PARENTHOOD
a divine stewardship

Training In Human Virtues

The Bible reveals that man was created in the image and likeness of God. To say that man was created in the image of God means that man was created according to what God is, that is, man was made like God who is love and light, holy and righteous. This indicates that the human virtues reflect and match the divine attributes of love and light, holiness and righteousness. Because of the fall, however, all human virtues have been marred and no longer express the Creator. Hence, man needs to be restricted and controlled by law, culture, parental discipline, and morality. Although these outward restrictions do not produce a man who expresses God, they do develop the character in man that he may more readily fit God's life received through regeneration. After a man is regenerated, the life of God, in which the divine attributes reside, enters into him. Through this divine life, a man's human virtues become filled and are blended with the divine attributes to express God.

Parental guidance is essential for the development of human virtues in order that the divine life may have a base of entrance and operation. We cannot abandon our responsibility, assuming that after our children are regenerated, the divine life will take care of everything. "Children must be raised according to the standards of culture. Before they are of a proper age to receive Christ, the children must be built up in culture. The more the children are trained according to culture, the better it will be for them. The children must be trained to honor their parents, to love their brothers and sisters, to behave properly toward their neighbors, to be good students in school, to obey all laws, and to respect their teachers and other adults.

Because children are too young to behave according to Christ, they must be taught to behave according to culture. If we did not have culture, we would be barbarians." W. Lee, Life-Study of Colossians, p. 425

The proper human living of the Lord Jesus is uniquely presented in the book of Ezekiel in the form of a vision of four living creatures, each having four faces. In this issue we look at the vision of the four faces of the living creatures with a view to the character-training of our children.

Editor's note: Ezekiel 1:1-5 speaks of a vision of a consuming fire, out of the midst of which "came the likeness of four living creatures. And this was their appearance; they had the likeness of a man. And every one had four faces…." Verse ten continues, "As for the likeness of their faces, they four had the face of a man, and the face of a lion, on the right side: and they four had the face of an ox on the left side; they four also had the face of an eagle. In his book titled The Visions of Ezekiel, Witness Lee points out the significance of the faces of the four living creatures. Each of these faces simply portrays an aspect of the life of Christ. In the four gospels of the New Testament, Christ's life was presented in a four-fold way: Luke shows Him as a man, Matthew as a lion, Mark as an ox, and John shows Him as an eagle. While the Lord Jesus was on the earth, He was living in these four aspects as a man representing and expressing God. Today, we are men who are meant to be the continuation of the life of Christ by living out the same life in our humanity. The life of the Lord Jesus recorded in the four gospels sets a pattern and a model.

The Lord lived as a man. We should infuse into our children the view that God's purpose is uniquely with man. In our humanity we should live a proper human life. He lived as a lion, i.e. He was bold and vigorous toward anything sinful or worldly. Further, He lived as an ox, willing to bear the burden, do the work, and even sacrifice Himself. Finally, He had the hidden life of an eagle, a life of absolute dependence on the indwelling life of God to lift Him out of every suppressing, oppressing, and depressing situation. The following excerpts from the above named book portray the character traits that are signified by the four faces of each of the living creatures. May the Lord guide us that we may effectively apply these points to the training of our children.

BEARING THE APPEARANCE OF A MAN

The main point of Ezekiel 1:5 is that each of the four living creatures bears the appearance of a man. This word may not be pleasing to many religious friends because they would like to be angels. Perhaps we all think that it is better to be an angel than to be a man. Which would you rather be, a man or an angel? I am afraid that many of us would prefer to be an angel. God, however, has enough angels. But God is short of men. God does not appreciate the angels so much. The angels are His servants. When He tells them to go, they go. When He tells them to come, they come. Do you know that we also have our own angels? When Peter was released from prison and went to Mary's house, some said that it was his angel. Peter had an angel and we also have angels. Angels are not that precious; they are our servants. We must drop our concept that it would be good to be an angel. Rather we need to see how glorious, how marvelous it is that we are men. We should tell the whole universe, "I am a man. I am a VIP. I am the center of the universe. I am the meaning of the universe." It is not a small matter to be a man.

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