TEACH THEM TO PURSUE PURPOSE, NOT JUST MONEY

I was privileged to attend the ordination of some Catholic priests years ago. The memory is still fresh as if it happened yesterday. What struck me most was not the ordination itself, but the parents.

I saw parents of the newly ordained priests in an indescribable joyful mood. They were beaming as though they had already made it to heaven. To them, it was the highest honour and prestige to have their sons ordained into the Roman Catholic priesthood.

As I watched, a thought crossed my mind - these young, handsome men would never marry, never have children of their own, never build houses and amass lands for themselves. Yet their parents were overjoyed that their sons would serve God all the days of their lives, even with nothing material to gain in this world.

I later discovered that those parents had nurtured that priestly dream from childhood and helped their sons preserve it. In fact, I was told that if any of them had dropped out of seminary, it would have been considered shameful and a dent to the family's image.

I was also told that in some parts of Eastern Nigeria, some families are more proud to produce at least one priest or Reverend Sister than to produce business moguls or top professionals. But the reverse is often the case among us non-Catholics.

In our circles today, if a young person perceives the call of God upon his life into full-time ministry or missions, his immediate family may be the first to wage war against him. They will remind him of how much they suffered to send him to school and why he must pursue money, not purpose.

*We call our own lazy and lacking in vision when they choose to serve the Lord. This is one sign that we are failing as parents - when we train our children to pursue money instead of purpose.* 
We raise them to be academically sound but totally empty of a sense of purposeful living.

_“But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” - Matthew 6:33_

I once watched a video where a mission leader lamented that their children are not taking up the work of missions. While I do not have all the answers to that, one thing I know that contributes to it is how some missionaries and ministers raise their own children to hate ministry, albeit unknown to them.

If a missionary father keeps complaining about hardship, lack, and suffering in ministry before his children, and constantly tells them to pursue a career that will give them money, those children will grow up hating ministry. To them, ministry will become synonymous with suffering and poverty.

What did Manoah do differently?

When the angel told him his wife would bear a son, his first prayer was not about the child's wealth, career or fame. His burden was, *"How shall we raise him?"*

He was more concerned about raising Samson to fulfill divine purpose than raising him to chase mundane things.

Samson had a purpose from the womb:

_"For, lo, thou shalt conceive, and bear a son... for the child shall be a Nazarite unto God from the womb: and he shall begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines." - Judges 13:5_

Every child has a God-ordained purpose. Our job as parents is not to choose a lucrative path for them, but to discover and nurture God's purpose for them.

> _"Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it." - Proverbs 22:6_

The "way he should go" is not just the way of money, but the way of his God-given assignment. As parents, let us do the following:

 *Discover purpose:* Ask God like Manoah, "Lord, what is your purpose for this child?"

 *Don't kill their passion for God:*

If your child shows interest in serving God, praying, preaching, or missions, don't shut it down with fear of poverty.

 *Model a purpose-driven life:*

Let your children see that you pursue God, not just gold.

Money without purpose is vanity. Purpose will eventually attract provision.

May God help us to raise purposeful children who will fulfill divine destiny in Jesus name. Amen.