Can be read online at: "As a Child"

This chapter is based on Luke 2:39,40

So many good gems in this chapter. I like this:

Quote:

---

The parents of Jesus were poor, and dependent upon their daily toil. He was familiar with poverty, self-denial, and privation. This experience was a safeguard to Him. In His industrious life there were no idle moments to invite temptation. No aimless hours opened the way for corrupting associations. So far as possible, He closed the door to the tempter.

---

It's been a good lesson for me the past few days that I've been tempted. I'm trying to stay busy, so as not to invite temptation.

This chapter contains one of the clearest explanations of what it means to live a Christ-like life:
"From His earliest years, Jesus had one purpose: He lived to bless others."
I can't help but think that if we're going to reflect the character of Jesus, it will be because we have learned to live the same way: to bless those around us.

Jerry D Thomas

How do we learn to live that way? When we are children, we must have models for it. If our parents are continually fussing at us and complaining of us, resenting what they must do to care for us, making us feel burdensome, does that not ruin the model? But if the model is of a cheerful, devoted parent guiding the child (as appropriate for age) gently into the routine of living to serve and bless others while consistently modeling it, then the right programming can happen in the mind.

My question is, what if we did not get that positive model as children. How do we train ourselves out of those default settings and into new defaults? I find even though I know something is wonderful and good I must still force myself to do it if it is not my lifelong habit. I know, I KNOW, people SAY new habits are formed in 30 days or whatever, but that simply isn't the case with me. Even if I establish a new habit for, say, two years, the moment I have a few days of slacking it is as if I never established it at all. Not so, of course, with anything established long ago though!

Examples: no matter how many times I come out of the gym glad I worked out, I still must "pull teeth" with myself to get myself to go. No matter how many times blessing another has been so joyful to me, I still find myself having to wrestle and argue with myself to get myself to do it. Any practical advice on changing these rotten default settings that waste so much time & energy for me?

Maybe this quote from Steps to Christ will help. Notice especially the words in red. Instead of focusing on ourselves and sins and problems, we focus on Christ. We think of His steadfast love for us and His eternal dependablilty. I spend a lifetime depending on myself for obedience. Finally, I gave up. I thought: Since something was wrong with me that prevented me from doing right, I decided to give up and have the joys of this world. I knew I was going to miss heaven. I was not going to miss the pleasures of this world also.

The Lord, however, had not given up on me. As I have learned more of His character, more how He runs His government, I have learned to trust Him and His love, even when I fail.

There are those who profess to serve God, while they rely upon their own efforts to obey His law, to form a right character, and secure salvation. Their hearts are not moved by any deep sense of the love of Christ, but they seek to perform the duties of the Christian life as that which God requires of them in order to gain heaven. Such religion is worth nothing. When Christ dwells in the heart, the soul will be so filled with His love, with the joy of communion with Him, that it will cleave to Him; and in the contemplation of Him, self will be forgotten. Love to Christ will be the spring of action. Those who feel the constraining love of God, do not ask how little may be given to meet the requirements of God; they do not ask for the lowest standard, but aim at perfect conformity to the will of their Redeemer. With earnest desire they yield all and manifest an interest proportionate to the value of the object which they seek. A profession of Christ without this deep love is mere talk, dry formality, and heavy drudgery. {SC 44.2}

Your friend,
Dave M

It's interesting you bring up that quote today Dave, as a similar thought occurred to me in a different context, about doing our work cheerfully as unto the Lord. Just thinking about that lifted the whole sense of burdenedness off my shoulders, the whole sense of being weary of doing things and feeling it a drudge, and gave a renewed "lift" to my spirit.

So the quote is apropos.

Considering work habits in today's world and even on our own school campuses (I work with and teach boarding academy students), this quote struck me:

"He was not willing to be defective, even in the handling of tools."

I wonder how many times he was unwilling to sign off on some piece of work he had done because of some little defect we might pass by.

- sorry

I think those sorts of things tend to deteriorate as people's sense of their own value starts to deteriorate. When we think we don't matter or what we do doesn't matter to others, it begins to not matter to ourselves. That's when people get demotivated, demoralised, and don't care about things. Apathy sets in.

The cure?

Appreciation. Freely and frequently expressed.
Encouragement. Particularly in the face of distress.
Support. With someone tangibly there to let down, it's likely to happen far less.

Was Jesus appreciated, encouraged and supported? I think as a child, He likely was. But what about as an adult? And, as an adult, did He need to be?

As an adult, He probably needed to be as much as any healthy adult needs to be, which I doubt is as keenly as any unhealthy one but still, yes, to some degree. He did receive numerous affirmations from His Heavenly Father, remember (at baptism, transfiguration, etc.), from Peter's declaration of His identity, etc.

However, if you mean to imply that with maturity our need for those things should go away, I think you are wrong. Not only does it definitely NOT go away for those who did not receive it as a child, but I don't believe it goes away even for those with healthy upbringings full of it.

Wow. I don't know what I was thinking when I posted those questions. Hmm. Absolutely, people do need positive reinforcement as adults. In fact, it's something I've been trying to get across to my husband (as a manager at work he needs to remember to positively reinforce his employees); it's also something I've been trying to get across to my pastor and our church leadership. If we don't encourage people in our church and positively reinforce their efforts to make a difference, they'll just sit back and quietly fade away.

Exactly. Apathy sets in when we believe that who we are and what we do does not matter to anyone else. What causes that belief? The absence of feedback to the contrary, and nothing more. (Negative feedback and nothing but, can also cause demoralization & demotivation, but in a different way.)

I always wished I could be that kind of person -- the sort that brings cheer to others -- but I'm always the one who ends up getting weary, frustrated, and worn to a frazzle before anyone else. I hate it. I hate this vast yawning uncrossable gulf between what I want to be and what I actually am, even in Him. Even in Him I can't be what I should be.

I understand how you feel. But the thing is you do bring cheer to others, even though you may not think that you do!

Thank you, Sid.

You're welcome!

Another example of what it means to be like Jesus from this chapter: (quoted from Messiah)

"Through all those years in Nazareth, Jesus’ life flowed out in sympathy and tenderness. The elderly, the sad, those with heavy burdens in life, playing children, little creatures in the trees, the donkeys and oxen at work; all of them were happier when He was around. The One who set the planets in place would stop to help a wounded bird."

Can we often say that people are happier when we are around?

Jerry D Thomas

Hey Jerry, I am so glad you posted this. Your post was implanted in my mind and a light switch went off in my head this morning at work. I was thinking "Why do I have such a grumpy scowl all the time. I try to be "holy" at work, and I just sit there being a stoic constipated monkey." And then your post really hit me, and He told me to stop focusing on myself, to look around, see all my interesting coworkers with volumes of life stories in them, ask them how they are doing, get to know them! In return I felt blessed. So thank-you Jerry!

Sid, I continue to be amazed at the power the story of Jesus has to touch our lives.

When you read these chapters, it is clear that Jesus performed no miracles during His years at home. But He made a difference in people's lives every day.

That is a clear path to becoming more like Jesus. That is a way we can reflect His character.

Jerry D Thomas