Lesson #8 There is no greater joy than (through grace alone) to have children walking in Light and Truth
Last night I ducked out of the chill rain into a winter
wonderland at a local plant nursery dressed brilliantly for the holidays. Beauty decked the halls and every nook,
overload for the senses. I really love
to decorate, I love color and I hunger for beauty, so admittedly I loved the feast. Just the day before I’d been at a conference
with other believers from around the world, in a sundrenched setting with bougainvillea
trailing over the walls and funny little lizards running across the
stones. God has given us many things in
this life to delight us and I savor them daily.
But there is a thing of value which rises star-ward, so high above the
pursuits of our world and culture that it does not even measure with them. I can say with all my heart and with no
reservation, there is not a single thing that holds enchantment and sheer joy like
seeing sons and daughters rise up loving Christ, growing in Him, overcoming the
sins that would beset them, learning to love others, seeking out His Word and
His Truth. What wealth of the world,
what exquisite art, color, what profound intellect, what magnificence of
accomplishment, can even come close?
Nothing, no nothing at all. What
can bring such joy? Aside from our own
reality in Christ, nothing earthly here.
I puzzle, then, what scant attention is paid to preparing
the foundation for this. Knowing that
what happens in their hearts is of the Spirit, and God’s work in their lives is
that which will accomplish His perfect purposes, still I know that God has put
children in families for a reason. He
has appointed parents as tools for building a foundation, preparing the soil, bending their knees and their earnest hearts daily; and there is so very much that can be done to influence what they grow to love,
to embrace, to own as their beliefs. So
very much they can be taught, must be taught; so much that sets them to
understanding their times, preparing them for taking their place in the
world. It is the greatest of callings
for both mothers and fathers, and it is the calling which holds the richest
rewards, thought we all have much responsibility in many areas.
Haggai is rather obscure among the h’s and z’s which obtusely
end the Old Testament. But I can’t shake
the feeling there is something here for us.
Back then, the temple tangibly did need to be built, stone upon stone, maintained. But now there exists no central temple of
God: no, He has made us His temple, each believer taking his place in the
church triumphant just as each stone upon stone rose to the heavens then. So is there a message to us today? “Thus says the Lord of hosts: “Consider your ways! Go up to the mountains and bring wood and
build the temple, that I may take pleasure in it and be glorified,” says the
Lord. “You looked for much but indeed it
came to little; and when you brought it home I blew it away. “Why?”
says the Lord of hosts. “Because
of my house that is in ruins, while every one of you runs to his own
house. Therefore the heavens above you
withhold the dew, and the earth withholds its fruit. For I called for a drought…on all the labor
of your hands.” " Haggai 1:7-11
How
do we build the temple now, stone upon stone, maintained? After our own clinging to Christ and His
power, the next layer of stone is raising up godly children (“she
is your companion, and your wife by covenant. But
did He not make them one,
having a remnant of the Spirit? And why one? He seeks godly
offspring." Malachi
2:15) who will be the next tier, stone upon stone, raising up the bulwarks and
setting the flying buttresses in their place.
Any ministry we will do outside the home will not be as fundamental to
building the temple as raising up godly sons and daughters whose strength and
abilities glorify their God.
(My qualifier here is not to add one raindrop of sorrow to
those who pray daily for a wayward son or daughter; this word is meant to wake
us all up to the priorities of praying without ceasing and of investing, of
discipling, of actively doing that which God has given us to do in the lives of
sons and daughters in our homes, while there is yet time, of teaching their
hearts while they are young. Ultimately
we know God conceives the fruit of salvation and godliness, and He perfects it
in them. And-- we also share deep
conviction that we all falter and fail in so many ways as parents.)
“Go up to the mountains and bring wood…” searching out, effort, arduous labor, knowing
all the while it is yet another Hand that will fashion the wood into carved
masterpiece worthy of the temple. Still
we are called to gather and build, though it is the rough and unseen work of
the unknown peasant.
“You looked for much but indeed it came to little…”
(Part II tomorrow)
photo courtesy of Thistledown Cards
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