The Parenting Task

"Let me overview a biblical vision for the parenting task. The parenting task is multifaceted. It involves being a kind authority, shepherding your children to understand themselves in God's world, and keeping the gospel in clear view so your children can internalize the good news and someday live in mutuality with you as people under God." Tedd Tripp, Shepherding a Child's Heart, xix.

Diligence

I found an old book in my Dad's library, Watchman Nee's The Normal Christian Worker. I know Mr. Nee is criticized a good bit, but he also has some great things to say. Here are some of his comments from a chapter on the quality of diligence:

  • “A person who regards everything as a burden cannot be a faithful servant of the Lord” (14).
  • “Every faithful servant of Christ buys up the moments, and when he is not outwardly engaged he is inwardly active, waiting on the Lord in real heart-exercise” (15).
  • John 4:35 – “The time to work is now, not some future date. ‘Lift up your eyes and look’ He said, indicating the kind of workman He needed—one who does not stand waiting for the work to come to him, but one who has eyes to see the work that is already waiting to be done. . . . Never put off till tomorrow what can be done today” (15-16).
  • “Diligence is primarily an inward matter and is not measured by outward busyness” (16).
  • “Oh, that we might awaken to the weightiness of our responsibility, the urgency of the need around us, and the fleeting nature of time! . . . Let us, as dying men, give ourselves with all our powers to the dying around us” (19).

Patient Preaching

There is a story of an extraordinary man who lived in the 6th century named Bishop Aidan. Bede tells about him his Ecclesiastical History of the English People (731). Bede records that when another bishop had returned from an unsuccessful attempt to preach to the English people, Bishop Aidan responded,

"Brother, it seems to me that you were too severe on your ignorant hearers. You should have followed the practice of the Apostles, and begun by giving them the milk of simpler teaching, and gradually nourished them with the word of God until they were capable of greater perfection and able to follow the loftier precepts of Christ."

As a Bible teacher and a public speaking teacher, I value these words of wisdom. I rejoice when I see God's truth being presented with a heart of love, compassion, and patience.

Ever Active, Yet Always at Rest

"You, my God . . . are the most hidden from us and yet the most present amongst us, the most beautiful and yet the most strong, ever enduring and yet we cannot comprehend you. You are unchangeable and yet you change all things. You are never new, never old, and yet all things have new life from you. You are the unseen power that brings decline upon the proud. You are ever active, yet always at rest. You gather all things to yourself, though you suffer no need. . . . You grieve for wrong, but suffer no pain. You can be angry and serene. . . . You repay us what we deserve, and yet you owe nothing to any. . . . Can any man say enough when he speaks of you? Yet woe betide those who are silent about you!" - Augustine, Confessions, 1.4

Trust the Strategy to the Commander

"Cloud of battle-dust inevitably dims the overall picture of the campaign. The individual soldier must just trust the strategy to his commander and obey the orders given to him personally. In the spiritual realm the same is true of the disciples (soldiers) of Christ. But when the battle is over and the dust has settled, what has happened and the reason for certain orders will become apparent to even the common soldier. In that day ye shall ask me nothing."- Isobel Kuhn, Green Leaf in Drought