Saturday, March 7, 2015

Children Are A Heritage From God, But Train Them

Job, the man of God in the Old Testament said, “Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return thither”; (Job 1:21 KJV). He is emphasizing that we can’t bring our material riches in heaven. All of these material riches that we have on earth shall be left behind when we die. In fact, a time is appointed in the future when “the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare” (2 Pet. 3:10) and “That day will bring about the destruction of the heaven by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat (vs. 11). So, why do people strive or work hard to be rich? The answer is simple: to enjoy those riches while living on this planet earth.

The Bible teaches that there will be a new heaven and a new earth, and some people will be fortunate to be able to enter this stage of life which is eternal - - without end. How? For God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him shall not perish but have eternal life (John 3:16 KJV). “Believe in the LORD Jesus, and you will be saved…” (Acts 16:31 NIV). Simple, but difficult to achieve. For most people, to see is to believe, but the trouble with God is that He merely tells us now in words, we can see later when we reach there! This is what the Bible calls FAITH. Faith in Jesus (God in the flesh or person). No faith in Jesus/God, sorry no heaven.

Blessed were those who saw personally and spoke to Jesus in person and who witnessed the miracles He performed, the first being the turning of six jars of water into wine during a wedding ceremony in Cana (John 2:6 & 9). They did not have a hard way of believing that Jesus is God, for it is obvious that no one can perform the miracle unless He is God or God is with Him.

However, many of us, I said US because I include myself, are like the Old Testament people who were fed with manna (bread from God out of heaven, or from nothing for 40 years); they crossed the red sea on dry ground; in the New Testament era, the feeding of five thousand excluding women and children out of only two fish and five loaves of bread (Mark 6:30-44); when Jesus walked on the water (Mark 6:45-51); and the other miraculous events too numerous to enumerate, but yet somehow when they were faced with difficulties in life, they doubted the awesome power of God. Jesus said, “with God nothing is impossible” or “with God anything and everything is possible” (Luke 1:37; 18:27).

This brings us to the meaning of FAITH. The Bible itself defines FAITH in this manner: “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see” (Heb. 11:1 NIV). In the King James version, NOW is capitalized to emphasize the fact that although we do not yet see with our own eyes, yet we are already SURE of what we are still hoping for (like to be in heaven, a place reserved by God for all BELIEVERS in Christ [God in the flesh or person] partly described as follows:

1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea.
2 I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.
3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.
4 He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away."

1 Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb
2 down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.
3 No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him.
4 They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads.
5 There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever.” (Rev. 21:1-4; 22:1-5)

How does faith work for our salvation? The Bible gives an account of Jesus Christ being anointed by a sinful woman in Luke 7:36-50. At the conclusion of the story Jesus said to the woman: Your FAITH has saved you; go in peace” (vs. 50).

The best example of a man of faith in the Old Testament was Abraham. He believed [had full faith in God and His promises], so he is among those we will find in heaven, when and if we reach there. Not only Abraham but also his descendant Isaac, and the “wise” (Like most of us some or most of the time) Jacob. In Tagalog, “may pag-asa pa tayo” (There is still hope for us).

But there is a riches we can bring with us to heaven. The souls of our children, if they are properly brought up by us in the admonition of the LORD God. The Bible says, “Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it” (Prov. 22:6 KJV).

I have proven the truth of this Bible passage personally. Being then, in my younger days as a lawyer, handpicked by the late Rev. Veronico T. Suan, then the Mindanao District Supervisor of the Foursquare Gospel Church in the Philippines, to be the President and Chairman of the Board to succeed him, at the Thompson Christian School, a religious school founded and organized by the late Dr. Evelyn Thompson with her husband, Rev. Arthur Thompson. 60 years ago, the founders of the Foursquare Gospel Church in the Philippines right here in Davao City. Our city is one among the three largest and most progressive cities in the Philippines in terms of income and population, and the largest city in terms of area, so it is reputed. It may even produce a President of the Philippines by this coming Presidential election in 2016. Only God knows.

By the way, our illustrious Mayor Rodrigo “Rody” Duterte was used by God in raising funds to build a three-storey fully concrete edifice of the Thompson Christian School through the donations of business people in Davao City, he had gathered one time in April 22, before his daughter Sara took her oath in April 30 of that year to succeed her father. To God be the glory! In his honor and as an everlasting legacy from him, the school named the third floor as the “R. R. Duterte Hall”. The “R.R.” is very significant because his daughter Sara also became a Mayor, right after the various donations were made, so to make sure that “honor to whom honor is due” shall be accorded, I personally made sure that the “R.R.” before the name Duterte was made of bronze and be embedded in the wall at the entrance of the hall – a legacy to last for eternity.

Many years back, being then the President and Chairman of the Board of the school, I saw to it that our four children were enrolled in the school so they will be “trained in the way he (they) should go, and when he (they) are old, he (they) will not depart from it”. Praise God, Susan, the eldest became a lawyer, having garnered, by the grace of God, the 9th place in the Bar Exam for lawyers in 1991; my Junior who placed 12th place in the Mechanical Engineering Board Exam who graduated with honors in law degree became a lawyer too; Neil an Electrical Engineer became a lawyer too, having passed the Bar examinations with a grade of 86%; and last but not the least Vilma, who became a Registered Nurse in the Philippines, Australia, New Zealand and the United States of America, and right now serving as Department Head in a specialized hospital in California, U.S.A. Susan, the bar topnotcher, after an intervening term from my term as President and Chairman of the Board of the school, was elected to the same positions. She holds the positions up to this day, while I remain a member of the Board.

Lest I be misunderstood, I relate these achievements of our children not to brag but to prove the truth that when we train our children in the way they should go, the blessing of God will necessarily follow as night follows day. It is good to send our children to a Christian school where true Christian values are made part of the curriculum.

Children are our wealth or heritage from God, provided we train them in the fear and admonition of the Lord.

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