You gotta have it to give it

 



I'm currently reading a book by Cotton Mather called "A Family Well Ordered". It's not a very big book, but it's taking me some time to read through it because I keep having to stop to make notes, and now to write about something I thought needed to be shared.

"Parents, if you don't first become pious (devoted to your religious beliefs) yourselves, you will do nothing to purpose to make your children so. Except you do yourselves walk in the way of the Lord, you will be very careless about bringing your children to such a walk."

Cotton Mather

This was such a simple statement, but it was one that still took me back. There is a wide-sweeping assumption within the church that the spiritual well-being of children is the responsibility of trained professionals with fancy degrees from prestigious schools of faith. And, if that be the mindset, then the victory is simply getting them to church! Once at church, the children are released under the care of others for their spiritual rearing. Not unlike the old-timey gas stations: you pull in, but someone else fills the tank.

Cotton Mather would not agree, and neither does God as He has revealed in His Word. In reading Psalm 34, Cotton points out a simple truth that we all understand: we cannot give what we do not have.

Let's look together to see what the Bible says...

Psalm 34:1-4, 11

I will bless the Lord at all times; his praise shall continually be in my mouth.
My soul makes its boast in the Lord; let the humble hear and be glad.
Oh, magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together!
I sought the Lord, and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears.

Come, O children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the Lord.

First, we have to notice the emphasis the writer puts upon himself:

  • "I will bless the Lord..."
  • "his praise shall continually be in my mouth"
  • "My soul makes its boast in the Lord..."
  • "Oh, magnify the Lord with me..."
  • "and let us exalt His name together"
  • "I sought the Lord..."

It started with him first. Parents...it has to start with us first.  Are WE blessing the Lord? Is His praise in OUR mouths? Do OUR souls boast in the Lord? Do WE magnify the Lord? Are WE seeking the Lord? As good parents (assuming we profess to trust in Jesus Christ for Salvation), we want our kids to be saved; we want them to hear the voice of the Good Shepherd and follow Him!

Getting them to church is good, but OUR EXAMPLE will go a long way to influence their spiritual lives, often it will go further than any other influence in their lives. Plus, how much better would we respond to someone trying to lead us when they say "let US exalt His name together" rather than "YOU go and exalt His name whether I do, or not"?

Only AFTER the Psalmist has owned his personal responsibility to seek, know, bless, and magnify the Lord does he turn his attention to his children: "Come, O children, and listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the Lord."

We cannot faithfully, and rightly tell what we do not know.

We cannot faithfully, and rightly teach what we have not ourselves learned.

Sadly, many hear such a challenge and dismiss it, as Cotton also observed in his time: "Other parents will take no due notice of the injunctions that God has laid upon them concerning their children."

So, parent...what about you? Are you seeking? Is the praise of the Lord in your mouth? Do you meditate on His word day and night? Do you boast in the Lord? Do you magnify the Lord in your life? If not...then who will tell your kids? Who will teach them the fear of the Lord?

You cannot give them what you do not have...but you can have it. And you can have it today simply for the asking, seeking, and knocking.


Exert from the movie "Courageous" by Sherwood Pictures
Directed by Alex Kendrick and written by his brother Stephen Kendrick. 


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