Scripture Memory Monday

I find myself often placing confidence in other things besides Christ.  I pray against this not only for my sake, but also for the sake of my family.  

David has often quoted the late Rev. Robert Murray M'Cheyne ~ an 1800s minister in the church of Scotland who devised a Bible Reading Plan that David has implemented much throughout the past couple of years.   Yesterday morning as David was teaching his Sunday school class, he quoted the Scottish pastor once more:

"The greatest need of my people is my personal holiness."  

I've heard David say this quote from time to time, but it was doubly convicting to me upon hearing it yesterday.  

David further challenged us to apply this to our own lives; "my people" was M'Cheyne's congregation that he pastored.  For us, "my people" may be our family, our spouses, our friends, our co-workers, our neighbors, etc.  The application sunk deeply into my heart as I thought of my children.  

Truly, "the greatest need of [my children] is MY personal holiness!"  

For me to be the mother that God intends me to be to my little ones, I must be walking in intimacy with the Lord that produces holy living.  If I am to parent my children well, disciplining with wisdom and discernment, I've got to be marinating my heart and my mind in God's word and spending much time (on my knees AND on the go!) in prayer.  If I am to show my children that it is indeed CHRIST who is most infinitely valuable, I must be consumed with a passion for Him, not letting the things of this world steal my time and affections.  Our children (and many others) are watching our lives and listening to what our actions often scream - they indeed are much louder than what we say.  I don't want to tell my children the reality that Christ alone satisfies, and then show them by the way I live that what I said must not really be true.  

*See also the Challenge to Parents on the sidebar of our blog.  It is much related to this.

Thank you, Rev. M'Cheyne, for openly sharing your heart hundreds of years ago.  Thank you, David, for reminding me and the rest of your class of these words that we must contemplate as well.

This leads me to the verse that I've felt lead to chew on this week.  In what am I truly placing my confidence?  What am I boasting in?  Is it the name of God that I am praising, or is it someone or something else's?  

I pray that I will teach my children well through my actions each day.  I pray that the world analyzing Christians under a microscope will find nothing less than individuals who have been radically transformed by Christ, truly practicing what they preach!  

"In GOD we boast all day long,

and praise YOUR name forever." 

Psalm 44:8