PREAMBLE

PREAMBLE

“Teach a child in the way he should go;

And when he is old, he will not depart from it.”

These words taken from Proverb 22:6 speak loudly of the responsibility of parents and caregivers to the children entrusted to them. In these modern days with the advent of such a large and diverse selection of electronic gadgets, our children are bombarded with so many distractions from every direction that it becomes increasingly difficult to keep up with their spiritual development.

We as adults, often overwhelmed by the demands for survival, are guilty of neglecting our responsibilities of ensuring our children’s growth. We are losing sight of the fact that at this stage children are at their most receptive phase for absorbing information and unless we make an effort to help them, they are likely to acquire wrong information from other sources.

I believe no one is better equipped or better placed to do the job than the parent or the caregiver. By making use of every opportunity to teach the words of Jesus Christ, to read the Holy Bible as well as by setting personal examples we can build our children’s faith and offer them alternative examples to live by. In this way we can prepare them to deal with the many and varied temptations they will face in life as they go forward.

These stories under the banner “The Old Lady and Ana” grew out of a discussion I had with my cousin Starr Sabga during which we lamented that our children are not being exposed to reading and discussing the bible as we were. We both felt that as a result of this we are missing a very important opportunity to expose them to God’s words and running the risk of losing them.

The stories are strictly my interpretation of selected passages from the Bible based on my Christian education and on my own life experience. They are meant for the younger child, as examples of how we may use day to day experiences to learn about God’s word. They are by no means exhaustive but I trust they may serve to get other parents and caregivers to do the same.

If this happens, then I would consider myself fully rewarded.

Thursday, June 9, 2011

24. THE OLD LADY AND ANA-LUKE 16:10-11 (Trust and Honesty)

Little Ana listened intently to the TV reporter who was describing in great detail the exploits of the financial advisor who had succeeded to cheat hundreds of people of all their money by using a combination of trust and dishonesty. Later that evening she sought out her grand mother and asked her:
“Gramma, what happens to people who knowingly use trust and dishonesty to cheat and rob people? What does God feel about them? Does he ever punish them?"

The old lady, recognizing this as an opportunity to teach her grand child about God’s attitude toward people who take advantage of other people’s trust and honesty, beckoned her to come and sit with her and, picking up her trusted Bible said:

“My dear child, God has spoken about these subjects over and over again and you will find many references in the Holy Bible. Let me read a few of these for you, so you can understand what I mean.
... First let me read from the Gospel according to Luke, Chapter 16, Verses 10 and 11:”

Whoever can be trusted with very little,
can also be trusted with much,
and whoever is dishonest with very little,
will also be dishonest with much.
So if you have not been trustworthy
in handling worldly wealth,
who will trust you with true riches?

“You see Ana, God, speaking through the disciple Luke, made it quite clear that anyone who cannot be trusted in small things, cannot be trusted in the bigger things of life. And, to reinforce this, he repeated exactly the same thing for being honest. He explained further that if you cannot be trustworthy while dealing with the ordinary things on earth, how then can you be trusted with the most important matter of all, your eternal life in Heaven.”

She paused for a minute as she turned to another section of the Bible and then continued to read from Deuteronomy Chapter 25, Verses 13 to 16:

Do not have two differing weights in your bag—one heavy, one light.
Do not have two differing measures in your house—one large, one small.
You must have accurate and honest weights and measures,
so that you may live long in the land the LORD your God is giving you.
For the LORD your God detests anyone who does these things;
-Anyone who deals dishonestly.

“This is a good example of how dishonest people take advantage of people who trust them. By keeping different measures they fool people into believing that they are getting what they are entitled to get. This behavior is very common, and God detests these dishonest people. It is one of the six things contained in Proverbs (Chapter 6:16-19) which God hates. They include; False Pride, Lying, Killing the innocent, a Wicked heart, doing Evil deeds and causing Confusion within the community."

Ana, by now fully engrossed in every word spoken by her grand mother, asked her:

“Gramma, what happens to all these dishonest people?

The old lady nodded affirmatively and responded:
“Let me read to you two separate excerpts from the Bible which will explain how God feels towards people like these. The first is taken from Proverbs Chapter 13, Verse 11:

Dishonest money dwindles away,
but whoever gathers money little by little, makes it grow.

“God in these few words makes it very clear what happens in these situations, and we see it actually happening over and over. The money made dishonestly never lasts, but money gathered honestly, little by little, will continue to grow.
And yet again in another context, God has stronger words for those who are dishonest. Let me read from Ezekiel Chapter 28, Verses 18 and 19:

Your many sins and dishonest trade
polluted your temple.
So I made you go up in flames.
I turned you into nothing but ashes on the ground.
I let everyone see it.
All of the nations that knew you
are shocked because of what happened to you.
You have come to a horrible end.
And you will be gone forever."

“God does not hesitate to warm us of the extreme measures that will befall anyone who chooses to lead a life of dishonesty. Not only will they be destroyed, but the whole world will know about it and their name will be gone forever.”


Little Ana, now becoming much clearer with her grand mother’s explanation, hugged her as tightly as her little arms will allow, and whispered:

“Now I understand why Daddy is always insisting that we must always be honest and trustworthy in everything we say and do. And also, I now see why the Judge sent the bad man to prison for life. He was only carrying out God’s wishes.”
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