Faith Investment 信心投资
Dexu Xia
Teach [these words of mine] to your children. Deuteronomy 11:19
On his twelfth Christmas, the boy eagerly awaited the opening of the gifts under the tree. He was yearning for a new bike, but his hopes were dashed—the last present he received was a dictionary. On the first page, he read: “To Charles from Mother and Daddy, 1958. With love and high hopes for your best work in school.”
In the next decade, Chuck did do well in school. He graduated from college and later, aviation training, and became a pilot working overseas, fulfilling his passion to help people in need and to share Jesus with them. Now some sixty years later, he shared the well-worn dictionary with his grandchildren. It had become for him a symbol of his parents’ loving investment in his future, and Chuck still treasures it. But he’s even more grateful for the daily investment his parents made in building his faith by teaching him about God and about His Word.
Deuteronomy 11 talks about the importance of taking every opportunity to share the words of Scripture with children: “Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up” (v. 19).
For Chuck, the eternal values planted when he was a boy bloomed into a lifetime of service for his Savior. With God’s enablement, who knows how much our investment in someone’s spiritual growth will yield?
信仰的投资
也要[将我这话]教训你们的儿女。—申命记11章19节
这是小男孩的第12个圣诞节，他希望能快点打开在圣诞树下的那些礼物。他渴望得到一辆新的脚踏车，可惜希望成空，他拆开的最后一件礼物却是一本辞典。他翻开首页，读到：“亲爱的查尔斯：我们爱你，希望你学业进步，灵命增长！爸妈赠于1958年。”
在接下来的十年，查尔斯确实在学校表现出色。他大学毕业后，完成飞行训练，成为在国外工作的飞行员，并且实现他的心愿，就是能帮助有需要的人并与他们分享耶稣。如今，在收到这本辞典的六十多年后，他跟孙儿们谈论这份早已破损不堪的礼物。查尔斯依旧非常珍惜这本辞典，因这象征父母对他的将来所作爱的投资。但是他更感谢的是，父母藉着教导他认识上帝与圣经，每天都花时间建立他的信仰。
申命记11章说到，把握每一个机会与孩子谈论圣经是十分重要的：“也要教训你们的儿女，无论坐在家里，行在路上，躺下，起来，都要谈论。”（19节）
对查尔斯来说，小时候植于心中的永恒价值已开花结果，成为他服事救主的终身职志。当我们靠着上帝的能力为一个人的灵命成长付出时，谁能想像这会带来多少收获呢？
在你成长的过程中，谁曾栽培和建立你的属灵生命？
你如何引导孩子的心去学习圣经中的智慧？
圣经里的智慧，使我能更认识祢，
并能与他人一起分享，包括孩子们。