Explaining the Title (Part Three: "Etc.")

Discerning reader that you are, you've likely recognized that there's much more to the verse than the two words I've explored to date:

A wise servant takes charge of an unruly child
and is honored as one of the family.
(Proverbs 17:2, MSG)

I'd said previously that my immediate response was much like coming across an old photo and recognizing your own face.  I'm a childcare provider by trade, and have been so humbled and touched by the special favor I have with the families I serve.

But as I also said previously - the Bible has this surprising way of unfolding itself like petals of a flower, revealing progressively deeper and more precious meanings.

I am a servant of the Creator of me, you, and all that is around us.  He is the source of wisdom, and I have found that as I seek to learn more about Him, I become wiser (among a wealth of other things).

But I know He sees me as even more than a servant in His "household."

Paul, a man who wasn't with Jesus before His crucifixion, wrote the following to two different groups of believers in the first century:

For you are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus.
(Galatians 3:26, NLT)

For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God.
(Romans 8:14, NLT)

John was a man who followed Jesus during His three years teaching, before the crucifixion.  Though others wrote accounts of Jesus's life (Gospels), especially in John's account we see Him refer to God as the Father again and again.  But is the Father only a parent to Jesus, the Son of God?

Not according to the above two verses.  Faith in Jesus makes us a child of God, and one way to identify a child of God is if that person follows the leadership, direction, and instruction of God's very real presence that is still here today: the Spirit.

Paul actually continues, later on, in his letter to the believers in the region of Galatia:

You can tell for sure that you are now fully adopted as His own children because God sent the Spirit of His Son into our lives crying out, “Papa! Father!” Doesn’t that privilege of intimate conversation with God make it plain that you are not a slave, but a child? And if you are a child, you’re also an heir, with complete access to the inheritance.
(Galatians 4:6-7, MSG)

I am not a slave, but a child.  The servant has been promoted to the status of heir - "honored as one of the family."

And what about that remaining bit?  The "takes charge of an unruly child" aspect?  It's not at all about wrangling a brat into forced submission - because that child is loved dearly by the parents - parents who recognize the importance of raising said child up right, to make good decisions for himself.

It's about discipleship.  I know that walking with God is not always a walk in the park - and anyone who promised you otherwise was lying through their teeth.  Jesus Himself talked more than once about the cost involved in building a life worth living - a life that could stand strong against the storms of this world.

So to honor my Father, I hope you will allow me the honor of pointing you toward Him.  This is what discipleship is - one believer encouraging someone else not to follow her, but to follow God.