Current topic: Pray with us for the Church. Remember you can still pray for Families.
Good morning.
Children are the future of our countries and its future depends on how the children are brought up. People who are over forty years of age can see how much this generation differs from previous generations in terms of values. Yesterday I saw this picture – significant, isn’t it?
When I talk to the young people today I become so aware of the ‘throw away’ generation. What happened to value? The sad thing, however, is not so much the discarding of material goods as is the discarding of futures, ambitions, dreams and lives simply because nobody ever told them how to value life. I love children and it brings me much pleasure to make them happy. When I hand out prescriptions to children I always have some interaction and fun with them first, trying to teach them some values amidst the fun. I’ll for instance teach the boys a proper handshake and the parent’s to play with their kids. I can see the happiness and expectation when they come in the next time.
Being a keen people observer I’ve noticed how various parents treat their children and also how children act. From that a person can determine why certain children act the way they do and therefore also what they could be like when they become adults. Just yesterday I met a friendly little girl of one year and eight months old with the finest of manners, answering my questions accurately and even using words like ‘prescription’. She was amazingly mature for her age, but when I saw how her mother treated her, I understood why she was like that.
“Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it,” (Proverbs 22:6). I’m convinced that if we could find an effective way to train young people in parenting based on this principle, our next generations will be very different and the world will be a much better place. Naturally there are certain children that receive quality training, hence the successful development of the world currently. But there are many children that don’t get it, which is why there is so much criminal activity in the world. Criminals are good at training children in the way they should go and also good at accommodating children who were not trained and have no fathers looking after them. They then become ‘fathers’ to these children who then become criminals and child soldiers.
“Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord,” (Ephesians 6:4). If we raise our children in the fear of the Lord, they may temporarily test the world, but in the end they’ll follow the Lord if we pray for them. But what about the children who don’t receive that? May organisations like Watoto children’s ministry that put orphans in homes and train them up for the Lord, be blessed. Each of us, however, and especially the church should make it our business to be fathers and mothers to children crossing our way. It could be that we have the opportunity to get them in Sunday school, even though the parents don’t attend church, or it could be that we simply touch their lives at single occasions or specifically reach out to them. When our team reached out to children on the streets of Cape Town, we played with them whilst letting them understand we’re from Jesus. One day they’ll remember their parents probably didn’t play with them, but Jesus did.
Lord, give me opportunity to make a child happy every day, even if for only a few moments. Please send us, as a congregation, children who need to be fathered.
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