Better Off
History helps us to put the present into some kind of perspective. Often we discover that our situation today is much better than that of yesteryear or yestercentury. In the midst of present sorrows we learn that there is still much to thank God for.
Plague hit Europe in the 1340s, our shores in 1348-49. And as terrible as Covid-19 is, that plague was infinitely worse. For example, there was no understanding of how the plague spread (rodent fleas) and so no way of avoiding it or reducing its spread.
One third of Europe was wiped out. In some cities the death toll
was 50% and even 60%. In today's terms 2 billion people in the world
would be lost. After the second World War it was the worst calamity to strike the world in the last millenium.
Most heart-wrenching of all, many families deserted their loved ones when they were ill (without hospitals, the ill were cared for at home). Sick folk would beg their families not to abandon them as dusk fell, knowing this practice was becoming common. Some families, you see, so fearful of the plague, would desert their loved ones deceitfully, saying in the evening, "here is drink and food beside your bed for the night so that you won't have to disturb me," but planning not to be there in the morning.
Before we judge one relative for abandoning another, I ask what I would do, if to stay meant a probable and horrible death.
In today's world we must thank God for all the amazing advances in medicine we are blessed with.
A Parental Promise
There are hardly any loves in the world as strong as parent to child, whether father to child or mother to child. We love our children dearly. That is why Isaiah said "Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on
the child she has borne?" The expected answer is No! But even if that very rare thing should happen, God assures his people, "Though she may forget, I will not forget you!" (Isaiah 49:15)
My wife and I have always prayed three prayers for our four now-grown children. First that they would come to know the Lord and trust him all their days. Secondly, that if they were given the gift of marriage, they would marry a true believer. And thirdly that they would not waste their lives, but use them to serve the Lord, in whatever capacity God calls them. Education, fame, wealth and high office have never figured high on our prayer lists, for none of those fleeting things will be of any importance in the world to come.
Here's a comforting parental promise God makes to Christian parents:
"Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it." (Proverbs 22:6)
What a beautiful promise! We should take note of two truths.
First we must train them when they are young.
We must catch them while they are Young
We notice that this is a conditional promise. Some promises of God are unconditional, but this one is conditional. In order to reap the benefit, we are called upon to act. And the action here is to "Train up a child in the way he should go..." The word child means little one and goes beyond babe in arms to what we might call teenager.
God wants his people to share the Scriptures and the Gospel with their little ones, and to live a godly life before them. Both of these aspects - life and lip - make up what training entails. God converts through means and channels. In the case of a child's conversion God uses the
teaching and example of the parent.
Here is the example of Timothy: "I am reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your
grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and, I am persuaded, now
lives in you also." (2 Timothy 1:5) "from infancy you have known the Scriptures which are able to make you wise for salvation." (3:15) When
Timothy was a kid, his mom and grandmother taught him the Scriptures. We should note that his dad, being an unbeliever, played no part in his spiritual upbringing, but this did not hinder his mother from taking her responsibility seriously.
And so it is the great privilege - not task! - of parents to share the
Scriptures, the Gospel, with their children. And then to add to that Gospel message, a life lived consistently with that Gospel.
We will never do these two aspects perfectly, but we thank God he over-rules our imperfections and sanctifies our efforts.
In our own household, we spent ten to fifteen minutes reading the Bible with our children every day except Sundays. We would read a story from an age-appropriate Bible and then explain it and then pray with them.
Dear reader, if you are a parent with little ones, may I gently exhort you, "Do not exasperate your children, instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord." (Ephesians 6:4).
A pastor of old, who was saddened by the widespread neglect of parents in his church to share the Gospel with their children, despite numerous encouragements and exhortations, got on his knees in the pulpit one Sunday and begged them, tears running down his cheeks.
That good pastor could see what a myriad parents cannot see, that time is short, and the season of influence soon passes. How many years does a parent get? 10, 12? That's about it. After that children begin thinking for themselves and going their own way, and were you to say to a 12 year old out of the blue, "Come on John let's read the Bible this evening," he is most likely to say "You what?!" Mothers it's too late them. Fathers it's too late.
Little children believe! It is wonderful! They just naturally believe. It's a pain to atheists because children are natural-born believers!
Parents, we urge you to make daily - or as near as daily as you can make it - devotions with your children the most important thing you do with them and for them. Take time out, read a Bible story, explain the meaning, pray with them and teach them to pray.
And if you do! God makes a cast-iron promise to you - "when he is old he will not depart from it." (Proverbs 22:6)
No Time-frame is Given to this Promise
Secondly, let's notice that no time-frame is given to this promise. The promise does not say when a child will be converted. If the child wanders away, the promise does not say when exactly they will return. It just says that at some point in the future, when they are older, they will be found in the way.
This time-omisison is both a blessing and a source of pain for parents.
The pain is that impatient as we are, we get upset when the years and even decades roll by with no apparent spiritual life in our children.
The blessing is that as long as there is life, there is hope.
Take the example of Timohty. It was not until Paul came along that the Scriptural truth Lois and Eunice had planted in his heart bore fruit. Paul calls Timothy his son in the faith (1 Timothy 1:2) which means he was converted under Paul's ministry!
Let all parents take this in! Timothy was not converted as a child, but the teachings of his mother and grandmother became the seed bed from which his later conversion under the preaching of Paul took place.
If your child is not yet converted, be blessed and comforted by this knowledge!
Summing it all Up
Every parent who has taught their children the Scriptures - however imperfectly - should take courage and comfort from this promise.
Don't despair, but take this promise to God in prayer and hold him to it, day after day.
Don't pester your child because you cannot convert them. Like the prodigal's father, let them go, though it breaks your heart in two.
Like the prodigal's father, always love them, though they run off with half your wealth.
And like the prodigal's father, live in constant hope! Scan the horizon daily in hope!
And when you see that tatty child on the horizon, emaciated spiritually perhaps more than haggered physically, making the long road of repentance home, welcome him or her with open arms, don't judge the past like the older son, but rejoice in the present - and throw a party!
A SONG FOR THE DAY
A song which retells the story of the prodigal son from the perspective of the returning son.
Father I have sinned,
help me find my way.
Remember not my sins,
just let me hear you say:
I forgive you, I love you
You are mine, take my hand.
Go in peace, sin no more,
Beloved one.
Father I have turned,
my back and walked away
Depended on my strength
and lived life my own way
Father I have closed,
my heart to those in need.
Thought only of myself,
a victim of my greed.
Father I have loved,
if love’s the word to use.
I’ve played so many games,
they’ve left me so confused.
Father I’ve returned,
I’m home with you to stay.
Standing at your door,
knowing that you’ll say
You can hear it HERE.
A PRAYER FOR THE DAY
Our gracious and merciful Father in heaven,
We thank you for the amazing advances in medicine we enjoy today. In spite of the sorrows around us, we have much to give you thanks for, and we praise you gladly and joyfully.
We were once that prodigal son, wandering away from the father's house, proud, arrogant and headstrong!
We thank you that you made us feed pigs, rescued us and brought us home.
We pray for every parent with little ones, that they would bring up their children in the training and admonition of the Lord.
We pray for every parent sorrowing over a wandering child. Give them the patience of a Job and the prayerfullness of a Daniel.
May your promise inspire prayerful hope, and may you in your infinite mercy bring home the prodigals.
We ask these things in Jesus' Name
Amen
Photo by Juliane Liebermann on Unsplash
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