Not only is disinterested morality (doing good “for its own sake”) impossible; it is undesirable. That is, it is unbiblical because it would mean that the better a man became the harder it would be for him to act morally. The closer he came to true goodness the more naturally and happily he would do what is good. A good man in Scripture is not the man who dislikes doing good but toughs it out for the sake of duty. A good man loves kindness (Mic. 6:8) and delights in the law of the Lord (Ps. 1:2) and the will of the Lord (Ps. 40:8). But how shall such a man do an act of kindness disinterestedly? The better the man, the more joy in obedience.
John Piper

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Tidbit #27: Don't Waste Your Life! (Resource Reviews You Can Use)

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#1 · February 21, 2004, 1:23 pm

Posted by: homenews <homenews@...>

 

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THE HOPE CHEST

with Virginia Knowles

Tidbit #27 on February 21, 2004

Don’t Waste Your Life!

(Resource Reviews You Can Use)

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The Hope Chest is a free email newsletter with encouragement and practical teaching tips. The writer is Virginia Knowles, wife of Thad, mother of nine children, and author of Common Sense Excellence: Faith-Filled Home Education for Preschool to 5th Grade, and The Real Life Home School Mom.

Contact information:

I love books! I suppose that’s obvious by now if you’ve been reading the Hope Chest for any length of time. When I find a really good book or tape, I enjoy sharing the news. Here are several that have landed on my couch recently or that I‘ve pulled back off the shelf. (I know it would sound more “correct” if I say that they landed on my desk, but I like to be comfy when I read; hence the couch.) I actually had so many to review that I’m saving several of them for next time. This issue includes resources that are primarily for parents to address faith, life and education issues. The next issue will focus on ones  which you can use with your children.

  • Don’t Waste Your Life! A Few Thoughts from Virginia
  • Life Inspiration: Don't Waste Your Life! by John Piper
  • Child Training: Raising Kids Who Hunger for God by Benny and Sheree Phillips
  • Family Life: The Godly Home tape series by Denny Kenaston
  • Home Schooling: Easy Homeschooling Companion by Lorraine Curry
  • A Note on Bible Versions

      (If you are new to the Hope Chest, this issue is much longer than average!)

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Don’t Waste Your Life!

(A Few Thoughts from Virginia)

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“Don’t waste your life!” Many of us mommies heard this well-meaning advice when we announced our decision to abandon careers and stay home with our children, not just for the few early years, but for the long haul of home schooling. As crazy as it sounds, I personally don’t think it’s a waste at all to invest over three decades into full-time mothering until my youngest child graduates from high school when I am 57 years old.

“Don’t waste your life!” But what is a waste? Your answer depends entirely on what you most treasure. While the John Piper book which I’m about to review doesn’t even mention home schooling or even much about family life, it somehow puts them into proper perspective under the priority of passionately pursuing Jesus Christ. As worthy as it is, home schooling won’t secure a mansion in Heaven for either you or your children. For that, we must know Jesus as Savior and Lord. With eyes on that prize, anything less is a waste of life.

We truly don't know how long we have left to live.  We can't take for granted the time we have to do the things which need to be done.  A Christian home school mom named Heather who lives in Oregon is in critical condition right now.  After having a baby more than a week ago, she suffered hemmhorage, mini-strokes and blood clots.  I understand that she has woken up and spoken a word, which is a very good sign, but doctors have said that even if she survives, her recovery will take many months.  Please pray for her family.  I don't have any more details at this point as I don't know the family personally.  This information is from the Titus 2 Mom's Board.  Also, my Uncle Bob has cancer which has spread to the bone, and he is about to start hospice care.  I'm sure he would appreciate your prayers, also. You all know people who are at the brink of life and death.  Many of them need to hear the grace of God spoken into their lives, right now, while there is still time.  Don't waste your life.

[Note: While checking for an update on Heather's condition, I found a link to an article called "While I Was Sleeping" by author Lindsey O'Connor, who miraculously survived a two month long post-partum coma.  Please read!  http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2004/002/4.44.html ]

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Don't Waste Your Life by John Piper

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In January, my husband Thad went to a regional men’s retreat at our church, Metro Life (http://www.metrolife.org). He came home with John Piper’s new book Don’t Waste Your Life, which was given to each of the 500 or so men who attended. Yes, the book is so good that our pastors wanted them all to read it! Even more impressive was the fact that Thad, who is very selective about what he reads, finished it off within a few days. He quoted snatches at the table to whomever would listen, and then handed it to me with his highest recommendations. I didn’t need to be told twice to read it. This is my kind of book! It is deep and well-researched, but not dry. Any mature teen could benefit from it, too, as they contemplate how to use the best of their lives while they still have so much of it to live.

The first time I read Don’t Waste Your Life, I was in the midst of extensive cancer testing, so I took it along to devour in waiting rooms. This book made me all the more determined to make my own life -- however much of it I have left -- count (and multiply!) for eternity.

The premise of the book is that God has given us life for the passionate pursuit of his glory and our own delight in him. If we twiddle away this precious gift by living only for our own happiness and not for the spread of God‘s Kingdom, we waste our lives. That, in Piper’s mind and mine, is a tragedy. It is ironic that even if we accomplish much and have impeccable reputations, we can still fall far short of the mark. Piper recalls a motto which hung in his childhood home: “Only one life, ‘twill soon be past. Only what’s done for Christ will last.” The essence is to live fully for Christ -- and see what he can do through us.

Let’s hear a few words from John Piper himself, and then I’ll give you a peek at the chapter titles. Here’s an excerpt from page 97, in the chapter “Risk is Right”:

~~

The Only Road That Leads to Lasting Joy

This is the promise that empowers us to take risks for the sake of Christ. It is not the impulse of heroism, or the lust for adventure, or the courage of self-reliance, or the need to earn God‘s favor. It is simple trust in Christ -- that in him God will do everything necessary so that we can enjoy making much of him forever. Every good poised to bless us, and every evil arrayed against us, will in the end help us boast only in the cross, magnify Christ, and glorify our Creator. Faith in these promises frees us to risk and to find in our own experience that it is better to lose our life than to waste it.

Therefore, it is right to risk for the cause of Christ. It is right to engage the enemy and say, “May the LORD do what seems good to him.” It is right to serve the people of God, and say, “If I perish, I perish!” It is right to stand before the fiery furnace of affliction and refuse to bow down to the gods of this world. This is the road that leads to fullness of joy and pleasures forevermore. At the end of every other road -- secure and risk free -- we will put our face in our hands and say, “I’ve wasted it!”

~~

Chapter Titles:

  • My Search for a Single Passion to Live By
  • Breakthrough -- the Beauty of Christ, My Joy
  • Boasting Only in the Cross, the Blazing Center of the Glory of God
  • Magnifying Christ through Pain and Death
  • Risk is Right -- Better to Lose Your Life than to Waste It
  • The Goal of Life -- Gladly Making Others Glad in God
  • Living to Prove He is More Precious than Life
  • Making Much of Christ from 8 to 5
  • The Majesty of Christ in Missions and Mercy -- A Plea to This Generation
  • My Prayer -- Let None Say in the End, “I’ve Wasted It”

~~

John Piper is the pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis, head of Desiring God Ministries, author of dozens of books, and champion of Reformed theology and the legacy of Jonathan Edwards and Charles Spurgeon. He and his wife Noel have been married for well over 30 years, and have five children.

You will likely find Don’t Waste Your Life, which is published by Crossway Books, at most Christian bookstores or on-line suppliers. Here is the link for John Piper’s Desiring God Ministries, where materials are available at a whatever-you-can-afford policy: http://www.desiringgod.org/index.shtml

At this site, you can read dozens of articles on myriad topics. You can get an education right there!

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Child Training:

Raising Kids Who Hunger for God

by Benny and Sheree Phillips

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If you’ve been faithfully reading the Hope Chest over the years, you might have caught a little tale I told a while back about the Phillips family. When I was teenager in northern Virginia, I used to go hear Benny preach at a local Saturday night worship service. These meetings had a major impact on my relationship with my own parents, as I became convicted of passive rebellion. I also remember visiting the Phillips’ home with some high school buddies for a hospitality night, back when they had one or two small children.

Fast forward to about four years ago, when I found this book while looking for something else on line. Recognizing the names, I ordered it immediately, and wasn’t disappointed. Good stuff! Fast forward again to two years ago. Thad visited Metro Life Church (where we are now members) and brought home the visitor packet. Guess who is a pastor at Metro Life? Guess who oversees the home schooling ministry? Yep! What a blessing! I know I haven’t mentioned much about the book yet, but trust me that this is all related because “the proof is in the pudding.” Over the past year and a half, we’ve gotten to know four of the seven Phillips children, now teens and young adults, because they are in the same home group as us. Two of them attend home school classes at church with Mary. These kids are awesome. Their parents did a hugely wonderful job. If that’s not a testimonial for this book, I can’t think of anything stronger! And since Thad and I are trying to tweak our approach to child discipline, guess whose book has come back off the shelf?

Chapter titles:

  • Expanding Your Vision for Parenthood
  • Fashioning Young Arrows
  • The American Family in Crisis
  • Are Christian Families Exempt?
  • Sharing Their Concept of God
  • Respect: A Crucial Foundation
  • Training Children to Become Responsible
  • Fostering a Responsive Heart
  • Seeing Results Through Discipline that Works
  • Parenting and the Grace of God
  • Keys to Motivating Children Successfully
  • A Mother’s Influence
  • Modeling the Fatherhood of God
  • Faith for the Adolescent Years
  • Leading Your Children to the Lord

Here’s an excerpt from the last chapter:

~~~

Being the right example may require a serious evaluation of our own relationship with God. We must ask ourselves some important questions:

  • Have I experienced a genuine encounter with Jesus Christ, including repentance from my sin and a commitment to following and serving him?
  • Is my relationship with the Lord growing and deepening?
  • Is there visible evidence of my Christian commitment in my lifestyle (activities and values) and in my relationships (Christlike attitudes and behavior)?
  • Is my relationship with the Lord being walked out with other like-minded believers in a local church that emphasizes relationships and personal pursuit of God over attendance at meetings and religious rituals?
  • Is my pursuit of God visible in the home, or is it limited to church services or crisis management?

Our answers to questions like these help us evaluate the extent to which our children are being affected and inspired by our Christian experience. If our walk with God is evident only by church attendance and a clean vocabulary, we should not be surprised if our children’s spiritual lives are equally superficial. If our commitment to Him pervades every area of our lives, however, and is apparent in our lifestyle, relationships, church involvement and devotional life, we can have hope that our children will develop a similar hunger for intimacy with Jesus Christ. At times, having this kind of lifestyle can be costly.

~~~

You can order Raising Kids Who Hunger for God for $5.99 from http://www.christianbook.com

Please note that the copy I have was published by Chosen Books in 1991, but it was republished by Baker Books in 2001. I trust that any changes made were for the better, though I can‘t think of anything that I would change in it!

Benny and Sheree have agreed to an interview in an upcoming Hope Chest issue, and I’m hoping to get a few words in from some of their kids, too.

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The Godly Home tape series by Denny Kenaston

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The Godly Home tape series from Charity Gospel Tape Ministries has been a huge blessing to me. I ordered the set almost a year ago after seeing it mentioned on Steve and Teri Maxwell’s Titus 2 Mom’s Board. Since Thad was taking care of his dying mother instead of working full-time, it was an extra blessing that they offered it on a donation basis instead of a fixed price. Now the 29 messages in the tape set are available for free MP3 download, too, so you can listen to them on your computer.

Denny Kenaston is a pastor of Charity Christian Fellowship in Pennsylvania. According to the statement of faith and practice on the web site, this church’s teachings are similar to conservative Mennonite, including plain dressing, head coverings for women, pacifism, King James Bible, and non-contemporary music style. However, I have listened to several of the tapes and haven’t heard any mention of these topics. Though Pastor Kenaston’s lifestyle is quite different from my own (and probably yours), his passion -- for Christ, for Scripture, and for the Christian family -- hurdles denominational fences. He exhorts us all to be very serious and intentional about following Jesus and discipling our children into the faith. He also shares practical ways that this can happen. Some of these ideas are easily implemented, while others, especially if life is really “out of whack” out your house, might require a major shift in priorities. I appreciate how he shares stories, such as from the childhood of missionary Hudson Taylor, to inspire his listeners. Three of his six children are foreign missionaries, so it‘s obvious that his teaching has affected his own family! Please note that several of these messages are directed especially toward fathers as the leaders of their homes.

Listening to one tape last spring gave me the extra courage to share the Gospel more boldly with my mother-in-law as I drove her home from chemotherapy treatment. It gives me much joy to know that I played even a small part in her opening her heart to the Lord a few months later. Though we miss her deeply, we shall see her again in eternity!

Another particularly helpful tape was the one on “A Quiet, Ordered Life.” I need to listen to that one again because my life is often anything but quiet and orderly! One of the tapes is filled with various members of the Kenaston family presenting inspirational poetry and Scripture songs with flawless diction and clear sweet voices. I like the last line of one song that prays, “Lord, please make my life a kindling to set the world on fire.”

Here is a list of messages in this tape set, as it was recorded in January 2003.

  • The Holy Art of Training Children
  • The Foundation of a Godly Home
  • The Eternal Value of a Child
  • A Vision that Motivates
  • A Godly Heritage Today
  • Bible Pictures of Promise
  • More Pictures of Promise
  • Whole-Hearted Households
  • The Key to Obedience is Blessings
  • The Hearts of Fathers Must Turn
  • The Rod is Love
  • A Sacred Exercise
  • The Training of the Will
  • The Bondage of Foolishness
  • Father: the Anointed Teacher
  • Train Up a Child
  • A Quiet, Ordered Life
  • Three Mysterious Influences
  • A Dwelling Place for the Living God
  • Father: The Watchman
  • The Hidden Woman (Part 1 and 2)
  • Where are the Men?
  • Fighting for the Next Generation
  • Godly Men Have Radiant Wives
  • Joining the Next Generation
  • Youth: Anointed Disciples of Jesus Christ
  • Households on Fire
  • Overwhelming Blessings on the Second Generation

You can order this tape set (or download the messages in MP3 format) at http://www.charityministries.org/tapeministry/index.cfm

Charity Gospel Tape Ministry

Address: 400 W Main St Ste 1, Ephrata, PA 17522

Toll Free Number: 1-800-227-7902

Local number: (717) 721-7775

Fax: (717) 721-6695

Email orders: [email protected] (This is for ALL orders)

Email other questions or for more information: [email protected] (NO orders)

 

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Easy Homeschooling Companion

by Lorraine Curry

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I always enjoy receiving surprise packages, so I was delighted to open up one containing Easy Homeschooling Companion (sequel to Easy Homeschooling Techniques) by Lorraine Curry. I was even happier to note my that Lorraine had included in it a review and excerpt of my first book The Real Life Home School Mom.

The real strength of Lorraine’s books is that she cuts to the heart of home schooling -- which is the heart of the child. She knows that when the chaff of education is blown away, the vital kernels remain. Lorraine is a veteran home schooler; her two daughters have graduated and her two sons are finishing up within the next few years. She believes that the cornerstones of a quality home education are the King James Bible, classic literature, and recitation/narration. She even has practical tips for caring for and repairing vintage books. Like me, she has very little use for television, preferring to train the brain with meatier stuff. This book is not a complete “how to” of home schooling, but lays a very solid foundation in determining an educational philosophy and keeping first things first. In my opinion, much of the material in this book is most suitable for teaching the older child or teen. Fans of the Charlotte Mason and classical approaches will especially appreciate Easy Homeschooling Companion.

Chapters in this 250+ page book include:

  • Gathering Flowers
  • Pursuing Better Parenting
  • Cultivating Christian Curriculum
  • Drawing from My Diary
  • Harvesting from History
  • Raising the Standard
  • Reaping from Reviews
  • Loving Literature
  • Producing Fruit
  • New Birth Diary

Here’s an excerpt from the chapter “Cultivating Christian Curriculum":

~~~

Heart Training

And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all they soul, and with all thy might.  And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart... (Deut 6:5,6)

The term heart refers to the thought life which pours over into the will and flows out through actions.  If God permeates the thought  life, good will result.  The heart is the control center and must be trained to be servant unto God and ruler over flesh.  When the child learns to live from his heart for God, educational achievement and high character unfold naturally.  Because he desires to please the God he loves and has been trained to obey, he applies himself diligehtly to the task at hand, with increased productivity in all subjects and pursuits.

The greater result of heart-training is wisdom unto salvation, through faith in Jesus.  Moreover, the child will be perfectly equipped for doing good works.  His life will have value for God, self and others.  It is most assuring to know that if the child's heart is molded for God, the Holy Spirit will continue to rule and guide him, even after he is loosed from parental control.

Education is in vain, if our children to not grow to love and fear God from their hearts.  Our most necessary goal, then, is that the heart be trained.  A curriculum that teaches ottherwise -- or even neglects this goal -- is not worthy of the Christian homeschooler.

Mrs. Sigourney, mother and popular and prolific inspirational writer of the mid-1800s said, "The true order of learning should be, first, what is necessary; second, what is useful; and third, what is ornamental.  To reverse this arrangement, is like beginning to build at the top of the edifice."

~~~

You can order Lorraine’s book for $18.95 at her web site, http://http://www.godsgardener.com. This web site also includes links, checklists and copy work.

God's Gardener, PO Box 95, 402 Wausa Road, Boelus NE 68820

Phone: 308-996-4497  /  Fax: 308-996-9104  / Orders: 866-263-5959

 

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A Note on Bible Versions

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The debate in the home schooling movement about the best version of Scripture touches lightly on this issue of the Hope Chest. You may have noticed that Denny Kenaston and Lorraine Curry are strong advocates of the Authorized King James Version Bible. John Piper uses mainly the English Standard Version (ESV) in his book. Benny Phillips, like the other pastors at our church, uses the ESV also. Recently, after twenty years of using the NIV, I purchased my own English Standard Version Bible, which is published by Crossway Books. As a bonus, it comes with a free CD-ROM which includes ESV and KJV side by side on the screen, along with many theological reference works. This CD-ROM alone is worth the purchase price of the Bible.  Here is a link to see the ESV on-line. http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/

The ESV aims to be a literal word-for-word, rather than thought-for-thought, translation. Thus, in my opinion, the sentence structures are more complex and less flowing than those written in most contemporary books. This doesn’t bother me, because it is a byproduct of the translators’ insistence on accuracy over style.  http://www.gnpcb.org/page/esv_philosophy  However, it does take a stretch of the brain cells to take in a whole sentence. Here is a sample comparing the ESV, KJV and NIV.

Notice that in the three verses, the ESV and KJV each use two sentences, while the NIV, which is written at a 4th grade reading level, uses four.

Col. 3:12-14 (ESV) [12] Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, [13] bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. [14] And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.

Col. 3:12-14 (KJV) [12] Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering; [13] Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. [14] And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness.

Col. 3:12-14 (NIV)  [12]Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. [13] Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. [14] And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.

I can’t go further debate into the relatives merits and demerits of any Bible version with anyone, but I just wanted to throw this in as an extra thing for you to think about. It wouldn’t hurt to meditate on those verses, either, in whatever translations you like best.

~~

As a final note, on one of my recent early morning walks, I pulled out an index card on which I had jotted Psalm 26:3, which says, “For your steadfast love is before my eyes and I walk in your faithfulness.” As I repeated the words to myself with each step, an application popped into my head. When each of us literally sets God’s steadfast love before our eyes (in the form of Scripture, Christian literature, inspirational art, or wholesome videos) we become equipped to follow Jesus wholeheartedly. Likewise, as a home school mom, I realize that the resources I set before my children’s eyes can determine their destinies.  Let’s choose our educational resources well! With this in mind, the next Hope Chest issue will feature reviews of some great children’s books and videos to do just that.

Until next time, I remain…

In His Sovereign Grace

Virginia Knowles

http://www.thehopechest.net

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