17 And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous—to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.
I have missed this so many times as I have read Luke. If you want to be prepared for the Lord then you have to be in right relationship with your children and turning your heart toward God’s wisdom. John the Baptist’s ministry, and I might say by extension every person’s ministry, is to help people focus on their families and on seeking God. We see the lack of focus especially in this generation of expensive toys and dual careers. The dual careers are so often the result of too many toys resulting in too many bills. Some couples have to have dual working schedules despite frugal living, but so many make financial choices that force them into work. There are also those who choose dual career living because they have such a low view of the value of raising children. They fail to see being a parent as the most important job on the planet. And of course the media bombards us with the message that being a parent cannot compare to the successful out-of-home career. But how many second-wage-earning adults have that ‘successful’ career? So often the second wage goes to pay for childcare or guilt-toys. You know what I am talking about, those things given to kids out of guilt because you weren’t there yourself. Parents like this can’t say “no” to their kids because they are afraid of rejection. John the Baptist’s job was to turn fathers to their children. Boy could we use some of that turning here in the United States. Fathers seem so often to be turning in every direction except toward their kids. But John also was challenged to turn the disobedient back to wisdom, God’s wisdom. There are many things that just make sense if you take time to think about them. But we are so often too busy to slow down and think about the consequences of our actions and choices. We would rather “act now” and think about the consequences later. Part of our job as Jesus-followers is to focus on our families and take time to listen to the wisdom God has for us.
The Arnold Journey 