Wisdom for the Ages: Pray the children home. Message Magazine’s Online Devotional for Wednesday, March 21, 2018
Listen to “Thoughts in Worship 03.21.2018” on Spreaker.
“A wise child makes a father rejoice, but a foolish child is a grief to his mother” (Proverbs 10:1, NET).
Pray for the Children
We all need to pray for our children. Even those of us who have no biological children, considering all that we are seeing in the news these days must make a valiant effort to stem the tide of evil perpetrated on and by our young people.
Did you get that? Many times when we see undesirable character traits in any children, the adults share some responsibility. We must constantly love, teach, train, mentor, have compassion on, nurture, and show age appropriate respect for our children. God has given them to us as an inheritance. This means they are entrusted to our care and are of great value.
That being said, there are children and youth who have received all the nurturing, care, and holy training that makes God happy, but something still goes wrong. Some of them, for whatever their reasons still choose the wrong path and bring grief to their families and communities.
Persist in Making Inroads
What can we do? We can continue to love, correct, pray for, attempt to mentor, and nurture them. Our hope is that through persistent effort and spiritual guidance, we can make inroads to help them get on the right track.
Fortunately, there are millions of children around the world that finally get it right. There are those who get the point early in life, that humility and surrendering their will to God begins their journey on the right foot. There are others who have made mistakes and been compelled to pay for those mistakes, and land on their feet, ready to make a great contribution to their societies. They assert positive peer pressure, help their parents and other relatives, show exemplary academic citizenship, and bring joy to the hearts of those around them, especially their parents.
Blessed Children, Proud Parents
Whichever of the two types of children you have within your sphere of influence or realm of direct responsibility, do not give up on them. They need us to be consistent and provide wise and patient counsel that will give them every opportunity to succeed. Most of all, pray. Pray until you see positive strides in the right direction. Help our children bring rejoicing to all who look on, and not cause undue grief or pain.
A word to the foolish is wasteful. A word to the wise is sufficient.
