Thought for Today
Proverbs 23:24 The father of the righteous will greatly rejoice; he who begets a wise son will be glad in him.
Isaiah 7:14 Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Look, the young woman is with child and shall bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel.
Matthew 3:17 And a voice from heaven said, "This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased."
Matthew 16:16 Simon Peter answered, "You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God."
I wrote Monday, “Greta and I just returned from an amazing trip. Our son, daughter-in-law and grandson planned the trip and accompanied us.” During the pandemic, they instigated a practice of having Wednesday morning coffee with us. We would sit out on our patio, socially distanced, and visit. We have continued Wednesday morning coffees ever since. This week, due to my being sick on Tuesday, we deferred our weekly coffee klatch to yesterday.
Yesterday was our son’s birthday. As a birthday treat, we shared French toast bagels and coffee and had a wonderful, extended time together. It was a milestone birthday for our son. As we visited, I could not help but remember the small child who is now the husband, father, business executive and accomplished adult.
The word ‘son’ figures prominently in the Bible. It appears more than 2100 times in scripture. Our Bible was recorded during a time when virtually every society was patriarchal. The word ‘child’ occurs 125 to 223 times, depending on the translators’ choice. ‘Daughter’ appears 270 to 324 times! Obviously progeny are highly valued in scripture, just as they are highly valued in the lives of most people today.
I suspect that I am not unique in the fact that I still often remember my now adult children as their earlier selves. Many of the images in my mind are from their preschool days, a few from high school and even fewer from college. My daughter and I were part of a YMCA father-daughter organization for most of her elementary and middle school years. Our group went on camping trips together, we went ice skating together, we even took the girls to see the ballet together. It was a great bonding experience and we remain close still.
I was blessed to help coach countless youth sports teams for our son, to be an assistant Boy Scout leader and even a Sunday School teacher for our son. My lasting image of him is in blue jeans and a team jersey. They were all great bonding experiences and Greta and I also remain very close to him now, just as we are with his sister.
King Hezekiah “2 Chronicles 32:26 . . . humbled himself for the pride of his heart.” “Proverbs 11:2 When pride comes, then comes disgrace; but wisdom is with the humble. 16:18 Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.” Obviously, there is some differentiation between honoring accomplishments and being sinfully proud of oneself or one’s accomplishments.
But, scripture leaves no doubt of God’s pride in Jesus, the Son of God. The verse above from Matthew is repeated in Mark and Luke. I am firmly convinced that our Creator God fully understands the fullness of my own heart when I think about our children, when I relish our time together. God understands when I bask in the reflected glow of their accomplishments. God is pleased when I think and say, “This is my child, my beloved, with whom I am pleased.”
We are Christians because of God’s Son. We take our very name from God’s Son. One of my seminary professors always said that Christian means “little Christs.” I prefer to think of Christian meaning Follower of the Way, or Imitator of Christ. Christians are those who consciously do their best to be imitators of God’s Son, with whom God was well pleased. And God instructed us, “Mark 9:7 Listen to him.”
Stay safe, listen to the Son, trust God,
Pastor Ray