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Note to readers: This is an alternate reading from the Three Year Lectionary, and may not match up with the readings your church uses this Sunday.
Proverbs 3:1-8 – My son, do not forget my teaching, but let your heart keep my commandments, for length of days and years of life and peace they will add to you. Let not steadfast love and faithfulness forsake you; bind them around your neck; write them on the tablet of your heart. So you will find favor and good success in the sight of God and man. Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make straight your paths. Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord, and turn away from evil. It will be healing to your flesh and refreshment to your bones.
As I grow older, one of the things I regret the most is that I am limited in what I can pass on to my son from my own life and faith. I’ve been trusting in Jesus 50 years by now; and if I could, I would download everything I’ve learned—all the blessings He’s given me, all I’ve learned from the Bible and from following Him in my daily life—and I’d give that to my son. Maybe that would save him having to learn things the hard way.
But I can’t do that. The trouble, of course, is that no one can believe for anybody else. My son’s faith is his own; the way he relates to the Lord is unique, and much as I’d like to hover and protect him from all harm and pain, I can’t.
The most I can do is what Solomon tries to do here, telling my son in words: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make straight your paths.”
And yet, maybe that’s not the best I can do. Because my son and I have a Gift Solomon didn’t have. We live in the days after God came into this world as a human being—the Man Christ Jesus. We can read and hear the stories of what He did for us—how He was born among us into a humble family, how He grew up to teach and heal and serve crowds of people, and how, when the time was right, He allowed Himself to be betrayed, arrested, tortured, and put to a shameful death. And we know, too, that on the third day He rose from the dead—breaking the power of death over everyone who trusts in Him. Through His death and resurrection, Jesus has set us free from the power of sin and evil, and made us children of God, filled with the Holy Spirit and living out His love in the world. And we wait for the day when He comes back as He promised.
This is what I can give to my son—and to everyone else I love. And even if the seeds of the Gospel lie quiet and buried in their hearts for many years, I have hope that God will make them grow for eternal life in His own time.
WE PRAY: Lord Holy Spirit, use me to pass along the Gospel to the people around me, especially my own family. Amen.
This Daily Devotion was written by Dr. Kari Vo.
Reflection Questions:
- How did you come to know Jesus? Who told you about Him?
- How do you try to pass your faith on to those you love?
- What hope do you have when it seems that someone you love isn’t listening?
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