What is the highest glory, the richest reward that a Christian parent can hope to have in this life? Shouldn’t it have something to do with their kids going on to serve the Lord?
It would seem that most Christian parents would answer that question with a yes. But as in any area of our lives, what we say with our mouths when we know the right answer and what we live in our everyday life can be two different things.
What would please you about your child? That he behaves in school when he is young, gets good grades and/or plays well on the athletic field, and goes to college to get a job to earn money? Is that enough? Would you consider yourself a success? This would seem to be the epitome of the American dream. If you want to have today’s Christian version of the American dream for Christian families, just add in the words, “and take his family to church somewhere” and you’ve got most Christians’ idea of what life is all about.
We may not say it like that; we would say that we want God to bless them in their life, and what we mean by that is health, security, and happiness. Sounds a lot like life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, doesn’t it? There is something more. Much more. Most Christian parents are selling their kids short by rearing them to believe that the most important things in life are good education and good jobs. In many cases, we are just introducing them to the same treadmill that everyone else in the world is on.
I Samuel 1 tells us of a special mother named Hannah. She was not able to have children, but she desperately wanted to have them. When God gave her a son, she dedicated him to God, and took him to the temple for him to serve God. Her highest hope for her son was that he would serve God.
Samuel would live the life of a prophet, sometimes tired, sometimes lonely, sometimes rejected. But he was a prophet of God, and gave the nation its spiritual guidance. Hannah was willing to have her own son given to God.
I wonder how many mothers would pray a prayer like Hannah today? How many mothers and fathers believe in their heart of hearts that the highest calling their child could have is to serve God? From the looks of things, very few. Many parents are content with their children living the regular “normal” American life. They equate a healthy American life with a healthy Christian life, and they are not synonymous. Some take their kids out of the Christian school and into the spiritual desert of public education because “they have a good academic program,” or, “they have great athletics.” What are most of these parents teaching their children? That education or athletics is supreme. I knew of one family who removed their children from a Christian school because of the music program in the public school. Now their children were exposed to all the music in the public school, and much of it was rock music. Soon, the kids learned to like rock music, and their parents will have to answer for that someday.
Every Christian parent should want the best for their children; that is not at issue. What is at issue is how we answer the question, What is the best for my child? The real, true-to-life answer is not success, it is not good grades, it is not dunking a basketball or playing in an orchestra. What is best is God’s best. It is our children growing up to serve God wherever and whatever.
Hannah wanted her son to serve God even if it meant that she would not be near him much of the time. He would live at the temple, and she would have to visit him. How many mothers would count it a privilege to have their son or daughter taken long distances away if it meant serving God?
I’ve heard the thinking, “serve God, as long as it is close to home.” Educational decisions made because of proximity to parents or other family. Job locations based solely on salary amounts, not on attendance at a solid, Bible-preaching church. Prejudice towards the mission field because it is “so far away.” What are all these objections? They are revelations of priorities.
Our choices reveal what we think is most important. Parents may claim that they want their kids to serve God, but they often add in their own “if. . .” Sometimes, thinking this way is based upon two faulty assumptions: #1, that serving God means a better quality of life (security, health, nice housing, etc.) and #2, a better quality of life is the top priority of life. One friend of mine who has turned his back on Christianity used to remark to me that the reason he obeyed God was that it meant things will turn out better. I didn’t realize then what a trap that thinking can be. Do things turn out better? It depends on how you define better!
Serving God does not always mean that you will have a “better” quality of life. Just ask the prophets who lived on the run. Ask the apostles, who were martyred for their faith. Ask those who have been persecuted because they served God. Looking at these men and women through our American Christian glasses, they would have to be categorized as failures, or that God failed them!
Even if God promised us a “better” quality of life, is that the all-in-all of our existence? Is that why we were created, to be happy and enjoy life? Enjoyment of life is not the purpose for our creation. We are only fulfilled when we find what God wants us to do and we do it. That is true fulfillment. It’s a whole lot different than mere fun.
We as parents want the best for our children, but we need to think about what is truly best. The determining factor should not be money, security, or report cards, but are our children learning to obey God. Christian young people are growing up in Christianity, graduating from school, going on with their lives, and leaving Christianity because they thought they experienced everything Christianity had to offer. They leave it because it didn’t offer them good enough benefits. And so they look for better offers. After all, they ask who needs Christianity (other than a little fire insurance) when you have the American dream?
They didn’t experience true Christianity. They may have gotten saved, and they will end up in heaven, but they missed out on the best in life: serving God. Many of them followed their parents’ dreams for them, and they are out working to get a better job, to get a better job, to get a better job, to get a better retirement, to buy a better casket. This is not Christianity. This is not the exciting life of serving Jesus, seeing Him provide your needs when you have run out of human resources, learning His comfort in times of health struggles, or learning to trust God instead of credit cards. This is the best in life. This is what every parent ought to wish for their young person. It is beyond the American dream. Its far better than country-club Christianity. It is the highest glory, the richest reward for a parent.
“I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth.”
– 3 John 1:4