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GETTING THE SHADE
There is a Chinese proverb that says, “One generation plants the tree; the next generation gets the shade.”
Trees are important. They provide oxygen, improve air quality, conserve water, preserve soil, support wildlife, and they aid in climate improvement. The environment is very important to us, and we are constantly trying to find ways to improve the world in which we live.
The idea of planting a tree in one generation and reaping the rewards in the next reminds me of raising children. Each generation reaps the results of the previous.
In Deuteronomy 6:5-9, God told Moses that His people were to teach their children the commandments He had given. These were the instructions: teach them diligently; talk about the commandments in every situation (when you are sitting in your house, when walking from one place to the other, even when you put them to bed). He also wanted the parents to put the commandments on their clothing, on the doorposts of their homes, and on the gates of the city.
In chapter 11, God repeated these same commandments about teaching children. This time, He told them to hold these things in their hearts and souls. In other words, this teaching and their love for God was to be the most important thing in their lives. The teaching of those things was to take priority over anything else.
Paul must have gotten a similar message from God, because he gave instructions in the book of Ephesians for fathers to bring up their children “in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.” It is no less important today than in the days of Moses to train our children in the Lord.
Unfortunately, the Children of Israel didn’t heed the words of God and left their teaching. Sadly, the same is true today. Some parents don’t heed the instruction of God, and the children live their lives according to what is right in their own eyes. Some children are rebellious and refuse to obey their parents.
Solomon said, “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction. Hear, my son, your father’s instruction, and forsake not your mother’s teaching, for they are a graceful garland for your head and pendants for your neck (Proverbs 1:7-9). “Keep hold of instruction; do not let go; guard her, for she is your life” (Proverbs 4:13). One that fears the Lord will be open to teaching.
Children need correction. Our society, even Christians, have adapted the attitude that reproof is damaging to the child’s mental and emotional well-being. Scripture says that those who ignore instruction actually despise themselves. Those who listen to correction gain intelligence (Proverbs 15:32). If we don’t instruct, how can we expect our children to gain intelligence?
Jeremiah, known to us as the weeping prophet, diligently warned God’s people of the destruction that awaited them, if they did not repent. He repeated God’s commandments to them, and this was their response. “Yet they did not listen or incline their ear, but stiffened their neck, that they might not hear and receive instruction” (Jeremiah 17:23).
Paul told Timothy that the sacred writings he had been taught since childhood were able to make him wise. This wasn’t about being book smart but rather wise for salvation. Those writings were breathed out by God, and they would serve him in teaching, reproving, correcting, and training in righteousness. Those teachings would equip him for every good work.
Timothy’s mother and grandmother had taught him all of his life the importance of obedience to God. That training, plus the instruction by Paul, would make him a preacher of the gospel of Christ. It would allow him to teach others what to do to go to heaven. No doubt Timothy was educated in school, but Paul refers to his religious teaching as what was important.
Like a tree that takes 10 to 20 years to grow to maturity, a child will grow to physical maturity in a short 18 years. If the tree is not nourished, provided food, sufficient water, and good soil, it will not mature. A child left to his own ways will not grow be spiritually healthy without the proper teaching and training.
Just as we want the trees we plant in our generation to grow and provide all the good things they were intended to provide, we should want our children to go to heaven. That’s the goal.
Sandra Oliver