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Relationships with Parentsby Jim Wilson Of the many talks I frequently give, there are two which have received the most favorable response and the most fruitful application among young and old alike. The first is "How to Be Free from Bitterness" and the second is "Relationships with Parents." Right now I am sitting in a study room at the Illinois Street Residence Hall at the University of Illinois. Last week, at Urbana '93, I conducted a workshop on "Relationships with Parents." Only about 50 students attended the workshop (both sessions). The shock, the incredulity, the rebellion, and the impossibility of putting this teaching into effect showed in the tears, the questions, the comments, and the follow-up conversations. This is why I am here writing it down. I would first like to draw your attention to two passages in the Old Testament. I will first comment on them and then I will make a few suggestions for applying these Scriptures in your life.
Yet you ask, "Why does the son not share the guilt of his father?" Since the son has done what is just and right and has been careful to keep all my decrees, he will surely live. The soul who sins is the one who will die. The son will not share the guilt of the father, nor will the father share the guilt of the son. The righteousness of the righteous man will be credited to him, and the wickedness of the wicked will be charged against him. (Ezek. 18:19-20) Know therefore that the Lord your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commands. (Deut. 7:9)Sin and hatred of God cause the downward movement to three or four generations and obedience and love of God cause the upward movement to a thousand generations. I have heard the following many times. "I had decided I was not going to be the kind of father (or mother) who raised me. I would become a Christian, marry a Christian, and do it right. I became a Christian, married a Christian and I am doing it wrong, just like my parents. I am in the second bad news generation; do I have to wait for two more bad news generations before there is a possibility of turning this descent around?" No, you do not have to wait, but unless you change your relationship with your parents and grandparents you will have to wait two more generations. Becoming a Christian and preaching the gospel to your parents does not change the relationship. Home, with parents, is one of the places where Christians think that they are allowed to lose their temper. The relationship then gets worse. About 400 years before Christ, the prophet Malachi gave a negative conditional prophecy. It is found in the last two verses in the Old Testament. See, I will send you the prophet Elijah before the great and dreadful day of the Lord comes. He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers; or else I will come and strike the land with a curse. (Malachi 4:5-6)The angel Gabriel alludes to a portion of this prophecy in Luke 1:17 - And he [John] will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.Notice: To stop the curse from happening, hearts must be turned both ways. Although most of my illustrations are speaking to and about children, I am really speaking to parents about their relationship with their own parents. If you are a Christian parent, turn your heart toward your parents, and turn your heart toward your children. Now we will look at the second instance in the Ten Commandments where we read of generations. Honor your father and mother, as the Lord your God has commanded you, so that you may live long and that it may go well with you in the land the Lord your God is giving you. (Deut. 5:16)Application is next:
I will now offer a few suggestions on how to have a heart repentance that will
In turning your heart to your father, four elements are necessary. Preaching the gospel to him is not one of them; do no do so, for this subverts his authority over you. Instead, you may write a letter to him that conveys each of these four elements. I recommend covering one element per paragraph as follows: 1. If you have confessed to God your previous rebellion to your father or mother, then also confess it to your earthly father with no excuses or accusations. 2. In this letter tell your father how much you respect him. If you do
not respect him then of course you cannot write it without being hypocritical.
But you must write it. How? First confess to God this disrespect for your
father. "Why should I?" you ask, "for he has not earned it!"
The Scripture says, "Honor your father and mother." It does not say,
"only if they deserve it." Your father is to be honored because he is
your father. You are commanded to honor him. This is not optional. If you do not
honor him, then you have sinned. The same is true with your mother. Sin is
forgivable and repentance is required. 3. In the third paragraph you tell him how much you love him. If you do
not love him then that has to be corrected first. Your reply may be, "He
did not love me so I do not love him." If this is the case, it is true that
as a father he should have loved you so that your response would have been a
loving response. But we cannot go back to childhood and start over. Even if we
could, that does not mean that your father would do it any different the second
time. We address the problem from where we are, not from where we should be. You
are now an adult, and as a Christian you have an unlimited access to love and
forgiveness. If you do not have this access there is a very real possibility
that you are not a Christian. As a Christian you may have to confess this lack
of love for your father to God. Is it sin? Yes, it is sin. It is disobedience to
the command of God. We have been commanded to love our neighbors, love the
brothers, and love our enemies. If you do not think your father fits in one of
these categories then perhaps you should study the unconditional quality of love
and the biblical relationship of obedience and love. 4. The next paragraph is the place to express your gratefulness to him.
If you are not grateful, then as with respect and love, it is your problem, not
his. The procedure is the same. You confess your un-thankfulness to God. When
you are forgiven, express your thankfulness to your father. Ask your father to tell you or write to you his autobiography, his life history. He might not do it, but he will be glad you want to know about him. Ask him for advice and counsel, in general and specific matters. This is part of honor. Also write the same kind of letter to your mother, but with one change. The first paragraph should express your love to her and the second paragraph should communicate your respect for her. Both sexes of the human race need love and respect from both sexes. Of the two, women need love more than they need respect and men need respect more than they need love. However, each needs both and they should not have to earn it in order to receive it. This letter should be followed up with other kind personal letters, hugs, and other physical expressions (e.g., handshakes, if they are warm, firm, and exuberant). The letter can be followed up with an explanation so long as the explanation does not include excuses and accusations. Here is a suggestion: "Dad, I know that you love me very much. You have not been the best expresser of your love. So growing up I did not think you loved me. Even now I have had to take it by faith. If you wondered why I was boy crazy from junior high through college, I think it was because I was looking for male affection. Of course I did not get it. I was getting taken. Now you are wondering about my letter to you and all of the hugs you are getting from me when I come to visit. Although I now have a husband and children, I still need my father and you need me. That's why I am here hugging you. I thought I would prime the pump. I'm giving to receive." Adjust this example to fit you. When your parents receive these two letters, several things will probably happen.
One man in his late fifties wrote this kind of letter to his father. His mother replied, "I have been married to your father for sixty years. When he read your letter, it is the first time in our marriage I saw tears in his eyes." In the early 1980's we held a summer school of practical Christianity at Delta House of the University of Idaho. About 40 students attended. Respect for parents was one subject that was taught. The following fall in a noon Bible class at Washington State University I was teaching on the same subject again. One of the students spoke up. He gave us a story that went something like this. "I learned this last summer at the Delta House. When I was sixteen my father kicked me out of the house and told me to leave, saying that he would never see me again. I left home. I later become a Christian and married a Christian. Now I am a graduate student in economics at WSU. In the meantime I had not seen my father. My parents were on the brink of divorce, living in separate bedrooms at home (in one of the Great Plains states). When I learned this I wrote two letters, one to my father and one to my mother. It took me several days to write each one, so they were sent several days apart. For some reason the letters arrived on the same day, and both my parents were at home. Seeing that the letters were addressed separately, my mother took her letter to her room and my father took his letter to his room. After reading the letters, they exchanged them and went again to their separate rooms and read. When the came out my father had tears in his eyes and said, 'I'm flying out to Pullman to see my son.' I have seen my father since last summer and my parents' marriage has been saved."There are two problems, the heart problem and the action problem. The heart problem is first. Your unlove, your disrespect, your ungratefulness has to be taken care of in repentance toward God. To write a letter without being forgiven by God only means that your letter will be insincere and hypocritical. You may have a long wait if you wait for your father to turn to you first. You cannot afford the wait. After you are clean, write the letters. Then continue letter writing, telephoning and visiting, expressing respect, love and thankfulness. Doing these things will change you. You will become a better husband, son and
father and a better wife, daughter and mother. Your love and obedience will
bring love for a thousand generations. |