For though ye have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet have ye not many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the Gospel. 1 Corinthians 4:15
There is always something very special and lasting about the relationship we have with anybody who God used to bring us to salvation. There is also something very special about one or two people who were involved in our early months and years after we were saved. I recall some very dear men who were true fathers in the faith, who had a true care and interest in me. I often wonder what might have happened to me had it not been for such fathers as Hiel Patterson and Floyd Stewart, And mothers like Annie Haines. These men and women had a true care and love for the souls of young believers, and a desire to see us preserved and given a solid foundation on which to live for God. These are the people Paul is speaking of in today’s text. Like diamonds, such spiritual parents are rare and very precious.
We should not minimize the value of instructors. At a conference, good men with a deep exercise feed the saints with excellent ministry. Each Lord’s Day, a brother with a good word presents it to the Assembly. Among us are older brothers and sisters who often pass on a word of encouragement and advice to younger Christians. All these are instructors, and we would be a sorry lot without them. We need to appreciate them and accept what they pass on to us. But these instructors will never take the place of our fathers in the faith. These fathers serve a very special purpose, in addition to all they have done for us: they serve as a wonderful example to us of how we can be fathers – and mothers – in the faith to young believers around us.
Paul served as an ideal example of a spiritual father. For one thing, he always told the truth. Those he sought to guide and instruct could count on his faithfulness in his dealings with them. Where correction was needed, he gave it. Where error lurked, he was quick to expose it. Paul’s motives were always the highest. Never seeking financial gain or trying to curry favour, he served with the greatest good of his followers at heart. Paul also did everything he could to draw his followers to the Saviour’s higher example. We see in those spiritual fathers of ours something of Paul’s character. And that is the same character we need to display to those to whom God would have us be spiritual fathers and mothers.
Would you like to have the joy of seeing young Christians going on well for their Lord? Be a spiritual father or mother to them… emulate those who were spiritual fathers and mothers to you. -Jim MacIntosh