Words by our Priest-in-Charge:
The God Gene
Train up a child in the way he should go, And when he is old he will not depart from it.
Proverbs 22:6
We have just concluded the Diocesan English and Chinese Children Worship Conference in Tawau. It was quite an encouraging experience to see more than 500 children gathered together in one place, to envision these children to be mighty men and women of God in the future, penetrating into society.
In order for us to see a new generation of servants of God, we could not leave it to chance. Today’s Bible quotation specifically tells us to “train up” a child in the way he should go, so that he will stay on course for the rest of his life. The Hebrew word for “train up” is khanakh, also means “to dedicate”. It is used also in reference to the dedication or consecration of an altar or temple. It means to train up a child, we need to dedicate the child – to train him up in the way of the Lord, we need to dedicate him to the Lord. What does it mean to dedicate a child to the Lord? Just as we dedicate an altar or building to the Lord, we cleanse it from all defilement. We also keep anything unclean, unacceptable by the Lord, anything defiling from the child. This may be a good guide.
Sometimes ago there was a movie made about this man who is looking for the evidence of the existence of a so called, “evil gene”. He studied so hard from the observation of human behavior hoping to find proofs that show some people are just born evil. Therefore, they could not help themselves but act evil and commit crimes. If he could prove that a person’s behavior is entirely determined by his genetic make-up, it also suggests that there in existence a “God gene”, which could be genetically engineered into a person to change his behavior. Of course, to his frustration, he failed to make such discovery.
Some people to day believe that people are born with certain behavioral tendency or inclination which could not be changed or altered. By the power of God and the finished work of Jesus on the Cross, a person could be transformed into the man or woman God had has beautifully made him. Dedicate our children to the Lord, commit them to the Lord’s hand deliberately, and we will, in due time, see the birthing forth of a generation of mighty men and women of great faith in God’s Kingdom!