Seasoned with Salt

Thinking about Life and Death

Kingdom Vision

I asked my boys what they hoped to accomplish in the new year 2000. The 15-year old said he didn’t have plans to accomplish anything until 2002, the year he graduates from high school. The 12-year-old passed on the question. Only the 7-year-old had a vision to share: He would join a certain church group, for which he would become eligible by virtue of entering third grade next year. Not bad thinking for his age.

My initial reaction of disappointment that the older boys had no strategic plans for the coming year was followed by introspection: Certainly I have goals of my own, Lord willing, but how significant are they in Kingdom terms? Moreover, what Kingdom vision have I communicated to the boys? And how can I help them discover Kingdom goals to which they themselves can attain?

When God gave King David a vision for a temple, He told him that David’s son Solomon would be the one actually to build the temple. For a man of vision and great accomplishments like David, what a disappointment that must have been! But being a man after God’s heart, David proved that he valued obedience more highly than personal accomplishment, by passing along to Solomon not only the vision for the temple, but also the plans and materials. While Solomon erred greatly in his life, he did manage to build the temple, which God filled with His glory.

Similarly, Jesus determined to build His Church, not with His own hands, but with the hands of His disciples. Over a period of three years, he consistently communicated the Kingdom vision, recorded for us in Scripture. Each of us must find the role our Father has assigned us in building His Church, by searching the Scripture, our hearts, and our spiritual gifts. Our job as parents is not to funnel our children into specific areas of ministry, but to equip them with the tools to find their own way. Here are some practical ways of doing that:

• Set aside a specific time each day for family devotion. Read a passage of Scripture, and whenever possible, discuss how God has spoken to us in the passage.
• Pray aloud daily with the children, that God will enable them to see and to follow the plans He has for their lives.
• Help them work through an exercise for discovering spiritual gifts. One excellent book on the subject is Discover Your God-Given Gifts (Don & Katie Fortune, Chosen Books, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1987). While I personally don’t put too much stock in these tests as a means of discerning individual gifts (when God calls us to a task, He equips us), it can help children to begin to think about the ways God has uniquely prepared them to serve Him. It can also help open their minds to thinking about career choices.
• Spend some time contemplating our own place in the Kingdom, and share that vision with our children.

Our time as aliens in this world is short. Let’s do what we can to make each day count.

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