We live in a culture where credentials are very important (sometimes
even more important than character). Credentials or another way to put it, recommendations,
are often sought through higher education, degrees, experience, and the like.
Notice, that all of these worldly “credentials” are sought to better the one
seeking; in other words they all point to self. Take note: I am not saying
these are sinful, but they are not the end to our qualifications. Paul tells us
that he gets his credentials (recommendations) from a different place: those he
ministers to.
“Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need,
like some people, letters of recommendation to you or from you? You yourselves
are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everybody. You show
that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with
ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on
tablets of human hearts” (2 Corinthians 3:1-3).
Key phrases in this passage of scripture are: “You yourselves
are our letter…known and read by everybody…” and “…the result of our ministry…”
The one place where we can find that we are qualified in ministry is in the
ones we minister to. Are those that you minister to living for Christ,
following His word, and modeling the character, grace and mercy of Jesus? Those
we influence in our ministry are our credentials! They are our letter of
recommendation! They are the ones that make it obvious to others whether we are
(or not) effective in ministry. What a heavy responsibility!
Likewise, parents can apply this very principle to raising children.
Children give position to their parent’s credentials. They qualify us to be ministers
in God’s kingdom (1 Timothy 3:4-5). Do our children reflect the heart of God?
Do they follow His commands and seek His word for wisdom? Whose character do
they wear? The world’s or Christ’s. As parents, this is hard to face, especially
when we have children that are not wearing Christ’s character and are living
for themselves instead of God. When our children’s behavior is contrary to God’s
character, as parents we have to ask ourselves the hard questions: are we modeling
this negative behavior for them? Are we not addressing the issue with our
children? Parenting is a hard position to fill; it is not one we can do alone.
We can only find confidence in this role with Jesus, especially if we seek to succeed.
Notice what Paul continues to say,
“Such confidence as this is ours through Christ before God. Not
that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our
competence comes from God. He has made us competent as ministers of a new
covenant--not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the
Spirit gives life” (2 Corinthians 3:4-6).
The key phrases in this passage are, “Not that we are
competent in ourselves….but our competence comes from God…” It is only by the
power, grace and mercy of God through His Spirit that we can succeed in
ministering to God’s people, and likewise our children. “…for the letter kills…”
does not negate the need for the law, but the law alone leads to death. We need
the Spirit of God writing the law on our hearts, not just our minds so that we
can be fruitful in our endeavors to obey it. When the law is written on our
hearts (where we are fully obeying because we desire to not because we have to)
our lives are then read by others as success. They see the value of following
God’s ways and not following man’s accomplishments.
Not only do ministers have a responsibility to guide people
to live for God, parents have the same when it comes to raising children to
love and live for the Lord; our responsibility does not just rely on filling
our children’s minds with His instruction; we need to impact their heart, as
well. If we don’t succeed with their heart, we fail to be effective in the development
of other areas in their life. Our children and those we minister to are the
test for nonbelievers as to whether following God is THE successful route to
take or not.
Lord, may I never forget where I get my confidence and my
power which is in YOU alone. May I never neglect to minister to the heart (not
just the mind) of those in my influence (my children and God’s people).
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