I’m about to ask you two very important questions. You’ll have to promise me that you’ll answer them as honestly and thoughtfully as possible. Okay here they go:
- If you could give your child(ren) anything, what’s one thing you would make sure to give?
- What’s the best thing you could ever give to your child(ren)?
Are your answers to both questions the same? Was there any major differences? Okay so technically that made four questions huh?! We’re just not gonna count the follow up questions but definitely answer them.
As parents, be it biologically, spiritually or otherwise, we typically desire to be able to pass onto our children the things we deem valuable. Perhaps it’s some kind of material inheritance, a legacy of some sort, maybe even a particular lifestyle. As a matter of fact, some parents make it their aim to pass on to their children what they themselves wish they had growing up. This innate desire born out of love is admirable and when leveraged (especially spiritually) is of immense benefit.
A Gift Worth Giving
Perhaps you’ll agree with me that one of the greatest gifts we can give to our children is to teach them to fear the Lord. Proverbs 9:10 says that “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and the knowledge of the Holy one is understanding.” And guess what scripture says about wisdom?
In Proverbs 4:6-7, we are admonished to get wisdom because “wisdom is supreme.” We are also informed that wisdom will watch over us if we don’t abandon her and will guard us if we love her. So here we see that wisdom brings protection and safety. Later in verses 8-9, wisdom is described in a manner that shows that it brings honor and beauty to our lives, or simply put, it brings us glory.
Keep the Main Thing the Main Thing
It behooves me to make it clear though that the fear of the Lord isn’t merely a means to an end goal of wisdom in order to amass wealth and riches. If you know Solomon’s story, you realize that ultimately his wealth and worldly treasures led to his demise. Not to mention, Jesus also does clearly state,
“Don’t collect for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal. But collect for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves don’t break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
Matthew 6:19-21
Proper exegesis of scripture demands that we let scripture interpret scripture and draw conclusions within the context of the entirety of scripture. So the goal isn’t just to desire wisdom so that we can have all the desires of our heart. The principal thing is to be wise enough to have the fear of the Lord and whatever else He chooses to bless us with in His providence is bonus.
I don’t know what answers you wrote down to the two MAIN questions I asked to begin. But whatever your answers were, may I recommend to you that if we give our children the entire world, and they lose their souls, it is utterly meaningless? We discovered earlier that wisdom brings safety and protection (and thus prolongs life). Not only is that true for the fear of the Lord by the transitive property; but scripture also emphatically states that the fear of the Lord brings life, leads to life and is a fountain of life. (Proverbs 10:27; Proverbs 19:23; Proverbs 14:27)
In the subsequent posts, we’ll explore more on the life-giving nature of being God-fearing and how to pass it on to those under our spiritual care.
In His light & love,
Ivy
