Breaking The Brat Series

God loves brats!

I came across this list of what another parent had learned . . .

1) There is no such thing as child proofing your home.

2) Baseballs make marks on the ceiling.

3) You should not throw baseballs up when the ceiling fan is on.

4) A ceiling fan can hit a baseball a long way.

5) The glass in windows, even double pane ones, is not strong enough to stop a baseball that has been hit by a ceiling fan.

6) When you hear the toilet flush and the words “Uh-oh”, it’s already too late.

7) A six year old can start a fire with a flint rock even though a thirty six year old man says they can only do that in the movies.

8) If you use a waterbed as home plate while wearing baseball shoes, it does not leak – it explodes.

9) A king size waterbed holds enough water to fill a 2000 square foot house 4 inches deep

Mom & Dad, did you know that one child just looking at another sibling can be a criminal offense?

Characteristics of a Brat:

Bossy (My way or the highway!)

Respect-less (toward any authority)

Attitude (with a capital “A”)

Temper Tantrums

Some Bratz in the Bible

Absalom, son of David, plotted against his father to take away the throne. Jacob was a mama’s boy brat. He was deceptive, cagey. Joseph, favored son of Jacob, bragged to his father and brothers. He was a proud, spoiled brat.

Pretty Boy, Samson, was a spoiled, smart-aleck brat. He was born to a fine, godly couple. While the rest of the their hometown of Zorah live d pretty much like the devil, Manoah and his wife were faithful followers of the Lord. Even though they lived right there was one thing missing from their lives: They had no children.

Then the angel came to give the great news that they would soon have a son. Unlike you and I who did not receive instructions with the birth of our children, Mr. & Mrs. Manoah were told three things that they must make sure that their son did not do:

1) He was not to eat or drink anything that grew on the vine

2) He was not to cut his hair

3) He was not to touch anything that had died

As successful parents Mr. and Mrs. Manoah were not only to enjoy the privilege of being parents but they were to undertake a great responsibility to guide and direct their child toward God’s intended life and calling.

Mr. & Mrs. Manoah loved their son. He was their sunshine! In fact that is what “Samson” means: sunshine! He made them happy when skies were gray. His parents spoiled and overindulged Samson. They may have told him no but they did not follow through with the instructions given.

Judges 14:1-3

1 Samson went down to Timnah and saw there a young Philistine woman.

2 When he returned, he said to his father and mother, "I have seen a Philistine woman in Timnah; now get her for me as my wife."

3 His father and mother replied, "Isn’t there an acceptable woman among your relatives or among all our people? Must you go to the uncircumcised Philistines to get a wife?" But Samson said to his father, "Get her for me. She’s the right one for me."

(NIV)

Being a Brat will always bring you down.

Judges 14:1-7

1 Samson went down to Timnah and saw there a young Philistine woman.

2 When he returned, he said to his father and mother, "I have seen a Philistine woman in Timnah; now get her for me as my wife."

3 His father and mother replied, "Isn’t there an acceptable woman among your relatives or among all our people? Must you go to the uncircumcised Philistines to get a wife?" But Samson said to his father, "Get her for me. She’s the right one for me."

4 (His parents did not know that this was from the LORD, who was seeking an occasion to confront the Philistines; for at that time they were ruling over Israel.)

5 Samson went down to Timnah together with his father and mother. As they approached the vineyards of Timnah, suddenly a young lion came roaring toward him.

6 The Spirit of the LORD came upon him in power so that he tore the lion apart with his bare hands as he might have torn a young goat. But he told neither his father nor his mother what he had done.

7 Then he went down and talked with the woman, and he liked her.

(NIV)

Timnah was in Philistine territory, about four miles down a ridge from Samson’s village of Zorah. But this also tells us about the decline in Samson’s spiritual life. In his first public act, he leaves the land of Israel for the land of the Philistines. To put it bluntly, Samson left God’s people and headed south spiritually. Don’t dismiss this as simply a geographic description. Brattiness will always take you down.