Its funny how our thoughts don't always follow our actions. We develop great ideas in our minds and can even implement them from an outside perspective, but when it comes to internally carrying out what our minds eye sees, we often fall short. I wonder why this is. Why is it so difficult to carry out what we believe and follow through what we hold as true? I assume it's just part of our fallen nature and that we can be pretty screwed up creatures. Paul was familiar with this all too well when he wrote, "For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it." (Romans 7:19-20)
We live in a state of constant duality between knowledge and implementation. In an increasingly relative culture, living what we actually believe becomes more and more difficult. The tension increases and our strength fails, and this is where the real test comes into play. Do we really believe what we say and do? Are the thoughts that run through our minds really issues that we will carry out to the forefront of life, or are they words that fall on deaf ears? Do we have deaf ears as well?
Back to my children's blog topic and the idea of praying with kids. After spending a good deal of time thinking about this, I came to a very sobering conclusion. If I pray with my boys, or any other kids in my life for that matter, I better be damn sure that I mean what I say and say what I mean. I better know without a shadow of a doubt that my words are being directed to a holy God, and not just being recited to impress those that listen. Because guess what? Kids are natural bullshit detectors. They can sense insincerity a mile away and know when something isn't real.
Pray with the children in your life. Don't preform for them. Or you'll find yourself alone on center stage.
