instruction of the Lord.