Good and Right

Wednesday, June 1, 2022, was National Say Something Nice Day. Sounds good, right? But then who decides what is nice to say? And how do we know that the nice thing that we think we should say will be taken as nice? Is nice important? Who decides how we should communicate to each other and what we should say to each other? What does God say about communication?

In the Bible, one of the first words we read is “Word”. In the beginning was the Word. God’s primary form of communication to His created image-bearers is through His Word. His Word is Himself; and the Scriptures are God speaking His truths to us.  God commands us to love His Word, to believe His Word, and to speak His Word to others. Psalm 119 is replete with God’s Word being described as good, right, true, necessary, indispensable, etc. However, since the garden conversation between Eve and Satan, the inhabitants of the world, including Christians, have been encouraged to doubt what God has said and to put His Word, and His Truths as expressed in that Word, on the examination table of the “higher” and, frankly, hateful critics. The world falls for this handling of God’s Word; and weak and unstudied Christians do as well.  These are strong words, and perhaps may be taken as me not being very nice. But they are loving words of warning for believers - “Faithful are the wounds of a friend, But the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.” Proverbs 27:6 - as we are pressured by the world to accept its manipulation of the Scriptures to support lies.

Christian individuals, Christian families, Christian churches, and Christian organizations are under extreme pressure to say something nice about homosexuality. Many organizations, authors, and movements - in the name of Christianity - are determinedly focused on “educating” Christians to be positive about and accepting of homosexuality. Christian church leaders and other Christian leaders must know what God’s Word says about homosexuality and be able to speak the truth in love to those who insist on saying, “Did God really say?”  And Christian families and individuals need to be decidedly committed to communicating (whether verbally or through writing) in a way that shines light on God’s truth regarding homosexuality.

The link shared below is an excellent interview with Dr. Rosario Butterfield. Dr. Butterfield offers much needed clarity and direction on how the Christian church must think and respond to the current pressures of saying nice things about and accepting homosexuality. I pray that the interview will be a blessing and an encouragement to you and your family. - Principal Brown

Image by Silviu on the street from Pixabay.

https://youtu.be/p0nJDga1zeo

The Necessity of Christian Education: The Command, the Commitment, and the Non-Conformity

Praise God with me that He continues to bless CHESS (Colorado Heritage Education School System)! God has faithfully caused us to be a beacon of light for Christian education when most other schools have succumbed to and promote the dangerous and rebellious thinking of the prevailing ungodly society.

As I ponder the benefits of CHESS - our dedicated and gifted staff, teachers, and board - I am once again in awe of God's great goodness to us. We are a solid Christian school through whom God has been pleased to bless hundreds of students in our 31 years of existence. CHESS is an educational institution and environment where God’s Glory is upheld, where students are encouraged in their walk with the Lord, challenged to live for Him, and exhorted to be a light and a witness.

Colorado Heritage leadership steadfastly encourages the antithesis: i.e., being in the world, but not of the world. Our leadership and teachers recognize the perilous ways and motivations of ungodly thinking - past and present. We not only teach our students to think counter-culturally, but we also strive to be a good example to them in our dedication to not walk in the counsel of the wicked (Psalm 1). 

When the Scriptures command parents to teach their children about God “when they rise up and when they sit down and when they walk by the way” (Deut. 6:7), CHESS recognizes and takes seriously that families have entrusted their children to us as an outworking of obedience to that command.

Psalm 1 strictly warns those who are tempted to think and live as the ungodly. The way of the ungodly is deadly, leading to spiritual ruin. Ungodly thinking in all areas of life is unabashedly encouraged and promoted in most schools. CHESS, however, assents to the warnings in Psalm 1 as well as to the blessings of obedience expressed in the same Psalm. Our instruction, services, and events are all thoughtfully developed to bring Glory to God as well as to set forth a clear path toward righteousness for our students.

For over three decades, Colorado Heritage has stood apart from other schools in our Judeo-Christian convictions and endeavors. Going forward, CHESS is determined to keep a firm hand on the rudder - maintaining a straight course through the constantly changing and turbulent waters of society, and steadfastly disregarding the siren calls of "attractive" conformity. 

We are so thankful for our CHESS families and students! You are why we are here. We love to serve God by serving you. We pray for you often.

Do you have friends who have joined the worthy ranks of homeschooling? Are they looking for a school where their children will be pointed to our Savior and exhorted to live in the world, but not of the world? We would love to meet them and be a blessing to them. - Principal Brown

Now Also When I Am Old and Greyheaded

O God, thou hast taught me from my youth: and hitherto have I declared thy wondrous works. Now also when I am old and greyheaded, O God, forsake me not; until I have shewed thy strength unto this generation, and thy power to every one that is to come. Psalm 71:17,18

One of my fondest memories is sitting with my family in front of the big stone fireplace at my husband’s aunt’s cabin in the upper “mitten” of Michigan on cold winter nights. After a hard day of work renovating the cabin, and after a yummy, evening meal, weary and satisfied, we would gather in front of the rustic, stone fireplace for a time of evening family worship. As the fire crackled and popped in the quiet of the evening, we would have a solemn and thoughtful reading of the Bible, a time of prayer, and then someone would suggest a Psalm to sing. On one of these special evenings, my husband’s aunt picked Psalm 71 (from The Book of Psalms for Singing). The longing of the Psalmist to share with the next generation what he himself had been taught about God is strongly expressed in the seventy first Psalm; and that night, God put that same longing in my own heart.

Christian parents understand the longing to share with their children what they themselves have learned about God; and we yearn that our children will have this same desire to teach their children the things of God, and that the next generation would learn from them, and so on and so on.

Desiring and doing are two different things, however. Christian parenting is not for the faint of heart, or is it? Our desire to teach our children the ways of the Lord must be coupled with the knowledge that we cannot guide and teach in our own strength. Furthermore, once we start on this journey of teaching and raising our children in the fear of the Lord, we find out that we HAVE no strength of our own and are, indeed, faint of heart!! Praise the Lord when we come to this realization; and hopefully, we come to this knowledge sooner than later!!

A Christian parent who spends time on his knees, begging our Father God for help, guidance, wisdom, love, and patience is a parent who understands that, without God, we can do nothing. Self-reliance, self-determination, self-promotion – these are all temptations and stumbling blocks for parents.  Therefore, to God we go, seeking forgiveness for this propensity for autonomy, and then pleading for a spirit of dependence and humility instead.

As homeschoolers, we are blessed to be able to spend more time with our children in their formative and young adult years.  We present God our Savior to them through our instruction and curriculum. We teach our children about our amazing Creator as we unveil His wonders in science and in the arts. History comes alive and spiritually relevant to our children when they learn that it is His Story. We teach our children to look at the world through the lens of Scripture, to depend on God for salvation and for sanctification, and to be lights in this world.

We have “no greater joy than to hear that [our] children walk in truth, 3 John 1:4, and we yearn that our children, when they are old and greyheaded, will have a heart’s desire to teach the next generation the wonders of God.

So, stay the course, Christian, homeschooling parent! Though the challenges of homeschooling are beyond what can be imagined, the blessings of persevering in the power, wisdom, and love of God are beyond measure! - Principal Brown

The True Identity Crisis

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 5:3

The incessant push to “determine one’s identity” reveals a society which has lost its moorings.  God is a God of order. The devil hates this order, this stability; and with his truth-twisting daggers of doubt and lies, he wages continual warfare against the created order of God. More and more, people are being pulled into the devil’s identity-tornado of lies. And the sucking winds of this dirt devil is drawing in not only the unchurched, but also the churched.

This gender-identity crises is the extreme manifestation of the person who has determined that his/her identity can be determined by who they say they are or what they do. It is a false method of identification. A man cannot be a woman just because he says he is, and a woman cannot be a man just because she says she is.

Self-identifying without the moorings of God’s truth is dangerous and a soul-killer.  However, the devil is not satisfied with creating and feeding the confusion and rebellion that is more obviously wicked and that makes the biggest splash. Some of his “best” work is performed subtly and strikes more at the heart of what and who he hates. He hates the gospel, and he hates the God of the gospel, and he hates the people of the God of the gospel.  Remember his subtlety toward Eve: “Did God really say…., God is holding out on you…, You could be God…., God must have something wrong…., You can make a better decision….”

What did the devil want Eve to believe? He wanted her to believe that she could make her life holy without God, that she could determine what holy was, and that she could be God (It would be perfectly reasonable, therefore, that she should worship herself.). God would no longer be relevant or needed. God might even admire her for her God-ness (And certainly, there would be at least equal footing.). Eve would find her identity in herself, apart from God. She would make her own identity, and it would be sufficient for her spiritual well-being….

Believer, do you see yourself in this mirror? I know I do. I have fallen prey to the subtle temptation of finding my identity apart from God, apart from my Savior. I have sought to clothe myself in the fig leaves of who I am and what I get done or what I do not get done.  I have sat with Eve for years and believed the lie of the great deceiver. This is probably why I experienced the roller coaster ride of satisfaction, dissatisfaction, satisfaction, dissatisfaction regarding the work and responsibilities God has given me to do throughout the decades of being His child. If I get the work done, I am happy. If I can’t get it all done, I fret. I have allowed my “successes” and “failures” to subtly identify me as being either “successful” or a “failure”. How long has the evil one and my own sin-nature darkened the truth of who I really am?

The Lord was gracious to shine a great light into this darkness.  He caused me to meditate on this verse: Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 5:3. What is it to be poor in spirit, I asked myself. It can’t be someone who works at being poor in spirit. It is someone who is poor in spirit. It is who they are. It is someone who realizes he has nothing in himself. Nothing to offer to God - no fig leaves of any kind. It is someone who finds his identity not in who he is or what he can do (or can’t do), but in the Lord Jesus Christ who saved him and clothed him in His righteousness. How this truth shined upon me like a massive beam of light! I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ lives in me. And the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. Galatians 2:20. Oh, the joy of being poor in spirit. Oh, the joy of truly knowing my identity and in Whom my identity is.

Dear friend, if you are in confusion or darkness in any way regarding your identity, I pray that you cry out to the living God for truth, for mercy, and for light to see and know that God is all-loving and all-sufficient. When He says come to Him as a little child, it at least means coming to Him recognizing that you have nothing to offer to Him, but that you need something from Him. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Discovering what God has for you in this kingdom will be a lifelong joy.

Mrs. Mary Brown, Principal

Meditating on Exhaustion

Meditating on Exhaustion

The weary mom of young children, the fatigued father working long hours to provide for his family, the strained student faced with constant deadlines, the worn-out nurse on a 24+ hour shift, the tired farmer up all night with a sick animal, the young person with daily physical or mental challenges, the older person whose body is worn out but who has to keep going somehow.

Does it all seem relentless and meaningless? Days are endless with work.  Nights may not always render refreshment, and then we awake to meet the same demands and exhaustion.

Remembering that all things work together for good to those who love God and who are called according to His purpose (Romans 8:28), what is so good about exhaustion? Today I read a devotional about exhaustion from Teri Ong’s Prayer Therapy Book, Chambers College Press. She references the Israelites’ exhausting burdens caused by the demands of Pharaoh, “Do more, do more, do more!! And I will also force you to do more all on your own!  You will not have resources to help you fill your quota of bricks!! Work, work, work!!”  What cruelty!! How utterly impossible to meet this extreme demand!! What unmitigated exhaustion!! What a hopeless situation!! Well did the Israelites cry out for relief!!

My friend, this is exactly the hopeless situation we are in when we try to meet the exhausting demands of the Law. The Law, rightly so, says “Do more, do more!! You are required to fulfill every aspect of my demands!! Though you do not have the resources to fulfill my commands, you must still satisfy my every word, or else you will die!!” How exhausting. How hopeless. How impossible. Well do we to cry out for relief!!

Believer, your physical exhaustion may be there to remind you that Jesus has fulfilled the demands of the law for you. In His 33 years of life on this earth, Jesus exhausted Himself in perfectly obeying the law. He sweated out his labor of love in the hot streets of Jerusalem and in the cool garden of Gethsemane. He toiled for you on the splintered cross of agony and shame. All this so He could say to you, “Come unto me, all ye who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you for my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Praise God for our own exhaustion if it reminds us of Jesus’ great exhausting work for us and for our salvation!

Unbeliever, if you are weary and heavy laden in trying to make things right with God through your own works and efforts to fulfill the law of God, you are like the Israelites seeking to serve the cruel taskmaster who demanded that they make thousands of bricks but who did not provide a way for them to do that. The Israelites were truly stuck in a hopeless situation, and so are you. You absolutely cannot fulfill the demands of the law. But Jesus absolutely can and absolutely did. He is the way. Seek Him. Seek His saving work and His forgiving mercy.

Once we understand that Jesus has done the truly, and agonizingly exhaustive work for us, then what?

Live for Him in thankfulness. This means seeking to obey His Word, not to earn salvation, but to show thankfulness.

But after that the kindness and love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior; Titus 3:5

Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified. Galatians 2:16

May each of you rejoice and rest in the saving work of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ and then live for Him, with thankful obedience.

Mrs. Mary Brown, Principal