In the garden before the fall.

We had no lack

Before we went off track.

Naked yet felt no shame,

Because innocence defined our frame.

The presence of God, O wonderful sweetness!

His voice filled with love and tenderness.

He made it all,

In beauty – all great and small.

From the fish that swarmed the seas,

To the birds that flew with ease,

All creatures that crept on the ground,

To the cattle and beasts that he made to abound.

Man, who was made in His image and likeness

Was to care for it all in kindness.

We heard him call,

But His tender love we could not recall.

Fear and dread filled our mind

As we sought for a tree to hide behind.

He said we could eat, but not from that one

Or death would surely come.

But beguiled by the serpent’s crafty entice,

We exchanged God’s truth for a lie.

We heard mercy call

From the One whose authority is above all;

The Son of God, full of truth and grace,

He came and showed us God’s embrace.

Although we were by nature children of wrath,

He died to bring us onto the right path.

Sinless and righteous, yet took upon Himself our shame,

He bore God’s wrath and took the blame.

So come now you all

And take heed to His call,

All you from every tribe and nation, great and small.

Come to the place that He has prepared;

Where fellowship with Him has been totally repaired.

The former things have passed away,

No more sin or death, nor suffering or decay.

He has promised to restore everything to perfection,

And that is our hope as we await our glorification.

He alone is God Almighty,

Praise His Holy name for He alone is worthy!

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I read up a bit on the heritage of Naomi Osaka, who won the US Open, against Serena Williams. The whole story about that game has been making its rounds in social media, with so much being said about Serena’s behaviour etc, but this is not what this post is about. I saw something on Facebook about how Wikipedia had Naomi’s heritage as Haitian-Japanese, and after her grand win,changed it to Japanese. I have no idea why that was done, but I know that half of who she was, was left out deliberately. She was born in Japan to a Japanese mother and Haitian- American father (according to Wikipedia, she and her sister kept their mother’s surname for practical reasons while they lived in Japan) . Naomi left Japan for the United States when she was 3 years old, and has dual citizenship from both countries. In the United States, if you are of mixed race, and have a black parent, you are classified as African American, if I am correct…So what does that make Naomi, Japanese? Haitian American? It’s quite clear what the media prefers to call her, probably because she represents Japan in the game. She is also not fluent in Japanese. Whatever the case, I find her beautiful, with a rich and colourful heritage. A picture of what so many people in this world don’t like because they like to put people in boxes, and if the box doesn’t fit, confusion erupts and prejudiced anchors are hurled to weigh someone down in the category chosen for them.

I grew up in a family where we all spoke English to one another. I still speak English in the home, to my husband and children. Not because it’s a superior language or that I love it, but for various circumstantial reasons, including the fact that it’s an international language. It doesn’t make any other language any less.

I also speak Sesotho, which I learned from family and friends and from everyday conversations I would hear, being surrounded by the language. I speak it fluently, although at times with adopted English, Afrikaans or Zulu words that have become somewhat slang in this vernacular. Over the years I have learned how to speak Afrikaans, understand some isiZulu and isiXhosa, can communicate with a Pedi or Tswana speaker, and have picked up some German. I have friends from all over the world, from whom I picked up a few words that can in some cases build a conversation or at least allow you to get around in their respective countries. I can at least greet someone in more than 10 languages and I am now learning Chichewa.

When people ask me, “what’s your first language”, I have to think of a politically correct answer, so I say Sesotho. “Can you translate this Sesotho document into English for us?” and I have to explain myself. “But I thought you are Mosotho?” Yes, and a proud one at that, but I don’t speak it everyday, I don’t hear it everyday and I cannot trust myself to accurately translate documents without input from another Sesotho speaker. Does that make me any less of a Mosotho? I wouldn’t say that.

“Did your husband have to pay lobola before you got married? Did he have to slaughter a goat? Did you have a traditional wedding? Do you sacrifice to “badimo?” No. “Do you know this and that about your culture?” Yes, to an extent. “Then how can you call yourself a true Mosotho?” Well, because from my Dad’s side Sesotho is our lineage, it’s the cultural group that I identify with, for that reason. In our culture, your father’s lineage is your lineage. Your mother’s is a part of it, but you identify yourself by your father’s lineage. That’s what makes me Mosotho. It’s in my blood, not whether or not I subscribe to certain cultural practices, especially those I don’t agree with. Not whether or not I speak the language fluently. I am Mosotho, but does that completely say who I am?

I was born in a country in which I lived for 18 years of my life (6 of those were in and out of the country as I was in boarding school), lived in another country (of which I am a citizen) where my parents were born, for 10 years, and for now I am settled in a different country for as long as the Lord pleases. Where do I call home? Well, I guess where I am for now. Am I still Mosotho? Yes, that can never change.

My family is a colourful plethora of cultures, with every member of my family having grown up in different countries across the world, having relatives from different countries, through intermarriage. Not one family unit is homogenous. There are a number of different languages spoken, from South Sotho to North Sotho, Yoruba, to French, to Swedish, to German, to Bemba, isiSwati ,Chichewa and Russian to name a few. That’s what our beautiful family is like, and we all speak English to one another. Imagine trying to learn all the different languages and cultures. We could, but English is one of the most commonly spoken languages. Sadly, Sesotho isn’t spoken by my entire extended family, but that’s okay because language doesn’t make us who we are either. Who we are is ultimately in Christ, who created us, every tribe and nation. Am I related to my Nigerian cousin? Is my Swati uncle still my real uncle, yes. We are family. Is Naomi Osaka Haitian? Yes. Japanese? Yes. American? Yes. She doesn’t need to be put in only one of those categories or whichever category we like. We are all part of humanity and our lives are a culmination of cultural experiences, from wherever God places us, at whatever time in our life. It’s beautiful to identify with one culture, or many, for the glory of our Creator.

Is my cultural identity of utmost importance in my life? Certainly not, it’s not who I am. If we are in Christ, in Him we find our identity. We were all created, by one creator, Acts 17:26 says “ And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place,” No matter our birthplace or dwelling place, the Creator who created us, placed us there for a reason, for His purposes. We were all Created by one Creator, but only those who call upon His name, only those whom He has saved, are adopted into His family. As sinners before a Holy God, we don’t deserve to be a part of His family, but by His grace, we are.

Acts 10: 34-35, “So Peter opened his mouth and said: “Truly I understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him.”

John 1: 12-13 says “But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.”

I am thankful that the Lord has placed me in a family with a number of different cultures, I am also thankful for the lovely and rich cultural group I am a part of. I like the fact that I can embrace different cultures and feel at home. But what matters most is my eternal heritage in Christ. Let us not be too caught up in culture, which is not static, but remain steadfast in our walk with our Creator who has given us an identity, in Himself, through Himself. It saddens me that people can be so entangled in cultural differences instead of seeing the beauty of Christ in all of them. Even as believers, we need to see that Christ makes us one, in His body we are all different parts that fit together perfectly. Let us call upon Him, love one another as He has loved us, as part of His body, His family. That’s all that counts in this life. Culture will always change, but the word of God remains forever, God is eternal. All things shall pass away, but His word remains.

At the end of the day, the question won’t be “How did you enjoy, portray or represent the culture/country/society/family in which God placed you?” But rather“ How did you impact the people in your culture/country/society/family, where God placed you, by pointing them towards Christ? How did you play your part in the beautiful body of Christ? Did you seek to divide His body or unite it? ” The great commission should be carried out first to the people closest to you. May we serve Christ that on that day, he says “ Well done, good and faithful servant.”           

The post The Heritage Day: Forefathers or Eternal Father? appeared first on Proverbs 31.

1) Personal Gospel living

The principle of Deuteronomy 6:4-9 shows that the prerequisite to teaching our children about God, and by implication then sharing the gospel with them, is to live the gospel ourselves. Sharing the gospel with our children must be preceded by a love for the Lord our God. This is the first step. If we do not truly worship God as the only God and love Him more than anything else with all that we have, our children will simply see us as hypocrites and this will cast doubt in their mind over the Gospel. They need to see us, their parents worship God daily, not only in our quiet times or family worship, but daily in every task that we undertake, our love for the one true God should be evident. It is true that with children many things are caught rather than taught.

Children learn well by observation. Therefore our example of Gospel living or our devoted love for God is a nonnegotiable in imparting the truth of the Gospel to our children. We are aware that our example cannot be perfect, even though we are saved, we still sin. But this also provides the perfect opportunity for the Gospel as we point them to the only perfect example, Jesus in whom we have forgiveness when we fail. As parents we need to ask forgiveness from our children when we have wronged them, when we lack compassion or when we exasperate them. They should see that we have a very deep and real need for forgiveness from our heavenly Father.

2) Personal teaching of the Gospel

In our endeavour to share the gospel with our children, it is of utmost importance that the gospel is evident in every aspect of our daily lives, because it is so relevant for every circumstance that we find ourselves in. There are countless opportunities every day to share the gospel: when we discipline our children, when we share a meal, when we experience nature and when we take them to church. As parents we need to be on the lookout for every opportunity to teach the gospel to our children. Nowhere in Scripture is it mentioned that we must start engaging in this process from a particular age, nor is it mentioned that we must ever stop engaging in this process at any given time.

The Lord’s commandments are to be the continual subject of daily conversation, it doesn’t require a special occasion, but should be linked to every aspect of daily life. As a parent of young ones, I am constantly aware of their depraved nature (and mine) and therefore I cannot reason any other way that they have a need for the gospel from the very first breath that they take. From that very moment they are little sinners that are in need of a Saviour. They need to hear the gospel proclaimed to them throughout each day, for without hearing how will they believe? (Rom 10:17)

I was blessed as my boys and I read through parts of Daniel, Ester, Jonah and Ezra as was discussed during Sunday School lessons. I was able to show them that these were not mere stories, but that Scripture has a golden thread throughout and that the memory verses that we have been learning could be seen as tangible evidence in some of these characters’ lives.

For example, we were able to see that Daniel was a living example of Proverbs 1:7a and therefore he did not fear or refrained from praying to God when orders were given to do so, he also had wisdom as given by God to interpret various dreams. Another fitting and challenging verse (to both children and parents) that we recently encountered in our home is Galatians 5:22 “The fruit of the Spirit”. Again it fitted a Sunday School preparation. In Esther 6, we were able to see that Mordecai did what was right in the eyes of the Lord as he demonstrated love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. We do not teach the Word of the Lord to our children so that they can become Pharisees who are able to recite Scripture and catechisms in vain conceit, yet inwardly remain unchanged.

We do not teach Scripture to our children so that they can become outwardly obedient and pleasant children. We also do not teach the Word of the Lord to our children in order to save them ourselves. 1 Corinthians 3:6-7 says “I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth. Neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but God who causes the growth.” God is the one who saves, not by our works of wonderful parenting, but by grace through faith, salvation is a gift from the Lord. Yet, we do acknowledge the stewardship we have from God in this regard. If the law appeals to our conscience and makes us aware of our sin (Romans 7) then knowing the Word of God would become a compass for the conscience of our children that should drive them from the folly that is bound up in their hearts, safely into the arms of Christ.

3) Corporate worship

Our children need to see that we have a desire to worship God along with other believers and for this reason they should from a young age learn to be part of a corporate worship service so that they can see how to praise God appropriately in a corporate setting through singing, prayer and preaching. This gives them the opportunity to see God worshipped by other Gospel transformed believers. We should not underestimate the impact a Gospel believing, Gospel preaching church has on our children. Therefore, we ought to make the most of corporate worship gatherings.

Robbie Castleman describes in her book “Parenting in the pew”, that our goal in church is not to teach our children merely to behave and sit quietly so that they are not a hindrance to other worshippers. She explains that many adults still do just that, sit quietly in a service while they are unmoved by the Word of God. Worshipping God in spirit and in truth does not come easily or naturally, it is hard work. We want to teach our children to be attentive during worship as we come into the presence of the Holy God. It’s a matter of training the heart to hear and respond to the Gospel, not just the outward result of sitting still without disturbing anyone. In this corporate setting children see much of the Gospel lived out. Every aspect of the worship service is a proclamation of and response to the Gospel. At church children are confronted with the Gospel through the Gospel prayers, the Gospel singing, the Gospel read out loud form the Scriptures, the Gospel expounded upon through the preaching, the Gospel administered through the ordinances of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper. As our children watch us worship God corporately at church they should see that we come before the Lord with alert minds and our hearts that are open to worship the King who save us from our sin.

Conclusion…

I am convinced that Deuteronomy 6:7 uses the word diligently to encourage us as parents because this is no easy task. Yet two things drive us to this tenacious devotion to gospel ministry to our children: a passion for God’s glory, and a compassion for our children.

a) A passion for God’s Glory Our task of living and sharing the gospel with our children primarily is a matter of obedience, obedience because we are commanded to do this just like Israel was commanded in Deuteronomy 6. And our obedience glorifies God.

Furthermore, until our children submit to the One True and Living God by turning away from their sin to trust in the cross of Christ, they are not glorifying God. We should be grieved by their sin because they are committing it against the Holy God and not because it is making our lives difficult.

b) A compassion for our children The task demands patience and endurance as well as compassion that flow from a heart that has been forgiven by our Master and Maker. Jesus had compassion on His children and therefore endured pain, suffering and separation from God on the cross. Because Jesus had compassion on us, we ought to have compassion on our children also. Grace has been demonstrated to us, we too should be gracious onto our children, and teach them the Word of the Lord so that they will glorify God through their lives.

In my own life I have seen that parenting is still a joy even when it is hard to discipline and disciple our children, but it’s only when I look to my Saviour for grace and to give me the compassion that I need for my little ones.

May we be encouraged by the sufficiency of Scripture and it’s relevancy in every situation of our daily lives however mundane the situation might seem. There is peace and comfort in the daunting task of sharing the gospel with our children as we find our rest and assurance in our great God and Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ.

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