WE MAKE THE DECISION

“And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.  Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.”

Ephesians 4:30-32 KJV

Many years ago while listening to a Billy Graham crusade, I heard Dr. Graham say in his sermon “Don’t you blame your parents for what you did.  There comes a time in everyone’s life when he or she makes the decision to do right or wrong.” That sermon really convicted me and I asked God to forgive me.

Until I heard Dr. Graham preach that sermon, I had blamed my parents for everything bad that had happened to me.  I was ashamed of myself for blaming my parents.  We need to understand that our parents are just people like we are.  They cry and hurt just like we do and they need us to love them.

We don’t know what happened to our parents when they were children that makes them act like they do.  A man’s dad threw him out of a second story window and so this man was abusive to his children.  Instead of judging our parents, we need to love them and pray for them.

Joyce Landorf Heatherley, a Christian speaker and author, said on one of her teaching tapes “Be kind to your children instead of always yelling at them.  They’ll probably faint.”  Let’s start being kind to our parents.  They need to see the difference Jesus has made in our heart and life since we asked Him into our heart.

Joanne Lowe

October 27, 2015