Mike Focht 9/6/2024
God knows every parent needs help. In His great mercy, He has not left us to our own resources. In fact, He promises and encourages parental prayer. One such instance is found in the gospel of Matthew. Jesus said, If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him! The context here is related to God’s good intention to give the promise of the Holy Spirit to all who ask, seek, and knock. Jesus is teaching us to put our faith in our Heavenly Father’s good and giving nature.
With this in mind, I believe all parents can make two prayerful applications of this beautiful word of Christ. First, Jesus takes it for granted that parents are sinners. If you then, being evil. Every parent is an imperfect expression of the perfect Heavenly Father. We should humbly admit this in prayer and confess something like this: Heavenly Father, have mercy on my wife and these children because they live with me and I am a sinful and selfish man. You know that my wife and these children must live with me in my fallen condition. Please, God, may the good of Your Spirit in them overcome the evil of my flesh in me. Help me not to be overcome by evil but overcome evil with good.
Our confession of the evil nature Christ sees in us makes us fitting objects of God’s rich mercies. It also makes our spouse and our children particular objects of His grace.
The second application takes it for granted that if evil and imperfect parents such as you and I can give good gifts—how much more will our Perfect Heavenly Father give good gifts?! In this realization of Jesus’ words, a parent can pray with full assurance of faith, something like this: Heavenly Father, You are wholly without evil. In You is no darkness at all. I come to You as a limited and fallen father and ask that You give my children good gifts out of Your glorious riches in Christ Jesus. If You are willing to give to me as Your child, though I am very evil, You will no doubt have mercy on my little ones as the children of a fallen father.
In this, we see that the God who would so willingly honor us as His children will no doubt have similar mercy and compassion for our children. He who designed the family unit will not allow parental weakness to block all the goodness He would extend to our little ones. I know that it is His good pleasure to give me the kingdom. Giving my children the kingdom is also His good pleasure.
May every fallen parent turn to this word of Christ for mercy and hope.