I have really enjoyed doing inductive Bible studies using a service called “Mama’s Refill.” It was started by the mom, Pam Forster, who has done many inductive Bible study books and sells them on her family’s website, Doorposts.

This month, I have been studying Psalm 22 which is a prophetic psalm on the death of Christ. I thought it would be great to meditate and study this psalm to prepare my heart for Easter.

As always, the study has been a great blessing. I have learned a lot; but more than just head knowledge, my heart has been overwhelmed by what Christ has done for me.

The major take-away of studying this psalm for me has been a renewed amazement at what Christ did so that we could be saved.

He bore reproach and mocking, excruciating pain, intense sorrow, rejection, and death. If all Christ did for us was die on the cross, that would be enough to be eternally grateful. Since we have received His gift of eternal life, we should wish for nothing more. Even if we lived in poverty and had only terrible and painful circumstances happen to us, we should be thankful for our salvation and our home that awaits in Heaven.

Yet, eternal life is not all that He has given us!

• He has supplied all our needs.
• He has become our friend.
• He has given us many comforts.
• Many of us have good health.
• We have His Word.
• We can go to church and worship God freely.
• We have commentaries and devices that help us learn God’s Word and godly music we can listen to.
• Friends encourage our hearts.
• Many have money in their bank accounts, cars to drive, and a roof over their head.
• And the list can go on and on!

Yet with all of these wonderful gifts PLUS the most amazing gift — eternal life, we still find ourselves complaing. To want what we don’t have. To wonder why God is allowing us to go through difficulties. To get mad when we don’t get our way. To blame God when things go wrong.

We forget that not only did He endure the cross, but he also endured many other reproaches we never have had to endure:

1. He took upon Himself the form of a servant.
   But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: Philippians 2:7
2. He left the glories of Heaven to be born in a cave where animals were kept.
   For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich. 2 Corinthians 8:9
3. His appearance was marred more than any other man’s.
   As many were astonied at thee; his visage was so marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men: Isaiah 52:14
4. He was reproached as a bad man and as a blasphemer.
   Then the high priest tore his clothes, saying, “He has spoken blasphemy! What further need do we have of witnesses? Look, now you have heard His blasphemy! Matthew 26:65
5. He was accused of breaking the sabbath.
   And certain of the Pharisees said unto them, Why do ye that which is not lawful to do on the sabbath days? Luke 6:2
6. He was accused of being a wine-bibber, being friends with evil companions.
   The Son of man is come eating and drinking; and ye say, Behold a gluttonous man, and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners! Luke 7:34
7. He was called a liar.
   The Pharisees therefore said unto him, Thou bearest record of thyself; thy record is not true. John 8:13
8. He was accused of being an enemy to Caesar.
   And from thenceforth Pilate sought to release him: but the Jews cried out, saying, If thou let this man go, thou art not Caesar’s friend: whosoever maketh himself a king speaketh against Caesar. John 19:12
9. He was accused of being given power by Satan.
   Now when the Pharisees heard it they said, “This fellow does not cast out demons except by Beelzebub, the ruler of the demons.” Matthew 12:24
10. He was despised of the people.
    And the Pharisees also, who were covetous, heard all these things: and they derided him. Luke 16:14
11. He came from a country that did not have a good reputation.
    And Nathanael said unto him, Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth? John 1:46
12. His earthly father was a carpenter or a construction worker.
    Is not this the carpenter’s son? is not his mother called Mary? and his brethren, James, and Joses, and Simon, and Judas? Matthew 13:55
13. Those that saw him hanging on the cross laughed him to scorn.
    And the soldiers also mocked him, coming to him, and offering him vinegar, And saying, If thou be the king of the Jews, save thyself. Luke 23:36-37

Just as His tormentors despised Him, considering Him unworthy of their consideration or respect, Jesus despised the shame He was suffering. He thought little of it, compared to the eternal glory that awaited Him. He suffered horrible anguish, beyond anything we could ever imagine. He told His Father what He was experiencing, and He cried out to God for deliverance. But, “for the joy that was set before Him,” He endured the cross.

Pam Forster

When we consider all of this, we can easily declare that it is our “reasonable service” to present our bodies as “a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God.” What could stop us? We will live for Him who died for us! It’s only reasonable. It is what our desire should be. It should be our daily motivation. Nothing should deter us from making His glory upheld and honored. He will be magnified. He will be adored.

We owe Him everything — but all we can give is ourselves.

Are you living for Him? He died for you. It is our reasonable service.

How do you raise successful adults? That is the question. . .

My husband and I have five children. The oldest is 18 and the youngest is 10; and if we succeed in raising successful adults, it is because God has been very good to us. We have not been perfect; and I feel like half the time, we don’t know if we are doing the parenting job right; however, it is the job God has given us to do. Praise the Lord that He never leaves us nor forsakes us, that He directs our steps, and that He will give us His strength when He is weak.

I have to admit . . . parenting is humbling, mind-boggling, and there sometimes confusing. Each child is different, and there is no one-size-fits-all type of parenting.

When it comes to raising success adults, the first question that must be asked is, “What is your definition of success?”

Do you want them to earn a lot of money? Do you want them to be able to support themselves and to be go-getters? Do you want them to get married and have children?

As a Christian, obviously we want our children to love the Lord first of all.

We want the faith that we practice in our house to be real in their lives. That they make our God their own personal God. Then we want them to be sensitive to what God would want them to do with their lives. That doesn’t always line up with what the world may call successful. They may not make much money. They may go into full-time Christian work or go on the mission field. We would be excited if that is what God calls them to do with their lives; but we would be just as excited if God wanted them to be doctors here in the United States and they were able to show the love of Christ through their care of others. We want them to be doing what God has called them to do.

However, even if that is not what your definition of being a successful adult, I think we can all agree on a few things. Successful adults need to be able to do a few things:

• Work hard.
• Prepare financially for themselves and their family.
• Be able to live independently of their parents.
• Be kind.
• Be honest.

These are just the first few things that popped into my head. These may seem like no-brainers, but sometimes, they are harder to teach than it seems. For instance, my youngest, is a sweetheart. She is my most social child. You want someone to be a friend to a new person? Bring her to meet them. She loves to do art. She also loves her Kindle. She hates piano practice, and she doesn’t like the academic part of school. She is capable of doing great at school — she just doesn’t love the work that is involved. She would rather be talking to her friends. After much stress this past week, we finally dropped piano. It wasn’t worth the stress on my life as I sat over her for piano practice. But she also got her Kindle taken away for 2 months and she has to help me every day do different jobs instead of doing piano practice. Why? She needs to be able to work. Play is fun, but when she is an adult, she needs to also know how to work.

When I was asked to look at the book, The Straight A Handbook: The 50 Most Powerful Secrets for Ultimate Success in and Out of the Classroom, the first part of the title did not grab my attention to much. My children so far have been straight A students, but some children cannot get straight A’s no matter how much they try. I just want my kids to do the best they can do — which comes down to their work ethic. Thus, the second part of the title, The 50 Most Powerful Secrets for Ultimate Success in and Out of the Classroom, did make me pay attention. I want my kids to have success in and out of the classroom. I want them to have grow up to be successful adults when I am no longer there to watch over them.

In this book, there are 50 short chapters, each one with a “secret” for ultimate success. They are not necessarily secrets– I would call many of them reminders as they are easily forgotten. But they are important. The book is interesting with personal stories of the author’s life or with stories of other people who are successful and what made them successful. For example, in the first chapter, John Chuback, the author, tells of when he entered his surgical residency and the speech that was given to him by the Chairman of the Department of Surgery and how that the only reason he had risen to that position was that he out-sat (or sat longer than anyone else in his studies) and out-read them. Here is a quote from the very end of that first chapter:

Rule number one in being a great student: you have to read like crazy!

John Chuback, M.D.

That is where I have messed up with my youngest. I went to work when she was 4 and was no longer a stay-at-home like I was with the others. I read, read, read to my oldest four as I was at home and I always had another baby so I read to them while I fed the baby. But she was the baby. I was running here and there with the older 4. Then I had to go back to work; then we moved 20 hours to a new ministry. I wasn’t at home as much; she didn’t love to read; and I didn’t make her. I used to do library reading programs, but the ones here in Florida weren’t like the ones we had in Illinois, so I didn’t make it a priority. I was tired, and it slipped through the cracks. She had access to devices like my others never had, and she became a pro at them. And she can’t think like the others — she’s not dumb. Not at all. But I do think devices (too much of them) change the way kids think. So we are taking at least a two month break from devices and I’m making her read every day — only about 20 minutes, but she has to read.

Here are just a few of the good advice given in this book. Some of them are original to the author, but many quotes are oldies but goodies passed down from the wisdom of those who have come before us:

He who shall thrive must rise at five; while he who has thriven may rise at seven.

Yesterday is gone, tomorrow is not here yet, all we have is today.

Nothing hard is ever easy.

Goals are dreams with deadlines.

You don’t know what you don’t know.

Courage is not the lack of fear. Courage is the ability to manage and control fear.

Choose your friends wisely.

This book would be great for high school graduates. It gives a seriousness to thinking about what they must do if they want to achieve success as an adult. They must be willing to grow up and realize that they must work to accomplish their goals. It even helps them to see how to set those goals — to start learning what they want to get out of life. They must know themselves, know their interests, and then know how to get what they want. We can’t do it for them — they must be independent, successful adults.

This book is not a Christian book; the author admits he is not a man of faith; however, many of the principles could be found in the wisdom portions of the Bible such as the book of Proverbs. Some of the chapters talk about persistence, working hard, rising early, having good friends, staying out of trouble, not worrying, and seizing each day. All of those concepts and more have parallels that can be found in Scripture.

I’m going to read some of these small chapters to my kids as these are great concepts for everyone to put into practice. They will help instill good work ethics and encourage good lifestyles we would desire for our children. I think it is a good book for every child to read before they embark out on their own. It looks like there will also be a Kindle version which will make the book inexpensive. Go check it out!

You can see more about Dr. Chuback and his new book HERE. You can also listen to him talking about his book HERE and HERE.