Love at Generations
美佳之窗His Window 90（ Apr – Jun 2020 ）
Text by Rev Phan Wu Chung
Translated by Stephen Cheng
On 18 March, owing to the Covid 19 pandemic, the Malaysian Government implemented the Movement Control Restriction (MCO). Initially, the MCO was supposed to end on 31/3, but unexpectedl extended to another week. Again it was further extended to 14/4 and subsequently to 12 of May.
The implementation of the MCO has caught many people by surprise; many families have to make adjustments to the new ways of life. Before the MCO, after work, the parents would fetch their children from the nanies or tuition centers, but now they have to face thier children the whole day. Spending time together under the MCO, the parents would be very happy when their children are happy, but would be upset when they don't behave well. This similar situation happens to the husband and wife too. Before, they were busy with their own things, but now are not used to facing each other day and night. Although they have mutually made a wow to happily live together forever, now everyday spending too much together within the same space might unavoidaly cause some conflicts even over small matters (perhaps, they have not quarrelled for a while). Under the present situation, we may ask "how can we live out our love in the family?" After the MCO, we may realize that this is not just a slogan, but we need to continuosly learn and practise the lesson of love.
REVERE CHRIST AND SUBMIT TO HIM
In Ephesians 5:21-33, Paul teaches us about the principle of the mutual love of husband and wife, and in 6:1-4 he mentions about the parents-children relationship and how they should live together in harmony. I will not further explain these scriptures becuse they are so familiar to us. We learn from these scriptures that love is very important. If there is no love in the family, the relationships between husband and wife and parents and children will not last. Then, what kind of foundation is love based on? When we read Ephesians 5:21, we seem to overlook the significance of 'Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ', which leads us to the main topic of our discussion on how to maintain the human interpersonal relationships. In other word, our love is based on our reverence and submission to Christ Jesus. The husband needs to learn to revere Christ and submit to Him, then only he knows how to use Christ's love to love his wife. Similarly, the wife needs to learn to revere Christ, then only she will submit to the husband after Christ's heart. In the same way, the parents need to learn to revere Christ, then only they can teach their children after Christ's heart. The children too need to learn to revere Christ, then only they know how to obey their parents "out of Christ."
Based on Paul's teachings, we do not seem to know how to love, or use a wrong method to love, or we notice the younger generations who do not know how to respect the elders, all because they have not learned how to revere Christ and submit to Him. If we are unable to grasp of the Lord's desires, and unwilling to follow His teachings to handle the human relationships, then how can we hope to have love in the family.
BELIEVERS SHOULD STRESS ON THE IMPORTANCE OF THE SPIRITUAL LIFE
From a certain point of view, although the Covid 19 crisis is a huge disaster, it has created the opportunity for the family members to spend more time together. If we treat gathering together of the family members as a 'disaster', then we are definitely wasting this unique opportunity. There is an issue mentioned in "Generational Discipleship" on the allocation of the time concept of 1/168, in which generally we spend only one hour related to the spiritual activity mainly attending the church service on Sunday. During the time together with the family members at home, (minus working/schooling/sleeping whcih take up most time)
usually we do not discuss anything about faith. We tend to find excecuses to defend for ourselves, either too busy at work, or too much stress and no time ........ yet we find time to watch the TV Korean drama, browse the Facebook, swipe the hand phone or going for a holiday trip, except that there is no time to indulge in spiritual discussions. Just image, this life style if allowed to continue on, will the faith of our next generations be remained firm?
PARENTS SHOULD BOLDLY FACE THEIR RESPONSIBILITIES
During the MCO period, my wife unintentionally noticed our neiphours who were drawing some square boxes on the floor and engaging with their children to play the 'jumping the airoplane' game. This game which is almost non-existing was used to be played by the present-time adults, but now it appears rather strange to the city kids. However, with the 'help' of this unprecented crisis, this outdated game has the chance to be "replayed"! I think "Family Discipleship" is not a new topic which we seem to have overlooked because of our long involvement in the whirlpool of the worldly affairs.
Now is the moment God is calling us to face up to the responsibilities that He is entrusting to us as the Christian parents: "Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and whe you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates." Deuteronomy 6:4-9
Let's concertedly put our efforts together to 'revamp' this important mission to enable our next generations to respectfully revere God. Let's hope that "love in the family" is not just a slogan, and also is not an unattainable dream!