We met a new little beauty on Sunday evening. It’s been a week since our granddaughter Selah was born. I was glad to take her in my arms, all 7 pounds of her! As I gazed at her, sleeping, I felt a familiar weight settle on me; the press of responsibility. It was a weight I felt at the birth of each one of our children, too, but especially when as a 21 year old kid, I was handed my first son a few moments after he was born. As I held him, I bawled- really wept! As joyful as I was that morning, I was equally awed by the daunting responsibility of caring for a helpless human being and living in a way that invited him to follow me to the Cross of Christ, where he would kneel and receive grace and eternal life.
A human being is an eternal creature – destined to live with God in glory or apart from Him in misery. While we are not the Savior, our role in setting their life course is not minor. We turn them towards spiritual matters by our example. When you make choices - about where you go, what you buy, the movies you watch, the songs you play on the radio, the clothes you buy, the way you speak of your family, the attitude you have toward others, the place and manner of your worship – are you doing so as an authentic disciple of Christ? Can you say to your child, or any child for that matter, ‘follow me as I follow Christ!’? Jesus’ words are a stern warning. "Then he put a little child among them. Taking the child in his arms, he said to them, “Anyone who welcomes a little child like this on my behalf welcomes me, and anyone who welcomes me welcomes not only me but also my Father who sent me. … But if you cause one of these little ones who trusts in me to fall into sin, it would be better for you to be thrown into the sea with a large millstone hung around your neck." (Mark 9:36-37, 42, NLT)
It might seem that I am urging people to be excessively religious around children. If that’s your reading, start over! Holding back profanity because children are present, living like the Devil all week and then insisting on going to church every Sunday – and such religious practices are terrible choices. They teach children to be hypocrites, to think that God can be bought with a few trinkets and a couple of hours of feigned worship! That well known passage in God’s Law reminds to make Him known, not just on holy days, but every day! "These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads." (Deuteronomy 6:6-8, NIV) Is the Lord part of every conversation? No, I don’t mean in a forced way, a strain to mention “Jesus” in every paragraph! Is He present?
We choose to love, they learn to love.
We choose to forgive, they learn to forgive.
We choose to seek God first, they learn He is their primary resource.
We are faithful to our commitments, they learn to stick with the tough things.
We discipline ourselves in big and small ways, they learn how to make the choice to eat cookies after dinner. We live our faith, they look to the One who gives them life.
The Proverb offers this wisdom: "Point your kids in the right direction— when they’re old they won’t be lost." (Proverbs 22:6, The Message) Yes, it’s a heavy responsibility and one no parent can carry alone. It should send us often into the Presence of God where we ask for His wisdom, where we pray for forgiveness, where we invite the Holy Spirit to shape us into the likeness of Christ Jesus.
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I am a promise
I am a possibility
I am a promise with a capital "P"
I am a great big bundle of potentiality
And I am learnin' to hear God's voice
And I am tryin' to make the right choice
I am a promise to be anything God wants me to be.
I can go anywhere that He wants me to go
I can be anything He wants me to be
I can climb the high mountains
I can cross the wide sea
I'm a great big promise you see!
I am a promise
I am a possibility
I am a promise with a capital "P"
I am a great big bundle of potentiality
And I am learnin' to hear God's voice
And I am tryin' to make the right choice
I'm a promise to be anything God wants me to be
Anything God wants me to be!
I Am A Promise, Bill and Gloria Gaither
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