“Abraham will surely become a great and powerful nation, and all nations on earth will be blessed through him. For I know him and have chosen him, so that he will command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing what is right and just, so that the Lord will bring about for Abraham what He has promised him” (Gen 18:18-19).
It was 21 years ago. I was sitting in our family room one evening watching a little evening television. Stephanie, our first child, was about eight months old. I had her sitting on a blanket next to me surrounded by baby paraphernalia—all the things she could stick in her mouth, bite on, and play with to be happy.
She was sitting there adorable and content. I was watching the television. When a commercial would come on, I would lean over and play with her for a couple of minutes until the show I was watching came back on. As the next series of commercials came on I would give Stephanie a few more minutes of attention.
This happened on and off a few times when suddenly the Lord spoke to my heart: “Is this the way you are going to raise your daughter—between commercials?”
I was stunned when I heard this in my heart from the Lord! I just sat there for a minute. I turned off the TV and continued to sit still. The presence of the Lord was there with me. Stephanie continued to sit quietly and content.
The Lord reminded me of the Sunday morning of Stephanie’s baby dedication.
I had been water baptized as a baby. When I gave my life to the Lord and started reading my Bible, I could not find any scriptural reason to baptize a baby. The Bible teaches that if anything happens to a child when they are young, they go to Heaven.
There is an age of innocence. That’s why Jesus said in Luke 18:16, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.” We all want to believe that little children go to Heaven when they die and rightly so. It’s true. That was the reason for baby dedication instead of infant baptism.
Children already belong to God. This was more about parents dedicating and taking responsibility to raise their children in the Lord so that one day they would know Him and be able to make the choice themselves to follow Jesus. Then they could be baptized because of their own personal choice, something an infant can’t make.
Receiving Jesus as Savior is an individual and personal decision that each person must make on their own.
Anyway, the Lord reminded me of that Sunday morning dedication. I remember the Pastor talking about Genesis chapter 18—about how God chosen Abraham because He knew Abraham would direct his children in the things of the Lord. I had pledged in my heart to do what made God so pleased with Abraham. I promised to properly raise my children to know and follow the Lord.
There was a powerful promise in verse 19. It says that because Abraham will do this, the Lord will be able to bring about all that He promised. It says, “…For I have chosen him, so that he will command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the LORD by doing what is right and just, so that the LORD will bring about for Abraham what He has promised him.”
I was instantly convicted in my heart that playing with Stephanie between the commercials wasn’t it. I went upstairs to talk to Renee about this experience with the Lord. She agreed completely and that night we made a pledge to the Lord. We would not turn on the television until they were in bed.
Instead, from the time dinner was over, we would play with her (later it was with them as we had four children) and then spend a good hour each night just finding fun little ways to teach them about the Lord. We ended up doing so in the morning before school and at night.
We bought animal puppets that we named and made up personalities for. We used them to create little life situations and stories to help teach the kids. The kids loved it. As they got older they wanted to take the puppets and make up the stories while Renee and I watched them.
We’d memorize scripture together. We always read from different kinds of Bible books that were age appropriate. We played music about the Lord and occasionally watched Bible videos. We did many fun little things along the way.
We had little money in those days but what we had, we invested in things that would help them learn all about the Lord. We would always pray together as a family. Each one of the kids would pray from their heart unto the Lord out loud.
When my daughter started dating her future husband, they ended almost every night together sitting on our couch reading the Bible and praying together before he went home. They love the Lord and are serving Him today.
I’ve heard people say, “One Word from God can change your life.” That statement is so true. That night 21 years ago started us down a road that has led us to more blessings than I could ever express.
I am holding out for every blessing that God promised Abraham. Why? Because I believe they pertain to you and me and that Jesus paid the price so that we could know the Lord and stand strong in faith for all these promise of God.
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Timothy Burt is a pastor, author, and writer. He is best known as the author of Fresh Manna, a daily devotional and online Bible study.
Pastor Tim became a part of the leadership team at Living Word Christian Center in 1984 and was an Associate Pastor from 1989 until May 31st, 2017. He and His wife Renee, also a Pastor at Living Word, resigned after being a part of Living Word for 33 years on May 31, 2017. They felt impressed by God to pursue the tremendous growth of their ministry "Fresh Manna," as well as teaching conferences and seminars and increasing their involvement in the mission field through Tim and Renee Burt Ministries. Tim has a Bachelor of Theology degree and is a Christian blogger who has been writing a daily inspirational and teaching devotion three days a week called "Fresh Manna" for the past 22 years. It has been read in over 227 countries (official countries and territories). Tim was named one of the top 55 blogging Pastors. He is one of the top Social Media influencers in Minnesota with a strong presence on Twitter at https://twitter.com/TimBurt with over 187,000 followers. Between Tim's Fresh Manna Devotional and Twitter influence, he virally averages reaching over 4 million people daily with the gospel of Jesus Christ and the love of God.
Prior to working at LWCC, he worked at Northwest Airlines for 13 years. In 1985 he founded and was President of American Infant Care Products which marketed his patented invention, the first fold-down commercial infant changing table now used worldwide in public restrooms.
In their tenure at Living Word, Timothy Burt and his wife Renee created a Small Group Ministry when the church was about 800 people in size. Under the leadership of Sr. Pastors Mac and Lynne Hammond, the church grew to over 10,000 people. Pastor Tim and Renee led a diverse Small Group Ministry of over 200 groups. Tim also led weekly men's groups and a monthly Men's Breakfast of 250 plus men called Manhood for 27 years. Tim's responsibilities also included oversight over the Visitor and Member Relations Department, Leadership and Volunteer Development, and the Pastoral Care Department. Pastor Tim was also the Minnesota State Director of Christians United for Israel from 2006 thru 2017.
Tim and Renee are the parents of four children and have seven grandchildren. Tim loves to write, golf, run, and walk, and is a master gardener. He is a five-time marathon finisher. He is also a three-time award-winning gardener winning the Grand Prize in his city for his beautiful home garden and is a Master Gardener for the University of Minnesota's Master Gardener Extension Program.