By Jason, M.Ed., M.A.R., Headmaster
Oh, to be Faithful!
Let not steadfast love and faithfulness forsake you;
bind them around your neck;
write them on the tablet of your heart.
So you will find favor and good success
in the sight of God and man. - Proverbs 3:3-4
How do you measure the greatness of a man? Some are great athletes; others are great geniuses. One man can hold an audience spellbound with his amazing oratory skills, while another has built a successful company from an idea on a napkin to a billion dollars in revenue.
I talk to a lot of parents in my line of work, and I enjoy asking them what goals and aspirations they have for their children. Sometimes I'll phrase the question like this: "What kind of an adult do you hope your child will grow up to be?" I get many different answers of course. The most common response is that most parents want their children to be happy and successful. What parent doesn't, right? I certainly don't want my three children to grow up to be miserable failures. But what do our children need to remember to keep in front of them if they want to be truly successful, successful as God defines it?
Solomon told his son to always keep steadfast love and faithfulness close, bound around his neck and written on his heart - then, and only then, would he "find favor and good success in the sight of God and man." It reminds me of what Luke records about Jesus' teen years: "And Jesus grew in wisdom, in stature and in favor with God and man (Luke 2:52)."
Sadly, we know their neither Solomon himself nor his son and heir, Rehoboam, kept this advice. Each of them was unfaithful in his own way, ultimately bringing disaster on Israel when the Northern Tribes rebelled against Rehoboam's harsh rule. Solomon himself had sown the seeds for this destruction of his kingdom when he married foreign wives and allowed them to set up idols in Jerusalem and on the surrounding hills.
Yet where Solomon and Rehoboam failed, Jesus succeeded perfectly, marvelously, beautifully. Jesus never once failed to be steadfast and faithful. He pleased His Father to the end, even in the face of the cross. In doing so, Jesus redefined success for humanity. Jesus was a great speaker, a wonderful teacher, a powerful miracle-worker, and so much more. Yet his greatest work, his best success, was not found in any of these remarkable gifts. No, Jesus changed the world by His humble and steadfast faithfulness. Because He never wavered from His Father's will, He kept the whole Law perfectly for us and then went to the cross and died for us.
God recognized and rewarded Jesus' faithfulness by raising Him from the dead and making Him the firstborn head of a new humanity, God's redeemed people. Jesus' steadfast faithfulness thus becomes our source of hope and eternal life.
So what about us and our children? Certainly we're not going to redeem the world through our faithfulness, right? No, but God might just use us to change it radically in ways we might never expect. Right now, Christianity is growing faster in China than perhaps in any other country in the world. China already has more committed Christians than America. How did the Gospel flourish in such an unlikely place? Many people have offered many theories, but I have a favorite explanation.
In the 1950's, Mao Zedong outlawed Christianity and sought to purge its "Western" influence from his country. He arrested pastors and church leaders, sending many to prison camps and executing many others. It is estimated that his campaigns of persecution cut China's Christian population from 500,000 to less than 250,000. One group he left alone was the women. He thought they were harmless, but he was wrong. Today in China, it is not uncommon to hear a Christian leader give his testimony of how the only Christian influence in his life was a godly Grandmother who never stopped praying for him. Among China's 80-100 million-strong Christian population are thousands and thousands of pastors, teachers and other leaders whose "harmless" grandmothers prayed them into the kingdom of God. The faithful, patient prayers of godly women have revolutionized a generation of Chinese.
The best thing my children can see in me is that I am faithful - to God, to their Mom, to them. They need to see that I keep my promises, even when it is painful or inconvenient for me to do so. When I fail, and I do fail (I'm not Jesus, after all), they need to see me repent and return to the call to faithfulness. Ultimately, this is what will make the biggest difference in their lives and will set the best example for them.
When my children grow up and look back on their time in my house and someone asks them what their dad was like, it would be nice if they said I was fun or really smart or a great storyteller. But what I hope they remember and can honestly say is that their dad was steadfast and faithful and that they want to be faithful, too. If they can say that, then I will be able to say - by the grace of God - that I had found good success.
[Editor's Note: This post is the seventh contribution to a wonderful series we are doing on Biblical virtues and praying for our children. I firmly believe that as parents, it is part of our responsibility, and an honor, to pray to our Father in heaven on behalf of our children. I pray you are blessed and encouraged by the words of these posts and that you will join me in my passion for growing strong, confident, loving, honorable and faithful children of God. If you missed the first six posts, be sure to go and read them: Love for God's Word, Salvation for the Next Generation, Praying for the Willingness and Ability to Work, Biblical Self-Esteem: I'm Good Enough, I'm Smart Enough... Or Am I?, Love Is... and Praying for Perseverance]
Jason is blessed to be married to a wonderful woman and to have three children (two boys, aged 6 and 3 and a baby girl). He serves as the Headmaster of a classical, Christian school and as an elder in his church. He enjoys strong coffee, good books and nature walks with his family.