The Most Important of Goals
“For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.” (Deuteronomy 7:6)
From the earliest age, our children must be made aware of God … that He is the Giver, Sustainer and Provider of all things including life itself! Proverbs 9:10 reveals, “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” We must be teaching them daily of God’s involvement in this world and that one day everyone will be held accountable to Him for how they have lived!
Having the blessing and influence of a godly mother, the Fairchild children were brought up from the earliest of age to know about God! If we teach our children and our grandchildren all the other principles of getting ahead, of being successful in whatever the endeavor, but fail to emphasize the need for God and service to Him, then we’ve missed the import of what we should be doing! Recognition of the will of every soul, young and old is not to be overlooked as the Lord has blessed man with the ability to make choices! Our young can grow up and decide they have no desire to know, be with or love God and that is so sad to see and so disappointing to experience! One other observation that needs to be made is that it is never too late to teach our young. Maybe our kids have already grown up into adults and now have their own children (our grandchildren), but continuing to make the same mistake to the next generation just doesn’t seem to make sense. Even as we grew up into adults, our mother never stopped teaching and influencing us to put God first! We pray as parents and grandparents that we won’t either!
Fear of the Lord, my friends, is the principle of having reverence and respect for who and what God is! We’re talking about developing in the heart of the young a true sense of awe regarding God’s holiness and perfectness in every way! A concerted effort must be put forth to help the young come to realize just how great and good … how awesome and powerful … how merciful … and how consistent He is!
Our great and loving God created us with the intent and purpose that in every aspect of our lives He is to be honored and glorified. When this principle becomes part of the core values in a young person’s heart, pride will not raise its ugly head so often among family members, co-workers and even among the Lord’s people! When man’s real purpose is established from a young age, self-glorification will take a back seat while service to God and others will move to the front seat of purpose. Are we listening to these words … thinking about them … and praying about them? You make the call!
Sadly, in far too many homes, the fear of the Lord is not being talked about at all. In other homes it is only mentioned in passing. But in the home where God is revered … where Christ is served … and where the Spirit’s word is read, studied and meditated over, the spiritual always seem to be brought up and talked about. If our children are not talking about spiritual things, maybe we need to be studying more with them.
We all need to be asking the Lord to help us and our young to remember we have been made to become His chosen people through faith and obedience! After all, we all belong to Him … not ourselves!
“But you are a chosen generation a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people …” (1 Peter 2:9).
Bill Fairchild, Jr.
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