The special honor that people give to mothers on the 2nd Sunday of May, to children on the 2nd Sunday of June, to fathers on the 3rd Sunday of June, to grandparents on the 2nd Sunday of September, to mothers-in-law on the 4th Sunday of October, and to Jesus 52 Sundays each year (Revelation 1:10), puts into practice what the Bible teaches: "Fulfill your obligations to everyone: tax to whom tax is due; custom to whom custom is due; respect to whom respect is due; honor to whom honor is due (Romans 13:7). Why are fathers-in-law neglected?

After Adam, "the first man" (1 Corinthians 15:45), was created, one of the reasons why God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone" (Genesis 2:18), was because he could not have children. Accordingly, the first woman was created, and the first thing that God said to the first husband and to the first wife was, "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth" (Genesis 1:28). And Adam named his wife Hawwah, "Eve," for in prospect she would be "the mother of all living" (Genesis 3:20).

To some people, who once were children, children are brats in the way. To abortionists an unborn child is only a "blob of tissue," though the child’s heart has been beating 18-25 days after conception, more than 8 months before birth. This lapel pin that I am wearing displays two tiny feet 3/8 of an inch long, but they are the exact size and shape of an unborn baby’s feet at ten weeks after conception. At ten weeks an unborn baby is perfectly formed--right down to the toes. You can get your own lapel pin free by calling 1-800-858-3040 and ask for a copy of "Precious Feet." Today (6-8-2000) I have seen a picture of my great grandchild 9 weeks after conception, and the doctor said the child’s heart was beating and he saw hands and feet moving!

To those who respect the Bible, every child of any color, born or unborn, is precious, a gift from Heaven! What a gift is a child! Divinely formed by the "Father of spirits" (Zechariah 12:1; Hebrews 12:9) in a fleshly body each child has a "spirit," a "soul" (Numbers 16:22; 27:16; Ecclesiastes 12:7; Matthew 10:28) that will never die (Matthew 22:32).

A child is not the property of earthly parents. On their own a husband and a wife do not have the ability to create a child. Only the Lord can cause a "barren woman" to become a "joyful mother of children" (Psalm 113:9), and to cause a father to say his children are gifts of God (Genesis 33:5; 48:9). A Scripture about Jesus is also true of a childbirth: "This is the Lord’s doing; it is marvelous in our eyes!" (Psalm 118:23).

Children are the "possession" (nahalath, heritage), not of the parents, but "of the Lord" (Psalm 127:3), The relationship can be called a lend-lease arrangement, bringing happiness to the parents, while the Lord considers children as his "pay" (sacar, hire, reward, Psalm 127:3). But if a child becomes a sinful person, he makes the Lord sad: "I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked" (Ezekiel 33:11). But "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints" (Psalm 116:15).

In women God has implanted an instinctive desire to have children, to be mothers. Because Elizabeth, the wife of Zechariah, "could not have children," she felt ashamed and lamented her "disgrace among the people" (Luke 1:5, 7, 25).

But as beautiful and noble as is motherhood, it is not a ticket to heaven. On one occasion, a woman in the crowd raised her voice and said to Jesus, "Blessed is the mother who gave you birth and nursed you" (Luke 11:27). Jesus replied, "Blessed are they who hear and keep God’s word" (Luke 11:28). Lois and Eunice leave the impression that more important than their being mothers was that they saw to it that Timothy "from a child" knew "the Holy Scriptures," the only books in the world "able to make" Timothy "wise toward salvation through faith in Christ Jesus" (2 Timothy 3:15).

Normally Christian women will choose to marry, and they are taught that they "will be saved through child-bearing if they continue in faith and love and dedication with good sense" (1 Timothy 2:15; cf. 1 Timothy 5:14; Titus 2:4-5). And normally Christian men will choose to marry and become fathers, for "marriage is honorable in all and the bed undefiled" (Hebrews 13:4).

However, (1) a male virgin (as was Jesus, as was Paul, 1 Corinthians 7:7, probably Timothy; cf. Revelation 14:4), or (2) an unmarried man (1 Corinthians 7:32, a widower), or (3) a female virgin (1 Corinthians 7:34, perhaps Phoebe, Romans 16:1, or Lydia, Acts 16:14; certainly Sarah Andrews), (4) or an unmarried woman (1 Corinthians 7:34, a widow, as Juanita Mansholt) may choose not to marry and have children that they may give themselves more completely to "the Lord’s things, that they may be dedicated, both in body and spirit" (1 Corinthians 7:34).

Sarah Andrews, baptized at age 14 in 1904, wanted to go to Japan as a missionary. Prayerfully she pursued her goal, and, supported by her parents, she arrived in Japan at the age of 25 single and alone in 1915, and died and was buried there 46 years later in 1961.

Juanita Mansholt, a widow, has made herself a missionary in Russia, traveling back and forth from Oregon.

The instinctive love that parents have for their children, caring for them physically night and day, is not enough, for in God’s plan children come into this world needing help mentally and spiritually. They lack adult understanding "minds" (phresin, 1 Corinthians 14:20), for they are "carried about by every wind of doctrine, by men’s craftiness, and by trickery with cunning deception" (Ephesians 4:14). God expects parents to be teachers (Deuteronomy 4:9-10; 6:6-9; Ephesians 6:4). The "sincere faith" in the young man Timothy dwelt "first in" his "grandmother Lois, and in" his "mother Eunice" (2 Timothy 1:5).

In addition to teaching, wise parents know that at times children need discipline. Discipline is at times so important God has written much about it in the book of Proverbs:

He who spares the switch hates his son, but he who loves him corrects him early (13:24).

Discipline your son while there is hope, or you will assist in his death (19:18).

A correcting switch helps a child to mature" (22:15).

Do not withhold discipline from a child. Switching will not kill him, and it may save his life (23:13-14).

An undisciplined child brings shame to his mother, but spanking and correction make a child wise (29:15).

Correct your son, and he will give you rest, even satisfaction to your soul (29:17).

Another verse in the book of Proverbs, without coupling with 1 Corinthians 15:33 with it, could be misinterpreted to mean that no well-trained child can misbehave, or "once saved, always saved": "Train up a child in the way he should go, and even when he is old he will not depart from it" (22:6). But bad "associations" can "ruin upright morals" even of well-trained children (1 Corinthians 15:33).

As we adults love God "because he himself first loved us" (1 John 4:19), so children love their parents because their parents first loved them. The first commandment of God with a promise attached was to children and adults: "Honor your father and mother that your days may be long in the land which Jehovah your God gives you" (Exodus 20:12). That ancient command was placed in the New Testament also (Ephesians 6:1-3). A heavy penalty God placed on a child or an adult who "curses (or, reviles) his father or his mother:" he "shall surely be put to death" (Exodus 21:17).

To some adults, who were depriving their parents of needed financial help, Jesus said: "God said, ‘Honor your father and mother,’ and ‘He who speaks evil of father or mother shall certainly die.’ But you say, ‘Whatever you would have received from me has been given to God,’ and so he does not honor his father or mother. You have canceled God’s word through your tradition" (Matthew 15:4-6).

A discussion about "Children’s Day" would be incomplete if it did not include what adults need to learn from children. As "newborn babies" crave milk, so I need to ask myself: do I "crave pure spiritual milk," that is, daily Bible study, that by it I "may grow to salvation" (1 Peter 2:2)? I need to ask myself: have I "treasured up the words of his mouth more than my necessary food" (Job 23:12)?

Jesus thought that grown men should learn humility from children:

Jesus thought that little children are precious:

Jesus loved little children:

6-8-2000