“I have no greater joy than this: to hear that my children are walking in truth.” – 3 John 1:4
My oldest daughter is now well into her first semester of college. We have had many phone calls and she has filled me in on all her new experiences. I have to tell you; I am so proud of her! She is a music major and has been spending many hours in the practice room, learning her music, working with the other students, and doing well in her classes. But what I am most proud of is what has been happening outside of the classroom. She has been attending a healthy church, spending a lot of time involved in student ministry activities, surrounding herself with great Christian friends, and she has even started helping lead ministry by joining one of the church praise bands. Nothing brings me more joy than to hear my daughter is walking in truth! And I believe this should be the case for ever Christian parent. More than how they do in the classroom, how they perform on the field, or how popular they are, we should desire for our children to live in powerful relationship with Jesus Christ and his Church.
But you may say, “Pastor Shane, I don’t have any children.” Well guess what – when John wrote his book, he was not talking about his biological children, but about the people he had led to Jesus and discipled. Just like my feelings about my daughter, nothing gives me more joy than to see the people I have discipled walking in truth. All Christians have the opportunity to experience this kind of joy, but first you must invest in people for God’s Kingdom. You must lead people to Christ and disciple them. When you learn to invest in those who are younger than you in the faith, you will be able to experience this incredible joy of seeing your spiritual children living out the beautiful life that God has planned for them.
Heavenly Father, give us the desire and the wisdom to raise up our children in you; both our biological children and our children in the faith. Then let us experience this incredible joy that John talks about. Let us know the incredible joy of seeing our children walk in truth.
In Christ’s Service,
Pastor Shane Cannon