Fathers

Paul says to the Corinthians: “You are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read by all men; you are manifestly an epistle of Christ, ministered by us, written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of flesh, that is, of the heart.” 2 Cor. 3:2-3. The Corinthians were the letter, and this letter was written in Paul’s heart by the living Spirit of God. Therefore we need not go to the Corinthians to read the letter, but to Paul’s heart where it can be known and read by all men. His heart is revealed in his writings. It is a truthful letter, a truthful image of the church in Corinth that Paul had in his heart, for it was written there by the living Spirit of God Himself. In verse 6 Paul says that God makes us sufficient to be ministers of the Spirit, who gives life. This ministry, and those who were being served, were written in his heart by that same Spirit. Therefore he continues: “You are in our hearts, to die together and to live together.” Ch. 7:3. What an advantage it was for the Corinthians to be in Paul’s heart! They shared in the blessings of which he partook, because when Paul prayed for himself and opened his heart, the Corinthians were also there; in this way they became partakers with him of his grace. Therefore Paul could also pray for the churches without ceasing. When Paul says that they are also a letter of Christ it is because the Spirit has written it in his heart, and the Spirit does only what He hears from Christ. It is therefore wonderful to know that the Spirit doesn’t just speak to our heart, but that He also writes in our heart. However, it is even more wonderful to experience it than just to know it. Blessed is everyone who experiences it. He can, in sincere love, say with Paul: “I do not seek yours, but you.” He sought what God had written in his heart. Therefore he says, “I do not seek yours . . . .” On the contrary, he says that children ought not to lay up for the parents, but the parents for the children. Paul was one of the fathers. He sought the well-being of the children. He laid up a storehouse of heavenly light and treasures and let the children have them. Blessed are those who have such fathers. His love went so far that he said, “I will gladly sacrifice and be sacrificed for your souls; though the more abundantly I love you, the less I am loved.” True fathers sacrifice what they have, and in addition, they sacrifice themselves for the children. For example, one father is a businessman. He is in the fullness of the strength of his manhood. His children grow up by means of his life. He sacrifices everything for them. He struggles for them; he struggles for them from early morning till late at night. As the children mature, they enter their father’s business. Then they become co-workers. But then the father begins to grow older, and he has to be sacrificed. His vision begins to dim, and his sons have to fill that need; then his hearing begins to go, and his sons must also fill that need. They have to fill up every increasing weakness. Death begins to work in the father, but life is working in his sons. See 2 Corinthians 4:12. This is the way in which the father is being sacrificed, with the sons replacing him. Paul says, “We are weak, but you are strong.” 1 Cor. 4:10. This is also the case with the fathers in Christ whose hearts are inscribed by the Holy Spirit. The children whom they have begotten in the Lord are written in their hearts as well as in heaven. However, in addition to laying up for the children, they also bequeath an inheritance to hem. Therefore it is glorious to have faithful fathers in Christ. When the fathers have fallen asleep, the children inherit responsibility for the church—all the treasures and all the glories of the church that the fathers have laid up. The children are to continue faithfully to build what the parents have started. Therefore it is vital for the parents to raise their spiritual children in the right way. Where the fathers have not brought sacrifices and have not been sacrificed, it will be the same as if the businessman had not let his children come into the business.