Don’t bet on it
She accepted his offer. He reared back with all of his perceived Thor-like might and fired the ball at her. She caught it. And was instantly $127 worth of birthday money richer.
Only a parent will likely understand how you can be broken hearted for your child while at the same time be desperately trying not to laugh. I eased out of his room and found my daughter.
This child has forever been the most tender-hearted, trusting, easy-to-please child. I would never demand that she return the money. All I did was to ask her what she thought she should do at that moment. She only took a second to say, “Well, if it was me, I would want somebody to be nice and give it back, so I guess I should do that.”
And she did. With no hesitation or sadness at all. Then I took her aside one more time, opened my own wallet, pulled out some hidden money I had tucked away in case of emergency, and gave it to her. I did not tell her I would do that ahead of time; I wanted to see if she would do right just for the sake of doing right. When she did, I responded as I believed the Lord himself would have done so had he been standing there at that moment.
In addition to having his “gambling habit” forever broken, my son learned to love and respect his sister a little more that day. My daughter learned that when you do right just for the sake of right, you end up with blessings that have no guilt attached to them.
Philippians 2:3-4 says, “Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves. Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.”
If we parents raise our children to esteem others better than themselves and to consider the feelings and needs of others rather than just selfishly focus on themselves, we will have accomplished more than a billionaire who leaves a legacy of mountains of cash to his offspring.
If we help them to join what seems to be the “me generation,” though, if we teach them to always look out for number one, we will be doing them and the world they will live in a huge disservice.
Do you think we can puff their little heads up so big that they think the world revolves around them, and then expect them to become soldiers, preachers, police officers, fire fighters, nurses, and other fields that offer little pay for mountains of service? Do you imagine for so much as a moment that we can treat them as divas when they are children and end up producing anything other than adults who still behave as divas?
Don’t bet on it.
Bo Wagner is pastor of Cornerstone Baptist Church in Mooresboro, N.C. He is a widely traveled evangelist and the author of several books. He can be contacted by email at 2knowhim@ cbc-web.org.