I have been sharing the Top Ten
Things Every Pastor Wished Their Congregation Knew, but Was Afraid to Tell
Them. Read this as though your own pastor were talking to you. Here is number 1:
One of the greatest fears of my life is that my children will not grow up
loving the Lord, or my wife will become hurt and bitter toward me, toward the
church and toward God. Pray for my wife and my children! – 1Sam 2.12, 8.5; Eph
5.23, 6.4
1 Samuel 2:12 says that the sons of Eli (that’s the priest of
God that mentored Samuel as a young boy), “the sons of Eli were worthless men.
They did not know the LORD.” Unfortunately a generation later, when Samuel was
an old man he was told in 1 Samuel 8:5 “Behold, you are old and your sons do
not walk in your ways.” As a husband and father I am called to love my wife as
Christ loved the church, and bring my children up in the discipline and
instruction of the Lord, according to Ephesians 5 & 6.
I have talked to a lot of grown up pastors’ kids who resent how the church treated their parents. I have talked to a lot of grown up pastors’ kids who resent that the church got more of their father’s attention than they did. I’ve also had the privilege of seeing children of pastors turn out to be remarkable men and women of faith, active in ministry, and leaders in their churches. What makes the difference? I don’t know. I don’t think there is any magic formula, but this I know, One of the greatest fears of my life is that my children will not grow up loving the Lord, or my wife will become hurt and bitter toward me, toward the church and toward God. Pray for my wife and my children!
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