Grace to Glory, Inc.

“Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop-a hundred, sixty, or thirty times what was sown. He who has ears, let him hear.”
-Jesus, Matthew 13:8-9

My teenage sons came home from a youth meeting the other night and were sharing about the evening.  They had been powerfully impacted by a young man’s testimony of being ensnared by a sinful lifestyle and Christ restoring him to a life of freedom and joy.  As they talked about their testimony, our conversation quickly moved to one of our favorite Tim Hawkins quotes.

Tim is a Christian comedian with a lot to say and a very funny way of saying it. Here’s a taste:

After having a good laugh, and moving forward in our conversation , I began to make a suggestion. I didn’t get very far with it before they gave me the ‘Whatever Dad…yeah, that’d be great.’ But what I wanted to suggest was, “What if your testimony went something like this:

“I was born into a family with parents who were constantly growing in their understanding of how much God loved them. They weren’t perfect, but because of what God was doing in their lives, they consistently tried to help me see myself as God sees me. It was a very natural thing for me to embrace Christ as my saviour at a very young age.

Even when I would sin and do something that made my parents angry or frustrated with my actions, they worked hard to separate my behavior from my identity. They would say, ‘This is what you did, but that is not who you are.’ Then they would remind me of the truth. In effect, they taught me how to love myself and tell myself what is true, since the reality is my brain only listens to me!

They also helped me to tune into my true heart and what I wanted most. Sure I had some envy of what my friends were experiencing. It looked pretty good from my vantage point, but I had believed my parents when they told me such choices came with a cost and would never bring me the life that I wanted.

My heart’s desire is to bring God glory and that desire, for the most part, has overwhelmed the desires of my flesh. The power of my testimony is this: I have avoided some of the pitfalls of a sinful lifestyle because of the good seed that was planted in my heart. And If you have done things that you are ashamed of doing, you need to know that there’s nothing wrong with you, and there’s nothing more special about me. You and I are just living naturally out of the seeds that were planted in us.

If all of us grew up in the Garden of Eden before sin came into the world, we would have had perfect parents who gave us everything Father wanted us to have. We would have lived the way people live who are loved perfectly!

The good news is that Jesus Christ offers us perfect love and forgiveness, and He promises to give us a new, pure heart and a new, holy spirit and identity. He is committed to restoring us, from the inside out, to be the people we were created to be and to live the life we were created to live…for the glory of God.”

But hey, that’s just my suggestion.

All of us who are parents do the best we can with what we have in us to offer.  None of us set out to withhold from our children what they need. Praise God, as long as we’re alive, it’s never too late to receive what we need and begin to bear the fruit that comes from good seed. And as long as we have a relationship with our children, it’s never too late to tell them what they’ve always needed and longed to hear.

“Lord, let this be the testimony of my children.  By your grace, cover my imperfect love as a parent. Keep revealing your love to me and help me to receive it, and may your love overflow to all who walk close with me.”

(If you are hungry to learn more about how to receive the love of God and need some support in planting good seed in your heart and the hearts of others, click here.)