Dad, Don't forget About Their Soul

Without a doubt it is the desire of every father to not only provide a life-style that your family enjoys but also live in such a way as to cause your children to be a success in life. I can’t believe that any father would really want to raise a child to be lazy, unproductive and without direction in life. I personally want my children to be a success in their life. I take the time to try to coach them in directions of life change so they can be productive. Yes, I believe this is important. Even scripture tells us to train up a child… and that as adults should carry our responsibility of life (Proverbs 22:6, Galatians 6:5).  So it is important that we lead, example too and teach our children to fulfill a purpose in their life. We need to stop producing lazy kids!

Yet, when I look at the life of Job found in the book that carries his name we see a man who had great wealth and his children also seem to enjoy such a productive life style also. When we talk of Job we speak of his faith and overcoming but we also always declare his enormous wealth. But I thought it was noteworthy that only one verse of scripture is dedicated to the mention of Job’s wealth in the setting up of his story. The book begins with Job’s spiritual condition and his faithful relationship with the Almighty. The next verse speaks of his children and his responsibility as a father.  Then, there is the one and only verse that mentions his worldly financial success.

It is then that the Word of God tells that that Job got up early to pray and offer sacrifices for his children. He is so concerned that maybe they are not worshipping God like they should that he prays for their life and their walk with God. He does not just offer a sacrifice to cover them all but the Bible tells us that for each of his 10 children Job offers a sacrifice. He takes time to pray and seek God for each one individually. Verse five ends with that Job did this continually. (The word continually in the KJV is a compound word in the original text which would mean every day.)

It seems to be his greatest concern that they become a success in God and keep their heart right more than they have wealth and success. His greatest desire was for them to be pleasing to God, so Job meets God everyday day for his children’s sake.

Dad, in all your teaching and training, in all your instructing and plans I would challenge you to remember that the most important thing you can do is prepare the soul of your child to follow God. More important than how to fish, hunt, make money or get a great education, more than all the temporal things of this life, the greatest thing you must remember is the soul of that child and that they walk faithfully and true before God.

How to shoot a gun, hunt a deer, catch a fish and build a company may make a great difference for a few days of their life but I can promise you if they are taught to pray, how to be faithful to Jesus, how to dedicate their life to the purpose of the Lord, how to be holy and righteous before the God every day and the importance of doing the will of God, then you are teaching them something that will last in their life forever. Eternity will tell how well we did in this area.

Dad, don’t forget about their soul! Dad, don’t get so caught up in your day that you forget to teach them how important living for God is. Don’t forget every day to pray for the lives of your children.

In the same Old Testament of your Bible are two stories of a High Priest of the Lord and a Prophet of God. Both were busy building and doing the will of God as they walked through the pages of scriptures.

The High Priest was Eli; He was responsible for offering sacrifices to the Lord for the people. It was something that was a daily ritual for him. Yet we find no place where he ever offered a sacrifice for his two sons. What we do find is a story of a man so busy in the House of God that his children are only known for their evil and sin. (What are your children known for? Eternal things or temporal things?)

Following the life of Eli is the story of the man Samuel who was brought and raised in the temple from a child to adulthood. He lived such an exampled life that when we get to the end of his days and Samuel is about to close the door and walk off into eternity, he asks if he has ever wronged anyone. That day the whole crowd said we cannot say a negative word against you Samuel. Wow! What a way to live. What a testimony. But also penned at the end of his days is the fact that Samuel’s sons did not walk in the ways of their father.

What if while doing the great ministry of the Lord we would have also found the words that Samuel prayed and offered sacrifices for his sons. What if Eli had stopped his busy life long enough to pray with and instruct his sons in the ways of the Lord? How different would our Old Testament Bible read?

I would encourage every dad and mom to listen, don’t forget that your child has a soul.

Don’t forget that more important than any success in their life is the recognition of the fact that after this world passes a way they need to have a success in eternity.

For everything in the world—the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does—comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever. 1John 2:16-17NIV

Dad, don’t forget about their soul. (Mom, you too.)