Margie Theiss

      In California, state and federal taxes are due in April. Citizens begin to calculate what they owe with varied emotions and attitudes – fear, panic, resentment, etc. Some put off filing until a later date. Others make arrangements to pay past dues at a discount. Many give their information and receipts to tax preparation businesses to file for them. And then there are those who are free from worries because they have arranged to have a certain amount, during the year, deducted from their pay and designated for taxes. They may even be looking for a rebate. Hopefully, only a few ignore the whole process.
      When Christ was asked, “Is it lawful to pay a poll-tax to Caesar, or not?” He settled the matter for those who follow Him. For a visual reminder, Christ asked to be given a coin. He then asked, “Whose likeness and inscription is this?” The answer was, “Caesar’s.” Christ then said, “Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and to God the things that are God’s.” (Matt. 22:15-22)
      As I ran across this story in my Bible reading, what impressed me was the visual demonstration using the coin and the second part of Christ’s final statement. Humans, like the the coin, have imprinted on us the likeness and image of our ruler. (Gen. 1:27) God’s Law is written (inscribed) in our hearts. (Rom. 2:15) So we are to give God what is due Him, presenting our bodies as a living and holy sacrifice. (Rom. 12:1)
      Thus, this question arises, do Christians approach giving what is due God in the way we approach paying our taxes – with fear, panic, resentment, etc.? Do we procrastinate offering our service to Him? Do we give less than what is due God? Do we let others do what God is calling us to do? Or do we ignore the whole matter?
      To be admired is the Christian who is joyfully offering to God the use of his/her body as an act of worship.

I listened to a lady vent her anger over an incident that happen in her son’s elementary school classroom. It wasn’t what happened that caused distress but that she had received different versions from her son and his teacher. She suspected that her son was altering the facts to favor his position. She told her son, “Teachers don’t lie!” Now that’s backing up a teacher, a rare event in many homes.
She may have responded a little too strongly; but her intent was to transfer her authority over her son to the teacher when the child was at school. She also expected her son to respect his teacher and submit to her authority. After all, during the school year, teachers spend as many hours with students as do most of their parents.
Our son Tad is a K- 8th grade, Christian school principal. In order to urge parents to cooperate with teachers in training up children he wrote the following in the school’s newsletter.
“Last week I encouraged parents to seek constructive criticism with regard to their children. This week I hope to be helpful by giving some suggestions on how best to receive that criticism. First off, avoid the temptation to become defensive of your child. Remember that the teacher has the best interest of your child in mind. You and the teacher are working together to draw your child closer to the image of Christ. Therefore, this process will serve your child well if entered into with a positive attitude.
“After receiving advice from the teacher express your appreciation for the input given. This will encourage the teacher to freely give assessments and suggestions in the future. In addition, your reputation as a receptive parent will grow as your child moves from grade to grade.
“Finally, pray over the suggestions given by the teacher. Seek God’s guidance on how to implement corrective training, if it is needed. Remember the ultimate goal is to bring up individuals that bring glory to their Father in Heaven.”
Teachers treasure parents who want and use constructive criticism; but even more valued would be parental actions that would lessen the probability of teacher/student conflicts.
Take for example, reminding your child that teachers are like any other human. They also have good and bad days. They have different personalities and learning how to adjust and accept these will prepare a child for the adult world.
Never bad mouth a teacher or his/her actions. Don’t let your child do it either. Refrain from stirring up dissension by discussing your teacher issues with other parents. Being as unbiased as possible, collect the facts and examine the issue from both sides. Add God’s perspective.
Use what you have learned to form a response. If the fault is not with the child, first approach the teacher. If there is no satisfactory outcome, go next to the principal and then, if need be, to the school board.
By watching us, our children learn how to take a respectful stance without defying school authorities and other authorities in our communities.

Do you remember a few years back the popular bumper sticker that read, “Question Authority”? Today it could be replaced by, “Defy Authority.” I see this mantra played out in homes, demonstrated in schools and staged in our communities. These conditions will only change when more parents require that their children see them as authority figures and train their children to question with respect and submit when it’s required.

I didn’t come into parenthood knowing how to do this. My father was a strict authoritarian. Disobeying him was met with swift, physical punishment. So it was natural for me to follow his example. One evening a grammar school son talked back to me and I slapped him across the face. My husband was standing nearby; and when we were alone he said, “If you keep doing that, our children will never feel free to talk to you.”

I had become a Christian a few years prior to this incident and began to read the Bible. It amazed me how Christ spoke with such authority; so I went to Christ in prayer and studied the Bible for a plan of action. Two incidences encouraged me to persevere with this approach.

As a youngster, one of our sons was an incessant talker. As he got older, his comments became arguments. This I could not tolerate; so I prayed. One morning, before leaving for school, he began an argument. Exiting the kitchen, he stepped down into the garage and turned to face me in the doorway and continued his argument. We were eye to eye. I said, “Arguing is not pleasing to God. It takes two to argue. I will not be a party to this any longer.” I turned and walked away. We never argued again.

Both of our sons were involved in another challenge to my authority. We lived at the top of a steep, city hill, crowded with many homes that also had steep driveways down to front doors. The neighborhood boys, ours included, felt that all these slopes were made especially for their skateboards. It wasn’t long until the neighbors began to complain about the noise and hazards. I told our boys that they could no longer join the fun. They put up a good verbal and pouting battle; but I ended it by saying, “I have a responsibility before God to keep you safe and our neighbors happy. If you don’t like my decision, talk to God about it.”

A few days later I was at the kitchen window looking onto the only flat street on the hill, which ran along the side of our house. I watched the skateboarders doing their thing. Our boys were also watching, sitting forlornly on the curb, skateboards held to their chests.

After a few minutes I walked out towards them and said, “ Boys, if we can come up with a few rules to overcome the problems created by skateboarding on the hill, you can join your friends.” Still holding their skateboards, the boys jumped up; and I heard one say to the other, “It worked! He heard us.” At that point I realized that they knew that even their mom was answerable to a higher authority.

Under whose authority are you? What has been your experience in respecting and submitting to authority and training those under your authority to do the same?

This year we gathered at our son Jim’s in-law’s home for Thanksgiving. After the meal, it is their tradition for each person to share the memorable points of the past year in his or her life and for what each is most thankful. It took a while to get all seventeen of us together. So those who had staked out their seating began to share what they had been reading.

Gayle, my daughter-in-law, mentioned that she had passed Squanto and the Miracle of Thanksgiving on to Tess, our daughter, who is a 5^th grade teacher at a Christian school.

Tess decided to read the story of Squanto to her class the day before Thanksgiving vacation.  She wondered how the class would react to the story.

In 1608, Squanto was among Indians captured, in what is now our land, by English sailors and taken to Spain and sold as a slave. A Spanish monk bought him and taught him about Christianity. Squanto later made his way to England and worked as a stable hand. In 1619 Squanto finally found a ship that would take him home to Plymouth, Massachusetts. There he found that his whole village had been wiped out by an epidemic. It would seem that Squanto’s life was one trial, disappointment and disaster after another. But after all that happened, God used Squanto to bring glory to Himself and good to Squanto and others. When the Pilgrims arrived a year later, Squanto was there. He knew the land and he taught the Pilgrims how to live from it. Squanto was God’s provision to save the Pilgrims from starvation. The Pilgrims, in turn, befriended Squanto.

The students were attentive throughout the reading. When Tess finished there were a few seconds of complete silence. Then the students broke into loud, excited clapping.

I’ve been wondering what the fifth graders took away from Squanto’s story and how God will use it in their future. This I know: God can use our smallest act to ignite the fire in another’s soul. I may not see what God proposes for the future of these eighteen students; but I can pray that He uses Squanto’s story in their lives to change our culture for good.

*

Twenty-six years ago, I moved south from Eureka, California, to Healdsburg, California. I had to establish new people and places for service. I found a hairdresser who would do my hair once a month. She was an excellent beautician but had a very different life style than I. She had a daughter born out of wedlock and was living with a man who was not the child’s father. She was seeking spirituality in the New Age Movement. We had very lively and interesting discussions. After months together, she informed me that she and her daughter were moving to Eureka with her boyfriend.

I spent time trying to figure out a going away gift that I could give her. I finally settled on a Bible, thinking that it probably would go unused. On Christmas Day ten years later she called from Eureka. She wanted to thank me for the Bible. In her New Age teachings she had run across something from the Bible that she felt was untrue. She looked it up in my Bible; and sure enough, she was right. She approached her teacher with the discrepancy and did not get a satisfactory answer; so she joined a Bible study and through that Bible study became a Christian. She later married a Christian man and all of her children were attending a Christian school.

What a wonderful Christmas gift I received that year! Sometimes God lets us see how He has used our small acts to bring Him glory and benefit others. At other times He doesn’t. Those are the times when we have to believe that He is still using our acts and hearing our prayers. We just don’t see the bigger picture or His timing is different than ours.

Squanto could not have imagined that he would be used to have a nation set aside a day in which its people were to thank God, just as I could not imagine my beautician would ever read the Bible I gave her.

*

This year at our church Christmas Tea for the ladies, our speaker was Bev Liberman, a graduate of the Colson Center Centurion Program. Those of us who are in a group with her were praying that the listeners would partner with God to change our culture. We saw a few ladies write down the Internet address of BreakPoint.org., a small act, prompted by a short talk and nurtured by prayer .

In my July 9^th post I told you about my belonging to a small group, Women with a Christian World View. Although our meeting time has changed from Tuesday to Thursday morning, we are still meeting every other week. All of us have become better at engaging others in world view conversations. Plus, we have added another challenge, praying for revival in our local church.

Doing this was first brought to our attention when we had an open microphone prior to a Sunday morning service. Anyone can stand and share a praise or prayer request. Debbie Shannon, who happens to be a neighbor, stood and said that she was praying for revival in our nation. Soon after we read a Breakpoint.org. article entitled “Only a Revived Church Can Revive Society’s Faith”. The author states, “Only a revival of faith in the living God can change the mood of society, and only a revived church can bring that about.”

So this is what we are doing. We pray for all who attend the Sunday service to apply what is preached. Of course that means application begins with us. We have been doing this for six weeks. But this week as I began to pray, I realized that not only did the application specifically apply to me but also to two others who do not attend our church and who are having trouble with desiring God in their lives. This caused me to take praying a bit more seriously.

I reviewed my notes of the sermon and condensed them to an eleven word sentence so that it would easily jog my memory as I pray. Following is my sentence on the teaching of I Thessalonians 5:23-24. Rely on God’s faithfulness to sanctify and preserve through His Word.

What I’ll remember from my review will be that I’m praying for entire sanctification (setting apart for God) and complete preservation of body, soul and spirit. This will be done by intentional reading of the Word. I can get myself into the Word but not those for whom I’m praying; but I can rely on God to do it in a unique way as He did for me when I was 27 years old and had never read the Bible. I found out, after the fact, that others were praying for God to do that work in me.

Conversations and conversions are two ways to expose people to a Christian world view. Susan Freeberg, a member of our group, suggested another. She gave this assignment to her church group of teen girls. Memorize the Fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22-23. Break it up this way:

love, joy, peace,    (one syllable words)

patience, kindness,goodness    (two syllable words)

faithfulness, gentleness, self-control    (three syllable words)

Then, instead of complimenting others on their appearance, tell them how they demonstrate the Fruit of the Spirit. This is practicing how God sees others. “…for God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” I Samuel 16:7

It is my prayer that you will engage others in world view conversations, pray for revival and application of Biblical teaching in your church and compliment others on their demonstrating the Fruit of the Spirit or other godly characteristics.

Comment to this post on how it goes – easy, difficult, good, bad or other. We multiply our learning experience when we share.

She was a short and stout, forty-something, olive skinned woman – always smiling, incessantly talking – who had attached herself to me. We met in an evening community college class on the detective story genre. When the class was completed, a few of us decided to gather each month at a local book store to discuss a previously assigned book. The clinging woman was in the group.

As the weeks passed I began to feel that she was stalking me. She phoned at all hours wanting to talk about an East Indian religion in which she and her adult children were involved. Telling her that I was a born-again, evangelical Christian did not deter her. She monopolized my time at the book club; so I stopped going. I monitored my phone calls, picking-up only when I was sure she wasn’t the caller

I did pray about this situation; but it didn’t stop until I began praying a specific verse that I thought applied to the problem.

Psalm 31:15

My times are in Your hands;

deliver me from my enemies

and from those who pursue me.

NIV

One day while driving to an appointment, for which I was late, my focus moved from the first line to the last line of the verse. My time was in God’s hands. I stopped praying for green lights and safety as I raced to avoid the red ones. Anxiety was replaced by calmness as I thought about that first line of the verse. The result was that I arrived at my destination as a vessel that God could use instead of a sweating pot spilling over with excuses and apologies.

Putting my time in God’s hands came with temptations. The first was, when someone was rushing me, I was prone to act on the thought, ”If you think this is slow, let me show you how slow I can be,” a typical passive/aggressive behavior that is not pleasing to God. The second was, what I consider to be tempting God, habitually not managing well what time He had given me and doing it with the confidence that He would give me peace when I foolishly got myself in a time bind.

I’m learning that time is one of the greatest gifts that God gives and that I’m to treasure it by using it wisely.

*****

I’m grateful for two other thoughts about time that I have gleaned from sisters-in-the-Lord.

Don’t wish away time. I wish … summer was over … basketball was over … I was out of school … my pregnancy was over … etc., etc. All segments of time are for only a season and, from God’s perspective, a reason. Thank you Carrie Mohle

God says in Psalm 90:10 that the length of our days of our life are 70 years. My friend, who is the same age as I, but looks a lot younger, is over 70. She considers that she is now living out her God given bonus years. Thank you Ernesteen Clemmons

WHO DOESN’T LIKE GETTING A BONUS!

“Why is it so easy to see others’ sins and so difficult to see our own?” This is the rhetorical question with which Gayle ended her comment to my post titled ”Grudges”. At least I thought it was rhetorical until an answer kept flitting through my mind.

The answer is that children can be taught to focus on the sins of others by family members who discount how easily and deeply children absorb the spoken word. They can be voracious listeners with Velcro minds.

In my home, my parents usually talked to each other rather than to me. They lived by the old adage, “Children are to be seen and not heard.” As I look back, I don’t think that my parents saw me and they did not think that I heard them. Their conversations usually contained detailed descriptions of the faults of co-workers, relatives, neighbors and anyone and everyone who crossed their paths. Despite this, my parents were well liked. No one would ever guess what was said behind closed doors.

As I grew older I picked up on this habit. I inwardly critiqued everyone I met. No one went away without major flaws. The one exception was my future in-laws.

I first met them on an evening that Len and I had planned to go out but had not decided what to do. He suggested that we drop-in on his parents. His father came out of the T.V. room and his mother walked from the kitchen to greet us, towel in hand and hair in large rollers covered by a scarf. They appeared happy to see us and suggested that we play Scrabble. I sat at the table thinking, “No one can be this nice.” Len’s parents came pretty close to being perfect. They were good models for me.

Six years into my marriage to Len I became a Christian. One of the first things that God began to show me was my critical nature towards others. The faults that I searched for in others were now the sins that I saw in them. When I read Philippians 4:8 in the Bible, I knew that I had to change my mindset. In order to please God, my thoughts of others were to be on what was true, honorable, right, pure, lovely, of good repute, of excellence and praise worthy. A tall order, especially for someone who spent her life tearing down people. Nevertheless, I worked with God on changing; and I did, only occasionally slipping into the sin of mentally criticizing others.

Another tool that I used for combating this sinful habit is called “empathetic repentance”. When focusing on a sin of another, ask God to show you when you have done similar or the same thing. Wait a few days. He will be faithful. Then confess and pray for yourself and the other to change

Having had this habit has made me sensitive to it being taught unintentionally to children. When a woman (I’ve never seen a man do this) is talking to me and the conversation turns to criticizing another person, even though a child is standing right there, I have learned to look at the child and ask to be introduced to him/her or, if I know the child, I ask a question relating to his/her life. The woman gets the message without my having to shout, “STOP, YOUR CHILD IS LISTENING!”

While our children were still in elementary school, a nationally known Christian, child psychologist held a meeting in our area. As we entered the auditorium we were asked to submit a piece of paper on which was to be written a behavior that we would like to change in one of our children. We were told that at the end of the scheduled teaching, the speaker would address as many problems as time would permit. I think that each desperate parent was hoping that their slip would be drawn.

Finally the slips were put in front of the speaker; but instead of drawing one at a time, he said, “Recall what you wrote down.” He paused for a few seconds and then said, ”It will be something that you do, only magnified in your child.” There was a massive groan from the audience. Just as others did, Len and I recognized that we had unintentionally taught our children our own negative behaviors and their performance of them reached new heights that we had never achieved.

If you are reading this and realize that you have passed a negative behavior onto a child, don’t despair. Confess it and, with God, change it in your life. Ultimately, as a child matures, it is no longer your responsibility to correct the behavior. It is his /her’s.

My husband Len found an error in my time line in my last post. The post should read, ”It was in the Spring of 2011 … Fast forward a year and a half …”

When you are waiting for something to happen, the time seems longer than it is. Don’t you agree?

As for my husband … I now know that he reads my blog.

It was in the Spring of 2011 that I sat in on a class given by Bev Liberman at a woman’s church retreat. The teaching was on Christian worldview.** It was like being in a well planned college lecture, with a personal touch. Bev had gone through the Centurion Program, founded by Chuck Colson. Each year the course is given to a select few students. Its aim is to teach them to navigate today’s culture with a Christian perspective; and, in turn, to teach others to do the same, thus helping to create a God-honoring culture. That goal sounded good to me; so I signed-up with www.breakpoint.com to receive daily e-mails on the various topics related to a Christian worldview.

Fast forward 2 ½ years and you will find me frustrated. Our nation is in the middle of a presidential election and neither of the platforms of the two parties are close to what I have learned is a Christian worldview. In the midst of this I’m placed in a woman’s Bible study group at church with Bev as my leader. To my surprise, she is as frustrated as I am. So we decided that over Christmas break, we would do a study offered by Breakpoint. We couldn’t get anyone else to join us and then our schedules wouldn’t mesh. So much for our plans.

Two seasons went by before we found our schedules cleared to meet. And this time others wanted to join us.

We call ourselves Women with a Christian Worldview. During the summer we will meet every other Tuesday morning. Our goal is, as stated above, to learn how to navigate today’s culture with a Christian perspective. Bev is our leader. We each have chosen specific areas of interest on which to focus and bring to the group pertinent information. My topics are family, art and literature. Breakpoint has recently changed the format of their daily articles.. Each article ends with a section called, “Next Steps”, which lists further reading material and suggested actions. This is a big help in not only furthering our knowledge of worldviews in our culture but also a help in knowing how to apply what is learned into creating a God-honoring culture.

My goal for being part of this group is that I can say that I’m no longer part of the silent majority. I hope to be emboldened to speak clearly, lovingly, winsomely and Biblically on what I believe, so that my grandchildren will know that I stood for Christ in my generation. I pray that this encourages them to do the same in theirs.

I’ll leave you with three questions about our culture that I read recently and a final question of my own:

1. What evil can not be tolerated?

2. What is broken that needs to be fixed?

3. What is good that needs to be celebrated, highlighted and protected?

4. What are you doing, or going to do, about these?

Contact Bev if you are in our area and would like to join our group or would like to have Bev speak to your group about the Christian Worldview.

beverlyliberman@gmail.com

707-290-6174

**worldview – a collection of beliefs about life and the world held by an individual or group

It is important to clarify one’s worldview because, as I was taught, we act on what we believe.