Ignorance

“In a well-furnished kitchen there are not only crystal goblets and silver platters, but waste cans and compost buckets—some containers used to serve fine meals, others to take out the garbage. Become the kind of container God can use to present any and every kind of gift to his guests for their blessing.” 2 Timothy 2:20-21

Okay, so this version is a bit of a stretch from my NIV. And I can’t say that I completely get the reference to ignorance. If you put the NIV together with this version, it makes a little more sense. It adds that you have to cleanse yourself from the garbage (ignorance) in order to “be an instrument for noble purposes, made holy, useful to the master and prepared to do good work.” Preparation really is the key to doing well with anything in life. Sure, you may be able to squeak by again and again, but will only get out of it what you put into it. I teach a 4 year old class at church. Some weeks I am exhausted and make the decision not to prepare a story or games, etc. Sometimes I luck out and am able to wing it. Typically, however, there is mass chaos in my room. The kids aren’t listening because I haven’t put forth the effort to make it fun. They are talking to each other and finding better things to get into. But when I have confidence in my activities and show them how excited I am about teaching them about a story from the Bible, it comes alive. Their parents are even pleased because they are chatting them up about the lesson, crafts, and games. They actually learned something at church.

The same goes for when we are simply the listener. Preparing your heart before a sermon or Bible study can make a big difference. Reading the material is often not on your list of priorities, but you will be so glad you did. And you can never go wrong with treating your Bible like a textbook. Learn the stories; keep the verses in your heart for future reference.

I really love the author’s idea to let your kids see you doing your homework. Oh, how kids hate homework! Make sure not to stress that homework never goes away, but how the love of learning can be a good thing. Explain that the Bible teaches you how to pass tests everyday…when making decisions about how to discipline them, how to treat other people, and how to one day get to Heaven.

So, onto another suggestion by the author…what word will my 1 year old learn tomorrow…He seems to pick up a new one every day! I’m thinking parameters (one of the author’s suggestions, which is defined as limits; boundaries) would be a good place to start! I hope you are all having a great week!