Molding or A-Molderin'?

John Brown's body lies a-molderin' in the grave.

John Brown's body lies a-molderin' in the grave.

John Brown's body lies a-molderin' in the grave.

But his soul goes marching on.

(Words to a Civil War song) 

Some day (if Christ does not return) each of our bodies will lie a-molderin’ in the grave. We are all heading to the same earthly destination; the grave. It is definite and defiant. Death will call us whether we are ready or whether we have accomplished anything of value in life.

If we were to make a list of things we would like to accomplish, it would be varied. But, as parents, there might be one notation that would rise to the top of the list. That thing would be to make a positive impact on our children and who they are to be.

The gift of a child is, without argument, one of the greatest blessings and challenges we can ever face in life. After the cooing, gooing and fussing over the new life that has now arrived in our care, the day comes when we are suddenly hit with a life-shattering realization. We come to the understanding that we are responsible for shaping a life. We are nearly suffocated by the consciousness of the fact that this child will become what we model for them, and much of what we are.

There is a very sobering scripture in God’s word that is placed smack-dab in the middle of God’s law. 

Exodus 20:4-6 (CEV) Do not make idols that look like anything in the sky or on earth or in the ocean under the earth. Don't bow down and worship idols. I am the LORD your God, and I demand all your love. If you reject me, I will punish your families for three or four generations. But if you love me and obey my laws, I will be kind to your families for thousands of generations.

This scripture points out to us more than God’s destain with idols but tells a story of how the choices of parents affect children. God’s design was that parents become models for their offspring. Whether we are conscious of this or not, children will become duplicates who we are. 

One comedian said that you know you are getting old when you look into the mirror and say, “Dad, (or mom) when did you get here?” We often see more of our parents in us than we like. Yet, just the same, we can easily see how much of them is reprinted in us.

Lawrence Kohlberg did a study on the development of moral reasoning. In the study he states that around ten years of age children begin to consider what is right by what the people in their lives agree with. 

The Bureau of Social Hygiene Study, (Yes, I guess it was really called that!) in 1928 said this: 

“It is very difficult and expensive to undo, after you are married, the things that your mother and father did to you while you were putting your first six birthdays behind you.”

Years ago studies were done on specific ethnic groups that found that there were genetic propensities toward addictions that were passed down from parents. These conclusions, I think, were actually already given to us in Exodus 20. God knew the great extent of which we were going to carbon copy ourselves in our progeny. 

Garrison Keillor said, “Nothing you do for children is ever wasted. They seem not to notice us, hovering, averting our eyes, and they seldom offer thanks, but what we do for them is never wasted.” What we model for our children is not wasted. It becomes part of who our children will be. Part of God’s great plan was forming what we are, what we have learned, and what we experience of God into our children. (see Deuteronomy 4:5-9) He wants us to invest so that there is a heritage of Godly character that continues after we are molderin’ in the grave.

Our assurance from God is that keeping God as the top object of worship in our lives will insure generations of God’s favor. This is possible because we not only teach our children Godly living but pass on a heritage of how we choose (based on Godly percepts) to make decisions in our lives. In turn, when our children reproduce, in succession, their children will emulate them.

Proverbs 22:6
Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it.

A Roman tombstone reads: “All we who are dead below Have become bones and ashes, but nothing else.” Yet, in reality, even if there were no eternity, we do not become just bones and ashes but we become the influence of thousands of generations. When we place God, and His Word, in the lives of our children we becoming involved in something more than teaching children good-living tricks. We are investing in a deeper spiritual side of who they are. God and His Word go deep into who they are and will become. It becomes woven into the fabric of ever decision they make and every lesson they teach their children.

A part of you lives on throughout all the generations you began. This being so, how important it is that we model what we know God wants our future to become. The headlines of tomorrow are written based on what we model today. The direction of society is founded on the blueprint you draw up with your character today. You are the mold into which you are pouring your children and your grandchildren.

The song says “But his soul goes marching on.” Your soul, when you are dead and perhaps forgotten, goes marching on. It marches on, through time, to the cadence of your words, your actions, your values, and your God.

Hodding Carter wrote: “There are only two lasting bequests we can hope to give our children. One is roots; the other, wings.” Our children need to wings to fly free, to be who God intended them to be, to make their own decisions, but the current under them will always be what you placed in them. And they need the roots of Godly parents who show Godly character in all that they are.

1 Corinthians 15:55 (KJV)
O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?

Death is not so final when we realize that part of what we are continues. And though we believe in eternal life, the is no victory in death when our Godly character lives on through our children.

Once life is finished were we molding or a-moldering?

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Psalm 103:17

The LORD is always kind to those who worship him, and he keeps his promises to their descendants