photo by Enid Yu
I recently stumbled upon an interesting post at The M Blog, a site kept by Guy Muse. He and his wife are 20-year missionary veterans serving in Guayaquil, Ecuador. He posed a provoking question: What if you only had three years of ministry left? What would you do differently and how would your priorities change?
Of course, he’s coming from a missionary’s standpoint, where his life’s work is dedicated to reaching others for Christ. His whole perspective is missional. He’s supposed to eat, sleep and breathe evangelism.
Let’s adapt the question to us, though. If we knew our child had only three years of life left, would we do anything differently? Would our priorities change? Of course they would, but in what way? Would we in any way work diligently to bring our child to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ, knowing that his final day will bring him to God’s throne of judgment? Or would we make our child’s final years nothing but cotton candy, carnival rides and an endless supply of game tokens?
Jesus had three years, and three years only, to serve His ministry among His people. We hope to have the rest of our lives to have an impact on our children. The truth is, though, things don’t always work out the way we think they will. Children grow up, move away and lose touch. Illness or accident takes their lives. Life circumstances change in an instant, and suddenly what once was no longer is. Or, what happens most often, time just gets away from us. Our child is a toddler, and then when we turn around, our children’s children are going away to college.
Jesus called us all to the Great Commission, to make disciples of all nations and to teach them to obey everything Jesus commanded us. The children are the future of any nation, and without a purposeful, missional, Christ-following family environment, the nation will be lost. And so will the child.
What if you only had three more years with your child? What would you do to prepare him or her for their eternity?
Of course, he’s coming from a missionary’s standpoint, where his life’s work is dedicated to reaching others for Christ. His whole perspective is missional. He’s supposed to eat, sleep and breathe evangelism.
Let’s adapt the question to us, though. If we knew our child had only three years of life left, would we do anything differently? Would our priorities change? Of course they would, but in what way? Would we in any way work diligently to bring our child to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ, knowing that his final day will bring him to God’s throne of judgment? Or would we make our child’s final years nothing but cotton candy, carnival rides and an endless supply of game tokens?
Jesus had three years, and three years only, to serve His ministry among His people. We hope to have the rest of our lives to have an impact on our children. The truth is, though, things don’t always work out the way we think they will. Children grow up, move away and lose touch. Illness or accident takes their lives. Life circumstances change in an instant, and suddenly what once was no longer is. Or, what happens most often, time just gets away from us. Our child is a toddler, and then when we turn around, our children’s children are going away to college.
Jesus called us all to the Great Commission, to make disciples of all nations and to teach them to obey everything Jesus commanded us. The children are the future of any nation, and without a purposeful, missional, Christ-following family environment, the nation will be lost. And so will the child.
What if you only had three more years with your child? What would you do to prepare him or her for their eternity?
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2 comments:
Your point about what would we do if we only had three more years with our children is indeed a challenging thought. I confess I have a better grasp on what we would do ministry wise if given only 3 years, but find myself desperately looking for answers when confronted with our own children. Help!
Thinking this point through leaves me in a cold sweat, also. Ultimately we have to decide to make our godly parenting a purposeful endeavor, with our focus constantly on following God's will found in His Word. I also have to constantly remind myself that I'm not the savior, Jesus is. I can't make my child decide for salvation. I can only pray that my child hears the Truth and chooses Life. My intent is to make much of God in our home and to demonstrate His love and beauty in such a way that my own children cannot resist Him. That requires taking the focus off of me and putting it completely on God. THAT's where the hard part comes!
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