Culturally Irrelevant

part 2 - Ahaz and raising kids

Yesterday I stopped with a grandpa with leprosy, a son with nauseatingly dying faith and a grandson on the way. Enter Ahaz. Here’s what Kings has to say about this young man:

Unlike David his father, he did not do what was right in the eyes of the Lord his God. He walked in the ways of the kings of Israel and even sacrificed his son in the fire, following the detestable ways of the nations the Lord had driven out before the Israelites. He offered sacrifices and burned incense at the high places, on the hilltops and under every spreading tree.  (2 Kings 16:2-4)

Now how did that happen? His dad and grandpa weren’t slouches. Sure, they didn’t follow through with the entire covenant, but they did their best, right? Well, I’m realizing maybe the problem’s right there. They did it part of the way. They were half-hearted. They knew what God desired and chose to keep a little back.

The Bible is silent on the details of Jotham and Ahaz’s father-son relationship. Whether or not Jotham was an absentee father who didn’t teach his son, or if Ahaz was somehow emotionally scared by some tragic event. So it’s probably complicated and we’ll never know. But it looks like the saying “like father, like son” is not always true. Yes, Jotham was like Azariah. But because Jotham didn’t advance, there was little chance for Ahaz to stay on the same course. This story tells me that sin is like spiritual entropy, constantly decaying things that don’t move or grow. Chances are that my faith will grow from what my father imparted to me or it will fall way, but it probably won’t just be the same. So Ahaz saw something irrelevant and powerless in Jotham’s life that he didn’t care for, or he just didn’t want anything to do with Yahweh because he wanted the pleasures of sin more.  Either way, it didn’t take. The baton didn’t get passed.

So what can I do to make sure my boys “catch it”? Well, I’m a new dad and I’ve never done this before, but here’s the way I’m approaching it. First, I’ve learned that I’m a steward over my kids. God has trusted me with their care, but ultimately they don’t belong to me. So, everything I do had better be pleasing to their heavenly Father because I’m going to stand before him one day and give an account for my words towards them, my actions towards them and my choices to steward and nurture the gifts within them.

Starting there, I believe my primary responsibility is to protect them and provide for them according to the gifts and grace God has given me. But in the middle of all that is the “how”. And at this point in my life I believe the most influential thing I can do is to chase God wholeheartedly. Really. I mean, to grow in my faith, to have a personal, intimate walk with God that is open and desperate and real. And then, I need to include my kids in that relationship, to let them look in and see it, and to be consistent with it and to let it affect the way that I treat them and talk to them. Katy and I have gathered basic teaching and discipline tools from Scripture and godly counsel, but even good tools are useless if my heart’s in the wrong place. But when my relationship with the Father is right, everything else seems to fall in line. And ultimately, when I’ve done that, it will have to be my kids’ choice as they grow up to pursue God or not. And I believe that they will because of what’s being deposited on the inside of them and the example that’s being lived in front of them, both from us as well as other mature believers who surround them.