Monday, September 18, 2017

Loving our children? .......... Parables 642

June 1, 1999

The man in the movie abandons his granddaughter by the side of the road. Unknown to him, a neighbor watches and fetches the child, returning her to her mother. Although the man allows his daughter to keep her baby, he mistreats both of them. First the daughter then later the little girl are forced to go to bars and lure men outside so this man can beat and rob them.

This is fiction but real life tells similar stories. What is wrong? The instinct to nurture offspring is strong in most animals and birds. A mother bear will defend her cubs. A kildeer will feign a broken wing to keep predators away from her nest. Seldom in nature are creatures callous to the helplessness of their babies. Why do people turn on their children?

Human beings are not bears, birds or snakes. According to Scripture, we were created in the image of God, both male and female. Being made in His image, we were stamped with a particular predisposition to care deeply for our family, just as God cares for His creation.

My mother used to say that no matter what, your parents always love you. When I was young, I believed her because personal experience told me it was true. Now I realize that both mom and I were naive. Some parents do not love their own children.

Parents mistreat and sometime kill their own flesh and blood. A mother drowns her toddlers or a father abuses them. Regardless of the crime or which parent does it, children are not safe in the very place they should be the most secure — with their parents. While psychologists blame it on a power trip or trapped feelings, taking out frustration on a child is not love.

We tend to say hate is the opposite of love yet the Bible indicates God’s love is less of an emotion than a decision to do right. Hate is simply not doing it or doing the opposite. Besides hurting others, doing wrong is also disobedience to God. It was through the disobedience of the first two people, that sin entered the world.

After Adam and Eve sinned, they did continue to care for their children, but the effects of sin soon began to take their toll. Their oldest son, Cain, murdered his younger brother, Abel.

Within a few generations, the entire human race was so sinful that “the Lord saw how great man’s wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time.” At that, the Bible says, “The Lord was grieved that He had made man . . . and His heart was filled with pain.”

Child abandonment, neglect and abuse is sin but since God says everyone has been affected by sin, then everyone needs the cure, whether they commit this sin or not. The cure is redemption.

God cures sin through the death and resurrection of His Son, Jesus Christ. We cannot cure ourselves but we have a part in it. We must recognize we are sick. We must repent or turn from our sin to God. We must also believe in the Great Physician, Jesus Christ and that through Him, God forgives our sin and will cure us of it.

The last book of the Old Testament shows how redemption specifically applies to child abuse. There, God promised to send a prophet who would “turn the hearts of the fathers to their children.” Later, this promise was fulfilled when the angel Gabriel told Zechariah that his son would be this prophet. He became known as John the Baptist.

John called people to turn from their sin toward God and make themselves ready for the coming Redeemer. This Redeemer would forgive them and change their lives. He would turn the hearts of both fathers and mother back to their children.

Social programs educate and urge family members to love each other, but these efforts, even with good intentions, do not do the job that is accomplished through redemption. These programs hope to turn behavior around, but faith in Jesus Christ turns hearts.

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