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The Results

A Reward with a Calling

All the things that we consider of value, all the measures we have for success, are but the gifts of the Lord. In this respect, our children are no different. They are a reward, a blessing upon a life devoted to God. And just as we depend upon God for the work of our hands to prosper, we are dependent upon Him for their proper upbringing, their health and happiness.

The house that has been built upon God's plan will be blessed with children. They are a blessing. They are a reward given to faithfulness. Yet, they remain God's children, entrusted to us. What a rich blessing, that God should consider us trustworthy enough to raise His children! The raising of these children is indeed a vocation, a calling that the Lord places upon us. But, He does not give us this task without providing both instruction and means. "Wherever God sends mouths, he sends meat." (quoted by Adam Clarke)

4 Like arrows in the hand of a warrior,
So are the children of one's youth.

As We Comfort, So We Will Be Comforted

As rest and comfort are the rewards of our labors, so are our children. Since they are a heritage, we ought to consider them not as burdens but as blessings. Having given us home and security, God blesses us also with children to share these things with. A part of God's intent in providing children is to provide the parent with a support and defense in their later years. In their youth, we are their protection. In our age, they are ours. That is God's plan for the family. How far have we strayed?

Eze 16:20 "Moreover, you took your sons and daughters whom you had borne to Me and sacrificed them to idols to be devoured.

Today, more and more families are sacrificing their children to the idols of wealth and success. They may not consider it so. It is highly unlikely that they consciously think to themselves that they are making such sacrifices. Certainly, they don't think of it as life and death. But the evidence is in. Too many children are coming into their youth wounded, walking dead trained not to care, as none has cared for them. They have been sacrificed, and the one they were sacrificed to uses them cruelly.

Do our children seem like comforts to us, or do we consider them the crosses we must bear? God made them. And He did not make a mistake in making them. Nor was He muddled in His thinking when He entrusted them to us, even if we often think this is so. Whether comforts or cross, they are what God makes them, and their making has been in large part done through our hands. Rather than anger at their stubbornness, or anger at God for creating them so, we ought perhaps to consider why He gave this particular child to these particular parents. That child is a reward. His shaping has been entrusted to you. Will your shaping of his life turn out to be blessing for him? Or will he be as angered at you in his day, as you are at him presently? Will your shaping cause him to be angry with God?

This is about results. Where children have been raised, trained up in accord with God's blueprints, the results will be great. They will be arrows "which, with prudence, may be directed aright to the mark." (Matthew Henry). Trained early, they will go on to serve God in their generation. Left untrained, they enter the world, and can no longer be aimed by the parent, and too often wind up being aimed at the parents.

In Society

5 How blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them;
They will not be ashamed
When they speak with their enemies in the gate.

Most of the commentaries look at this verse and see a militaristic numbers game. They see that the man meets his enemies with a quiver full of arrows. They see that he arrives at the fight with many to support his cause, being blood ties. However, I see that it says they will not be ashamed. It does not say he. No, it is his children who will find no cause for shame when facing their enemies!

Consider: He provides you with children as a reward to faithful children of His. He entrusts you with their upbringing, knowing you can be trusted to do the job well. He provides you with instructions, knowing you will follow them, as you have followed His guiding in other matters. He provides you with the means, the material necessities of their support, and the opportunities for their instruction. And why has He done all this? Because He wants to produce those who will serve them in their own generation. We are raising God's army. That's our task as parents.

And, if we have done our jobs right, which, with God's grace and assistance we surely will, these warriors will arrive at their battle prepared. They will have no cause for shame because they know God. They have known God from their youth, and have been instructed by godly parents such that they will not depart from the God they know. When they speak to their enemies, it will be with the assurance of God's truth behind them. They will know to fear not. They will know that God is with them. They will not be deceived by the lies and enticements. They will not be deterred from the pursuit of holiness. And in the firmness of their faith, they will have cause to bless the parents that raised them, and far more importantly, to bless the God who provided them with those parents.

In the Church

Again, I would suggest that the line between home and church, between the sacred and the secular, ought to be nonexistent in our minds. What is true for our home is true for God's House. Here, the very same plan He has shown us for the raising of our children is in place for the raising up of His children. And the results are similar in nature. In His house, in His family, He has provided spiritual parents to His spiritual children.

This is the purpose behind discipleship. One brought to the salvation method and then left adrift is like an abandoned child, an orphan of God. All too often, we allow these newborn Christians to be thrown back into the wilds of the world, leaving them to their own protection. We pat ourselves on the back for another one saved, not acknowledging that the work is just begun.

This is also the purpose behind mentoring. Our spiritual teens need elders to provide advice and example. Even the young men of the spiritual family need their advisors to teach them the way to go. I rather doubt there are any in the church that can honestly do without a mentor, without the wisdom of those that have gone before.

Those who train us are training us for our generation. Our mission is to train those that God has raised up for the next generation. The mission continues until the mission field is gone. If we are faithful to those who have trained us, we will impact our generation. If we are faithful to our vocation in training up our successors, we will impact generations on end!

Conclusions

In our workplace, we are called to work. We are called to work as unto the Lord. We are also called to work for our Lord. He has not called you without reason. Your labor is not the purposeless labor of the unbeliever, but the specific task God has prepared you for.

In our home, we are called to work. We are called to cherish our co-worker, and to raise up a generation strong in the Lord. We are entrusted with the training of our replacements, with the training of strong defenders of the faith.

As a Church, we are called to work. We are called to reach out to the lost. We are called to raise up the found. We are called to train up the future Church that faith may continue strong.

The best training is by example. May we do our utmost to provide an example for those we serve. We can talk to them. We can tell them how things ought to be. But until we live our own words, those words will be weak things in the eyes of our trainees. God help us to live the life we believe in. Help us to work at our jobs, at our lives, in the recognition that we live ever before Your face. Remind us moment to moment that we have a purpose to fulfill, a task to accomplish for Your glory. If our labors seem dull, remind us of Your presence in that labor. If our labors seem fruitless, remind us that You will cause our efforts to prosper, as we do them to Your name. If our labors seem wonderful, remind us that it's no cause for pride, but only evidence of Your hand in our lives. In all of it, sweet Lord, remind us, so that we may thank You, and give You glory for all that You are doing in us and through us. Thank You, Lord Jesus, for making me part of Your plans.