As Unto

Recently, my oldest son has been very nice…

This isn’t alarming at all. He’s normally a very sweet kid, but this kind of nice was something extra. He was offering to do extra jobs for me, like getting all the beverages for our meal and cutting me off to help his younger siblings. It didn’t take long before he gave up what was going on.

“Will you take me Lego buying this week please, Papa?”

Ah! Okay. I had to ask him if that’s why he was being extra kind. He admitted it, saying that he overheard me saying to his mom that we had good reports of their behavior then I’d take them to the store so they could spend some of their money on Legos.

I used this opportunity to talk him about honoring the Lord and trusting Him to lead us as to when the time was right to go Lego buying. Otherwise, life becomes this system of “I do/I get” which is healthy in a worldly way, but often in the Story, we do to honor the Lord not ourselves.

I sat down with him and offered to him a book called Hudson Taylor’s Spiritual Secret. Taylor was among the first Christian missionaries to enter inland China back in the 1800s. The book chronicles his life and mission and is especially detailed about how Hudson prepared himself to trust the Lord more than any person to provide for his needs.

There’s a part in his early life when Hudson was working for an older physician, who would often forget to pay him his wages. Now most of us would think nothing of tapping the old man on the shoulder on payday and with an expectant hand. But Hudson was really wanting to develop his faith, so instead of reminding the doctor he would pray that the Lord would remind the doctor when the time was right to be paid.

Though he was a hard and diligent worker, often Hudson went weeks and even months without getting paid. He tells of weeks where he was down to nothing and would have to cry out to the Lord to remind his boss to pay. And over and over again, when he needed it most the doctor would suddenly ask. “When is the last time I paid you?” And he’d write him a check that day.

Not many of us have the courage to live on that kind of faith. Mostly because we live in a “I do/I get” world, where we are rewarded often instantly for our good deeds. 

My son didn’t get to go Lego buying that day (I took them later in the week), but he did get a copy of a kid’s version of Hudson’s story and is really enjoying it so far.

All this came around in my mind this week as I was reflecting on Psalm 71 which reminds:

 1 O LORD, I have come to you for protection; don’t let me be disgraced. 

2  Save me and rescue me, for you do what is right. 

Turn your ear to listen to me, and set me free. 

3  Be my rock of safety where I can always hide. 

Give the order to save me, for you are my rock and my fortress. 

I told my son, do good works around the house and for your siblings and pray that God receive all the credit. And pray for me and your mama that we would know when is the right time to reward you. Basically, serve and trust the Lord first and then all these Legos will be added unto you.

My hope with this little life lesson wasn’t to make him distrust me, but that he would know that God is the giver of all good things. I know I’ve needed to be reminded of that myself often enough.