Monday, July 19, 2004

Devotional: Faith Circle July 2004

What Our Parents Get Us Into

Yesterday, in our women’s bible study, we were talking about the prophecy of the birth of John the Baptist. When his father was told that he would be born, he was also told what to name his son and that his son was to never take wine or other fermented drink. Samson was born into a similar religious vow. His mother was told her son would be a Nazirite, which involves several vows made in the name of spirituality, vows that were usually voluntary, but for Samson were a fact of life.

This got me to thinking about the kinds of things that our parents get us into. It’s all sorts of things. My mother bought certain brands of foods when she grocery shopped and I buy those same brands today. Family traditions. Political leanings. Choice of religion. Things from little to big, insignificant to life altering. Parents have far reaching influence.

Thinking further, I noted that John the Baptist thrived in the vow that was part and parcel with his birth. Samson did not. The same is true with all of the things I mentioned before. Just because a parent influences a child in a certain way does not mean that that will “stick”. Just ask my mother-in-law sometime about how different her son is from her in certain beliefs for an example. But, this isn’t always a bad thing. In fact, a child who is confident in his ability to think for himself and who is open to other ways of thinking is a great compliment to his parents, I believe.

Now, we have earthly parents and we have a heavenly Father. Just as our earthly parents get us into things when we are young, so does our Father in heaven if we are lucky enough to be raised in the church. As we grow in our faith, we are striving to hear, learn and internalize all things that come from our heavenly Father. We are hoping to “get into” whatever God wants us to. We want all of His influences to stick. We want to thrive in our vows to Him that come along with being His chosen children.

Let us pray:

Lord, please watch over all of us as we strive to be under your influence in everything we do. Open our ears that we may hear your quiet whisperings to us, our eyes that we may see your glory, our hearts that we may feel and share your love, and our minds that we may understand what it is to be a child of God. In the name of your son, Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.