The Grands Letter

Dear Grands,

Proverbs 3:5-13, “Trust in the LORD with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding.
6 In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.
7 Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD and turn away from evil.
8 It will be healing to your body and refreshment to your bones.
9 Honor the LORD from your wealth and from the first of all your produce;
10 So your barns will be filled with plenty and your vats will overflow with new wine.
11 My son, do not reject the discipline of the LORD or loathe His reproof,
12 For whom the LORD loves He reproves, even as a father corrects the son in whom he delights.
13 How blessed is the man who finds wisdom and the man who gains understanding.”

Looking back at the multifaceted instruction I received in life brings mixed emotions. Education is primarily the responsibility of the parents, who have elected to bring children into the world. When the normal circumstances of life prohibit additional instruction, children are required to sit under the tutelage of those, who have prepared themselves for that venture.

The biblical passage cited above reminds us that the LORD is our primary
Teacher, and we are ever and always to acknowledge Him as such. We are not to “lean” upon our own understanding, or to simply consider ourselves to be “wise” (perhaps because in some area we are more well-versed than
others). Our first and foremost responsibility is to acknowledge the LORD as our Supreme Teacher.

We are clearly instructed in the verses above that our acknowledgement of the LORD as Primary in our lives will result in blessings “a plenty.” Failure,
to acknowledge Him as Primary, however, will result in Divine discipline.

Parents who physically discipline their children for disobedience or doing wrong are acutally correcting them in love. Such parents are desirous that their children to live correctly and obediently toward God and toward human society.

Children who learn to live by the LORD’s standard ultimately become good
citizens and good parents themselves. They have lived as the LORD has intended; now their instruction for life is passed on to their children! Such is the LORD’s instruction for life. We will do well to acknowledge and follow His pattern.

Heartily in Christ Jesus,

(Dado III)

Gene L. Jeffries, Th.D.
Springdale, Arkansas 72764
United States of America

“We never know that Christ is all we need until He becomes all that we have.” – Corrie ten Boom