PARENTHOOD
a divine stewardship

COMFORTING THEIR HEARTS

The Apostle Paul presented himself to the new believers in Thessalonica as a nursing mother who would cherish her own children (1 Thessalonians 1:7). His nourishing and cherishing care for the churches was a reflection and pattern of a mother's care for her own. If we pay our full attention to how he cared for the churches, we will learn much about the way that we as parents should care for our children.

In this issue of Parenthood we will consider how Paul labored to present every man full-grown in Christ (Colossians 1:28-29), with struggling that their hearts might be comforted and knit together in love. The fellowship from Witness Lee in the Life-Study of Colossians, message seventeen, gives some helpful insights into the principles which governed the work of the apostle with the believers. These principles can serve us well when they are applied to the care of our children.

The first principle highlighted in this message is the principle of laboring. If we fail to labor in the care of our children, we will never realize the goal of presenting them full grown in Christ. This must be our goal and our labor. But the second half of this principle is that as we labor, we must pray for the blessing of the Lord on all that we do. Man must till the ground, but only God can send the rain.

Another principle is struggling with the purpose that the hearts of our children may be comforted. Many times parents are traumatized by the behavior of their children to the point that they may deal with them in harsh anger, sometimes full of bitter accusations. There may be little thought of how we affect the hearts of the young ones. In contrast, Paul's labor was that "their hearts might be comforted, being knit together in love and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding...." Undergirding our firm discipline must be an unwavering love with discerning care. We need His operation in us in power (Colossians 1:29).

STRUGGLING ACCORDING TO THE OPERATION OF CHRIST

We have pointed out that Paul labored to present every man full-grown in Christ. Presenting others full-grown in Christ is a very difficult task, a task which can be accomplished only by struggling according to Christ's operation.

THE PRINCIPLE ORDAINED BY GOD

Some may think that the way to present others full-grown in Christ is to pray. However, it is possible to have a superstitious understanding of prayer. For example, suppose someone thinks that meals can be prepared only by prayer and that there is no need to go shopping or to cook food. Such a concept is superstitious. In presenting others full-grown in Christ we need to follow the principle set up in Genesis 2: Man tills the ground, and God sends the rain (v. 5). On the one hand, we must till the ground. On the other hand, only God can send the rain. As we trust in God and look to Him for the rain, we should be faithful in our responsibility to till the ground. This means that we must fulfill the principle ordained by God. If we depend only on our work of tilling the ground and do not trust in the Lord to send the rain, we are wrong. But we are also wrong if we only pray to the Lord for rain and do not fulfill our responsibility to till the ground. Applying this principle to the matter of presenting every man full-grown in Christ, we see that we should not merely pray, but also labor according to Christ's operation.

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