Above Rubies Daily Encouragement Blogs

"If we do not stand up against evil, we are supporting it."
` Colin Campbell

Psalm 119:11: “Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.”

Fathers, we must teach our children what it means to hide God’s Word in their hearts. I believe it is one thing to have God’s Word in your memory, or even your mind (intellect), but it is another thing to hide God’s Word in your heart. You know when God’s Word is hidden in your heart because it becomes your strong conviction, and it affects your deepest feelings.

You know when God’s Word is hidden in your heart because it produces change in your life. You receive understanding and revelation, and it comes alive to you. It also produces the fear of the Lord so that you will not want to displease God in any way.

The way to get God’s Word into your heart is to pray it in for it is a divine happening. Ask God to put it in the hiding place of your heart where the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches will not be able to snatch it away.

How shallow our preaching is when it does not come from our hearts. How shallow our Christian testimony is if it does not come from our heart. Our husbandry and fatherhood should also come from our hearts (Malachi 4:4-6).

To read God’s Word is good,
to study it is better,
but to hide it in your heart is best.

Be encouraged.

Colin Campbell

Nehemiah 8:8: “They read in the book of the law of God distinctly, and gave the sense, and caused them to understand the reading.”

Fathers, we must not only read the God’s Word daily to our children but seek to break it open to them.

Luke 24:30-32 tells the wonderful story of the disciples who, unknowingly, walked with Jesus to Emmaus, “And it came to pass, as he sat at meat with them, he took bread, and blessed it, and broke, and gave to them. And their eyes were opened, and they knew him; and he vanished out of their sight. And they said one to another, Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the Scriptures?”

It is important that we daily read the Scriptures to our families. It is even more important to “break the bread,” “open the Scriptures,” and “rightly divide the Word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15).

It takes more than reading the Scriptures to feed the inner man. As we each have an “outer man” that can see, hear, touch, smell, and taste; so we also have an inner man that can also see, hear, touch, smell, and taste. The inner man is often malnourished and starved! Yet, the inner man is far more important to feed than the outer man.

Paul prayed for the Ephesians that God “would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit IN THE INNER MAN” (Ephesians 3:16).

Fathers, when you read God’s Word to your children ask them questions, ask them to finish quoting a Scripture you are reading, ask them to explain what they think it means, illustrate the Word by giving daily examples. Make the Word “alive” to them. Encourage their participation so they don’t sit in their seat bored.

Be encouraged.

Colin Campbell

Psalm 51:6 says, “Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom.”

Men, have we purchased the truth when we have only given mental ascent to it? It is possible to consider truth, debate truth, reason truth, and even preach truth, yet still not buy it. Buying truth is much more than mere mental exercise. We must embrace it into the very core of our being.

Truth only changes us when it is received into the inward parts; otherwise it remains a shallow intellectual exercise. It is possible to dress up on the outside to appear religious and yet have next to no change on the inside. This is a dangerous state, for we not only fool others, but ourselves. But God is not fooled.

When truth enters the depths of our being motives will change, the self-nature will be crucified and Jesus Christ, who is the Way, the Truth and the Life will reign. Christ will only reign when He sits on the throne in the depths of our hearts. When we receive Christ into our hearts, we must also receive His truth for they are inseparable.

Be encouraged.

Colin Campbell

It is obvious when we read Deuteronomy 6:7-9 that God wants our children to be constantly confronted with the truth of His Word in every aspect of life. There is no separation of church and state here.

Let’s read it again in Deuteronomy 6:7-9: “And thou shalt teach them DILIGENTLY unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.”

Verse 2 says, “Keep all his commandments, which I command thee, thou, and thy son, and thy son’s son, all the days of thy life; and that thy days may be prolonged.”

Each father must be involved in applying and teaching God’s Word in a generational sense. While it is a good thing to personally acquaint yourself with truth, you also have the responsibility before God to apply these truths to your children, and their children!

My wife and I find the meal able an excellent opportunity to make this happen. I believe we must not “drag our feet,” but enthusiastically make it interesting by giving the sense of the Word and asking questions.

Be encouraged.

Colin Campbell

We read Proverbs 23:23 in my last post. What does it mean to “buy the truth”? The Hebrew for “buy” is qanah and means “to erect, create, purchase, procure.” We buy the truth when we desire it for why would we buy something we do not desire?

Men, it is important for us to create a desire for truth in our children. It stands for reason that fathers must set the highest example possible as men of truth because God has given to children an innate desire to emulate their parents. It is of utmost importance for us fathers to capitalize on this blessing.

What a blessing it must have been for Isaac when God first introduced himself as the God of His Father, Abraham (Genesis 26:24). Isaac had indeed been blessed by having a father who was a friend of God, and being a friend of God, automatically made him a friend of truth.

Sad to say, many a young man would not want God to say to them that He was the God of their father because their father was too mean, too tough, or had run off with another woman. It was by example that Isaac developed a desire to meet the God of his father who had blessed his father and would now bless him.

Remember, fathers, that truth needs to be coupled with grace, or truth can be too severe. Jesus was “full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). Let’s be like Jesus.

Be encouraged.

Colin Campbell

Proverbs 23:23 says: “Buy the truth and sell it not.”

Men, we must be wise when we instruct our families about liberty and freedom that we do not put the cart before the horse, as the old saying goes. We can be so taken up with liberty that we fail to put sufficient emphasis on that which goes before it, THE TRUTH. It is the truth that makes us free (John 8:32).

What a revelation it is when we realize that the greatest heritage we can buy for our children is truth. God will only bless that which is built upon the truth. It may be costly to purchase the truth for our families. Homeschool requires personal sacrifice. Sharing the Scriptures and praying together morning and evening comes with the cost of changing one’s schedule and priorities in order to make it work. T

he truth is indeed “the pearl of great price” (Matthew 13:46). It is worth the sale or sacrifice of everything else to get it for your family, for in purchasing the truth you get Jesus Christ who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life! One expositor says, “This pearl is worth everything, and everything is what it will take to obtain it.”

Be encouraged.

Colin Campbell

Even as the children of Israel feasted on “all the lamb” (Exodus 12:9-10), so we must feast on "all the truth,” to the point that the truth becomes us! In this way we become, in a sense, a living embodiment of the truth to our families. Truth always begets liberty and freedom. Therefore, our wives and families will live in an environment of truth and all its ensuing benefits.

Jesus said, “If ye CONTINUE in my word, then are ye my DISCIPLES INDEED” (John 8:31-32). Sadly, many fathers are far too casual about continuing in the Word of Christ, both for themselves and to their families.

Acts 2:42: “And they CONTINUED steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers.”

Acts 2:46: “And they, CONTINUING daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singles of heart.”

A sermon at church once a week is not sufficient to keep us spiritually healthy. This would amount to a starvation diet to our physical bodies, and we could not survive such treatment. It would be physical abuse to our children to deprive them of three square meals each day.

Isn’t it spiritual abuse to deprive them of daily food from God’s Word? And do we regard the physical more important than the spiritual?  I think so. We deserve to be questioned and challenged for we deny our families the privilege of becoming “DISCIPLES INDEED.” To be “disciples indeed” can only happen through the daily continuance of feeding on the manna of heaven.

Be encouraged.

Colin Campbell

“Truth falls in the street and equity cannot enter” (Isaiah 59:14).

The reason why truth falls in the streets is because it falls in the home first! Christian homes are meant to be cradles of truth,
fountains of truth,
gateways of truth,
bastions of truth,
and seminaries of truth.

Bibles should not be left on shelves gathering dust. When a child leaves a Christian home to begin their life in the world, they should not need to go to a Bible college. They should have received their Bible college training each day of their life.

All meal tables in ALL Christian homes should be dedicated to feasting on truth as well as nourishing physical bodies. It is of absolute necessity that fathers become truth lovers and truth embracers or our civilization is doomed.

Many of our streets have become very dangerous places in which to walk. Our public schools have become dangerous places to send our children. Why? Because the truth has been thrown out! Public education has not produced equity in our streets.

We fathers must take our stand for home education with GENEROUS SERVINGS OF TRUTH.

Be encouraged.

Colin Campbell

Without question, fathers are the most responsible for the biblical instruction of their children. In fact, fathers are not only COMMANDED but ORDAINED of God to instruct their children in biblical truth.

It is an inescapable role of fatherhood. If we fathers abdicate biblical instruction to our children, we abdicate true scriptural fatherhood. If we do not teach our children the truth of God’s Word, they will be deprived of the most important commodity in the entire world. If we do not accept this duty, it shows that we do not regard God’s Word as that important.

“The father to the children shall make known thy truth” (Isaiah 38:19).

“Our fathers have told us . . . We will not hide them from their children, showing to the generation to come the praises of the Lord . . . he commanded our fathers, that they should make them known to their children: that the generation to come mighty know them…” (Read the full passage in Psalm 78:1-9).

We must not pass this awesome responsibility on to our wives, although they have an important supportive role. We must not pass this responsibility on to the church, although it also has an important supportive role. We fathers have the primary responsibility.

Be encouraged.

Colin Campbell