Jesus answered and said to her, "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you 'Give me a drink' you would've asked Him and He would've given you LIVING WATER… Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again; but whoever drinks of the water that I give shall never thirst again, but the water that I give him shall become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life."
What an incredible responsibility we have been given as parents! Psalm 139:13 tells us that God has formed and fashioned these little ones in our womb. He has fearfully and wonderfully made them after His own image. What a treasure He has given us. As the scripture unfolds, we see that with great treasure comes great responsibility.
I remember when my oldest son was beginning to ask deep questions about the Lord. I knew in that instant that I was dealing with a very sacred moment. I knew the Holy Spirit was ministering to his heart, and I was having the holy privilege of leading my son to the river of God where the LIVING WATER would never let him thirst again! His tender eyes were filled with tears as he looked on the picture in the Precious Moments Bible. In the background there stood three crosses on the hill. In the foreground was a little boy kneeling down and touching a crown of thorns with a drop of blood rolling down. He came to me saying, "Mommy, I have sin in my life, don't I?" He was three-and-a-half years old, so I was unsure of his concept of sin, but it was evident the Holy Spirit was ministering. I explained that we all have sinned and when we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior that we can be forgiven. I told him that when he got older that he would ask the Lord into his heart. I told him that he would know when the time was right and when he was ready. He stopped me there in my tracks, "I am ready NOW, mommy!"
My husband had been in the other room listening quietly to our private conversation. At that moment he appeared in the doorway, his 3-year-old son with tears streaming down his cheeks and a mother holding her son and a Precious Moments Bible that ministered the Word through a picture (as my child could not read yet)… and my husband knelt down next to the bed and prayed with my son to receive Christ as Savior. We both had the privilege of leading our son to the Living Water.
Society at large tries to tell parents that they are as significant as anyone else to lead their children in truth and education. It is not uncommon for parents to spend less than 3 hours a day in the presence of their children after work, school, homework, and other responsibilities. Deuteronomy 6:6-7 states, "And these words which I am commanding you today shall be on your heart; and you shall teach them diligently to your children and you shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up."
In short, parenting these great treasures that God has given us requires the responsibility of time and attention. We have to be diligent that our time with this is a "living epistle" that points the way to the Living Water. Leading our children to drink of that water freely, of their own desire, will be our greatest holy privilege this side of Heaven. How sad would it be for us to gain the whole world, climb the corporate ladder, have smart business savvy, yet lose the very ones God has fashioned in our wombs.
Parenting is a battle in the midst of a world that has its demands. Let's not lose our children in the crossfire. In 1973, Dr. Pierce of the Harvard School of Education challenged his future teachers to make "well" all the "sick" children who hold to godly values when he told his students, "Every child in America entering school at the age of five is mentally ill because he comes to school with certain allegiances towards our founding fathers, towards our elected officials, towards his parents, towards a belief in a supernatural being, and towards the sovereignty of this nation as a separate entity. It's up to you teachers to make all of these sick children well by creating the international children of the future."
Look at your children as God's spiritual heritage and make sure you have paved the way to Living Water in a well-worn path that they can easily find. We live in this world and the battle rages on… lead them to the Living Water and they will never thirst again!
No comments:
Post a Comment