Jesus’ Witness 耶稣的见证人
Dexu Xia
You will be [Jesus’] witness to all people of what you have seen and heard. Acts 22:15
Today's Scripture Acts 22:12-16
Today's Insights Why do we believe the apostle Paul had no children? We can infer this from what the Bible tells us about him. By his own admission, it seems he didn’t have a wife (1 Corinthians 9:5). And prior to his conversion to Christ, he’d been a law-abiding Pharisee “zealous for God” (Acts 22:3). It’s highly unlikely that such a law-keeper would have children outside of marriage. It’s possible that Paul may have been married and then widowed, but there’s no indication of this in Scripture. In addition, he strongly implies that he has the gift of singleness (1 Corinthians 7:7). Twice he refers to “my true son” in the faith (1 Timothy 1:2; Titus 1:4). But “son” refers to spiritual children he introduced to Jesus and then discipled, not to physical progeny. Today, we can ask God to help us share our faith with the children and others that God places in our path
Today's Devotion I’ve heard it said, “We can’t make our children believe. We can only give our children reason to believe what we believe.” That’s a wise observation—but how do we do it?
Of all people to take parenting advice from, the apostle Paul is seldom the first choice. It’s likely that he had no children. Parents often prefer to hear from someone who’s been there, done that, someone who knows about sleepless infants, the storms of puberty, and how it feels to pray for a prodigal. Yet Paul (or Saul) has something to teach us here.
Saul had been on his way to persecute Christians when Christ intervened. This man fell to the ground, blinded (Acts 9:1-9). Soon he was visited by Ananias, who restored his sight and explained his mission: “The God of our ancestors has chosen you to know his will and to see the Righteous One and to hear words from his mouth. You will be his witness to all people of what you have seen and heard” (22:14-15). Saul, later called Paul, did witness, and God gave him a quiverful of spiritual offspring. His “parenting approach” was to share what he’d seen, and to pray.
Whether parenting our own children or interacting with others, we can’t make them believe. Rather, we witness with our words and lives as to what we’ve seen and heard. And we pray. Our God, who sent Paul to the gentiles, sends us with the same instruction: Witness so they may believe. Then entrust them to our Father, who loves them.
Reflect & Pray
What children are in your sphere of influence? How might you share your faith with them?
Heavenly Father, may our children believe in You. By John Blade
你要向万人作[耶稣的]见证，见证你所看见、所听见的。（使徒行传 22:15）
今日经文：使徒行传 22:12-16
今日感悟：为什么我们认为使徒保罗没有肉身的子女？这个结论我们可以从圣经对他的记载中推断出来。据他自己所述，他似乎没有妻子（哥林多前书 9:5）。在归信基督之前，他曾是一位“为神大发热心”、严守律法的法利赛人（使徒行传 22:3）。像他这样严守律法的人，极不可能有婚外子女。保罗是否可能曾结婚然后丧偶？圣经中并无此类推测的佐证。此外，保罗强烈暗示自己拥有独身的恩赐（哥林多前书 7:7）。他曾两次提到自己在信仰上的“真儿子”（提摩太前书 1:2；提多书 1:4）。但这“儿子”指的是他在信仰上带领归主并加以教导的属灵后代，而非肉身的子女。今天，我们可以祈求神帮助我们，向神带到我们生命中的孩子，以及其他的人分享我们的信仰。
今日灵修：我曾听人说过：“我们无法强迫孩子相信。我们只能让孩子有理由去相信我们所信的。”这是一句充满智慧的话，但我们该如何做到呢？ 在寻求育儿建议时，人们不太可能先去听取使徒保罗的建议。因为他很可能没有子女。父母们往往更愿意听取那些有亲身经验的人的意见，比如那些经历过婴儿夜啼、青春期风暴，以及为浪子祈祷之煎熬的人。然而，保罗在这方面也能给我们一些教导。
扫罗（保罗的原名）在前往迫害基督徒的途中，遭到了基督的拦阻。他仆倒在地，双目失明（使徒行传 9:1-9）。不久，亚拿尼亚来访，使他重见光明并向他阐明了使命：“我们祖宗的神拣选了你，叫你明白祂的旨意，又得见那义者，听祂口中的声音。因为你要将所看见、所听见的，向万人为祂作见证”（22:14-15）。扫罗（后来被称为保罗）确实作了见证，神也赐予他丰硕的属灵儿女。他的“教养之道”就是分享自己的所见所闻，并为此祷告。
无论是养育自己的孩子，还是与他人相处，我们都无法强迫他们相信。相反，我们应当用言语和生命，为自己所见所闻的真理作见证，并为此祷告。那位差遣保罗去向外邦人传道的上帝，也同样差遣我们，并赋予我们同样的使命：作见证，好叫人信主；然后将他们交托给那位深爱他们的天父。
反思与祷告 有哪些孩子在你的影响范围内？你会如何与他们分享你的信仰？
天父啊，愿我们的孩子都能信靠祢。
作者：约翰·布莱德