This post was actually
written one year ago before I began this blog. I hope all who read
it will be encouraged to persist in their prayers for unsaved loved
ones, making use of only the opportunities given to point them to
Christ. We must understand the importance of waiting patiently on the
Lord to do His work in the hearts of our loved ones- in His way and
in His timing- which is always perfect.
April 16, 2016
I love spending time
with my grand kids. Many valuable lessons can be learned from
spending quality time with these little ones. I had our oldest two
granddaughters over the other day to make some cute little mini
dolls. They were very eager to make these little dolls as birthday
gifts for their younger sister. We had spent a fair bit of time
surfing the net the week before to find just the right doll to make,
and as I had wanted to be sure these little dolls were going to turn
out properly when the time came for my granddaughters to make them, I
made one myself the day before. It didn't turn out as well as I had
hoped and the girls' estimation of it confirmed to me that it didn't
turn out quite the way they thought it should either. However, due to
making the first one, I did understand the changes that needed to be
made in order for the girls' dolls to turn out much better - to all
of our satisfaction. The reason the first doll wasn't what it should
have been was because I had made the head too big and it flopped back
and forth 'like a wave of the sea- that is driven and tossed by the
wind'. It was not at all stable. I thought of this in relation to
our spiritual lives. When we fail to seek God as we should, we also
can be like my first little dolly, so unsteady and unstable. The only
way we can be stable in all our ways (spiritually speaking) is to
seek God diligently through his word, praying that the Holy Spirit
would give us a right understanding of that word, and the grace and
ability to live in obedience to God’s teaching.
In James we are told,
“If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives
generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. But let
him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a
wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. For that
person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord;
he is a double- minded man, unstable in all his ways”
(James 1:5-8). God wants so much for us to seek him through his
word as indicated in Luke 13:34, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the
city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How
often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers
her brood under her wings, and you were not willing”!
However, only those who have a real desire to seek God through his
word will do so, and it certainly should be our desire to see all of
our family members seeking the wisdom of God through his word.
Unfortunately, we cannot make this happen.
I had promised my
granddaughters that I would fix the first little dolly, making her
head stable so they each could have one to play with together.. and I
can- and will do this, with a little bit of effort. However, when it
comes to giving any one of my family members a heart that would
desire to seek the wisdom of God through the study of his word, so
they can have a stable mind- in Christ, I cannot do that. Though I
would certainly love to see all of our family members seeking God
through a desire to glorify Him in all that they do. While we must
take our responsibility seriously in teaching and training our
children in the ways of the Lord, {“You shall love the LORD
your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your
might. And these words....shall be on your heart. You shall teach
them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit
in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down
and when you rise” (Deuteronomy 6:4-7)), ultimately we are
dependent on the grace of God to give our loved ones (of whatever
varying ages they may be) hearts that would desire to seek Him. We
must be fervent in praying to this end and not give up. Jesus
encouraged consistent prayer when he told his disciples “..a
parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose
heart.” (See Luke 18).
The only other thing
we can do besides showing love to those members and praying for them,
is to take every opportunity given- to point them to Christ,
without trying to make those opportunities ourselves. When we
try to make things happen in our own strength, we could just end up
making things much worse, by possibly even driving our loved ones
farther from us and God- rather than giving them any desire to draw
nearer to us and God. May God forgive us for those times when we try
to make these things happen in our own strength. We must show God's
love to our loved ones and we must pray diligently- and consistently
for those ones who do not know the Lord, and we must also be willing
to wait on his leading to point them to him, “..but they who
wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall run and not
be weary; they shall walk and not faint” (Isaiah 40:31).
Whether or not our loved ones truly come to know Christ as Savior is
entirely up to the grace of God. “For by grace you have been
saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift
of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast”
(Eph. 2 :8-9).
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