Wise Children = Great Joy

“My son, if your heart is wise, my heart too will be glad.” (Proverbs 23:15)

There are many proud moments that parents experience – when your child takes their first steps, when your child speaks their first words, when your child heads off to school (or begins homeschooling), etc.

But I would echo what the Apostle John wrote in III John 4 – “I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.” That verse is the New Testament version of Solomon’s comment in Proverbs 23:15.

Few moments bring greater delight to me as a father than to see one of my children “get it” spiritually. I cherish those times when one of my three boys come to a genuine understanding of a spiritual truth and responds appropriately. When the people under your care – whether you are a pastor or father – attain spiritual progress, the by-product is almost always great joy and thanksgiving.

I will never forget a conversation I had with my firstborn, who made a profession of faith recently. We were talking about a recent discipline that I gave him, and he was clearly frustrated. I asked if he thought I was being unfair, and he said, “No.” Instead he shared that he was frustrated with himself, because he continued to make foolish decisions and knew that God expected him to be wiser choices. I was delighted to hear his frustration and told him that I would be far more concerned with him if he was apathetic about the foolish decisions he was making. The fact that he showed a brokenness about his sin and a desire to stop this pattern of behavior gave me great hope that he would grow from it. And he has!

John Stott has said, “Whoever walks in the truth is an integrated believer in whom there is no dichotomy between profession and practice. On the contrary, there is in him an exact correspondence between creed and conduct.” (The Letters of John, pg. 224)

As parents, our hearts are just waiting to rejoice in the acquired wisdom of our children, aren’t they?

Here are a couple questions I will leave you with: what are you doing as a mother or father to help then attain such wisdom? What more can you be doing?