By Ronald E. George Jr. at the
Fayetteville Baptist Church
My son
Gilbert was eight years old and had been in Cub Scouts only a short time.
During one of his meetings he was handed a sheet of paper, a block of
wood and four tires and told to return home and give all to "dad".
That was not an easy task for Gilbert to do.
Dad was not receptive to doing things with his son.
But Gilbert tried. Dad
read the paper and scoffed at the idea of making a pine wood derby car with
his young, eager son. The block of wood remained untouched as the weeks
passed.
Finally, mom stepped in to see if I could figure this all
out. The project began. Having no
carpentry skills, I decided it would be best if I simply read the directions
and let Gilbert do the work. And
he did. I read aloud the
measurements, the rules of what we could do and what we couldn't do. Within days his block of wood was turning into a pinewood
derby car. A little lopsided, but
looking great (at least through the eyes of mom).
Gilbert had not seen any of the other kids cars and was
feeling pretty proud of his "Blue Lightning", the pride that comes
with knowing you did something on your own.
Then the big night came. With
his blue pinewood derby in his hand and pride in his heart we headed to the
big race. Once there my little
one's pride turned to humility. Gilbert's
car was obviously the only car made entirely on his own. All the other cars were a father-son partnership, with cool
paint jobs and sleek body styles made for speed.
A few of the boys giggled as they looked at Gilbert's, lopsided,
wobbly, unattractive vehicle. To
add to the humility Gilbert was the only boy without a man at his side. A
couple of the boys who were from single parent homes at least had an uncle or
grandfather by their side, Gilbert had "mom".
As the race began it was done in elimination fashion. You kept racing
as long as you were the winner.
One by one the cars raced down the finely sanded ramp.
Finally it was between Gilbert and the sleekest, fastest looking car
there. As the last race was about
to begin, my wide eyed, shy eight year old asked if they could stop the race for a
minute, because he wanted to pray. The
race stopped Gilbert hit his knees clutching his funny looking block of wood
between his hands. With a
wrinkled brow he set to converse with his Father.
He prayed in earnest for a very long minute and a half. Then he stood,
smile on his face and announced, 'Okay, I am ready."
As the crowd cheered, a boy named Tommy stood with his
father as their car sped down the ramp. Gilbert
stood with his Father within his heart and watched his block of wood wobble
down the ramp with surprisingly great speed and rushed over the finish line a
fraction of a second before Tommy's car. Gilbert leaped into the air with a
loud "Thank you" as the crowd roared in
approval.
The Scout Master came up to Gilbert with microphone in
hand and asked the obvious question, "So you prayed to win, huh,
Gilbert?" To which my young
son answered, "Oh, no sir. That
wouldn't be fair to ask God to help you beat someone else.
I just asked Him to make it so I don't cry when I lose."
Children seem to have a wisdom far beyond us.
Gilbert didn't ask God to win the race, he didn't ask God to fix the
outcome; Gilbert asked God to give him strength in the outcome.
When Gilbert first saw the other cars he didn't cry out to God,
"No fair, they had a fathers help".
No, he went to his Father for strength.
Perhaps we spend too much of our prayer time asking God
to rig the race, to make us number one, or too much time asking God to remove
us from the struggle -- when we should be seeking God's strength to get
through the struggle.
Gilbert's simple prayer spoke volumes to those present
that night. He never doubted that
God would indeed answer his request. He
didn't pray to win, thus hurt someone else -- he prayed that God supply the
grace to lose with dignity. Gilbert,
by his stopping the race to speak to his Father also showed the crowd that he
wasn't there without a "dad", but His Father was most definitely
there with him. Yes, Gilbert
walked away a winner that night, with his Father at his side.
How
do you know that you are a child of the King?
Scripture Text:
Is. 63:7 I
will mention the lovingkindnesses of the LORD, [and] the praises of the
LORD, according to all that the LORD hath bestowed on us, and the great
goodness toward the house of Israel, which he hath bestowed on them
according to his mercies, and according to the multitude of his
lovingkindnesses. 8 For he
said, Surely they [are] my people, children [that] will not lie: so he was
their Saviour. 9 In all their affliction he was afflicted, and the angel of
his presence saved them: in his love and in his pity he redeemed them; and
he bare them, and carried them all the days of old. 10 But they rebelled,
and vexed his holy Spirit: therefore he was turned to be their enemy, [and]
he fought against them.
Here
is the top ten ways you know you are a child of the King.
10.
You have seen His deliberate acts of kindness.
Like a good father you have seen how He has taken care of you.
He has brought you into the world.
He has provided for you needs and many of your wants.
You recognize that He is and that He is someone who intentionally seeks
to bless you and keep you. You have seen these actions and begin to wonder if
there isn’t something more to this living God.
9.
You have seen His actions of mercy, which are worthy of praise.
You have seen all the things that he has given you and you want to
praise Him and thank Him. All
that He has given have been out of his mercy and grace towards us.
We are so undeserving but He has taken the initiative to reach out to
us. Could He love me, too?
Could He love you too?
8. You
have been the recipient of His gifts and great blessings. Last week I took my children to a restaurant. My
six-year-old son asked if he could say grace. As we bowed our heads he said,
"God is good. God is great. Thank you for the food, and I would even
thank you more if mom gets us ice cream for dessert. And Liberty and justice
for all! Amen!"
Along with the laughter from
the other customers nearby I heard a woman
remark, "That's what's wrong with this country. Kids today don’t even know how to pray. Asking God for ice
cream! Why, I never!"
Hearing this, my son burst into
tears and asked me, "Did I do it wrong?
Is God mad at me?" As I held him and assured him that he had done
a terrific job and God was certainly not mad at him, an elderly gentle man
approached the table.
He winked at my son and said,
"I happen to know that God thought that was a great prayer."
"Really?" my son asked "Cross my heart." Then in
theatrical whisper he added (indicating
the woman whose remark had started this whole thing), "Too bad she never
asks God for ice cream. A little ice cream is good for the soul
sometimes."
Naturally,
I bought my kid's ice cream at the end of the meal. My son stared at his for a
moment and then did something I will remember the rest of my life. He picked
up his sundae and without a word walked over and placed it in front of the
woman. With a big smile he told her, "Here, this is for you. Ice cream is
good for the soul sometimes and my soul is good already."
7.
You have seen His compassion and love for you.
God has not held back any of the blessings of life.
Most of all He has given you the ability to have a hope and an abundant
life. You know that He loves you.
6.
You have been chosen to be a child of the King.
Israel was God’s very own people.
Now He has chosen a new people. 1Pet
2:9 (NIV) But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a
people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called
you out of darkness into his wonderful light. 10 Once you were not a people,
but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now
you have received mercy.
5.
You have not been false or lie to the Lord.
Recognizing that the Lord knows all of you, you have chosen to be true
to the Lord your heavenly Father. He
is true to you so you have chosen to be yourself before Him.
You have asked Him to forgive you and help you to walk with Him
throughout your life.
4.
You have a new Savior and a Redeemer.
Because He lives you can face tomorrow and the New Year.
You have a hope never before known.
You have someone who is looking over you and watching for you.
He has already paid the price for your sin and He is continuing to give
you the abundant life.
3.
You have felt His empathy. The Lord’s sympathy and compassion has taken Him to the
ultimate sacrifice on your behalf. He
has come for you. He has come to
love you and live within you. When
you couldn’t go up to Him, He came down to you.
2.
You have been carried by the Lord through your life.
You have felt his strong arms as he embraces you and then carries
you throughout your life. You
have reached up to Him who came down to take you up into His arms to carry you
through out your life. Why would
He carry someone else’s child?
I remember one year as a child going to the state
fair with my parents. At the end
of the evening the final part of the fair was the fire works.
I was too small to see the show above the tall bodies surrounding me.
So, dad picked me up and put me on his strong shoulders so that I could
see the show. What a sight it was
to behold and it was all possible because Dad was strong enough and big enough
to hold me up.
Often we picture God carrying us through the
difficulties of life, but he will also hold us up above the world so that we
can see the beauties of this life. Without
Him we are doomed to never see above the world.
With Him we can see the full picture and experience life as He meant it
to be.
1.
You have stopped rebelling against the Lord your Father.
As teens we experience the natural breaking away from the control
of our parents to become individual and independent adults.
This process of rebellion to the authorities also occurs within our
relationship with the Father. You
know you are a child of the King when you decide to stop rebelling and give
yourself whole-heartedly to Him. His
desires for your life become your desires.
For this reason you then experience a fellowship and a closeness of a
Father and a child who walk together. If
we continue to rebel against the Lord you will feel that you aren’t a child
of the King because you are walking on your own and are not experiencing His
presence.
The
angel of his presence continues to have patience and longs for you to give in
to his persistence. Then you will
know that you are a child of the King. Not
because you are good, but because He is with you throughout your life.
Do you
know that you are a child of the King? Here
is the top 10 ways you can know. If
you have recognized these ways of God in your life, then you can respond to
His loving kindness and receive Him as your Lord and Savior.
Will you recognize Him and follow Him today?