Ladies, you are getting more than you probably wanted from me this week. Fear not Chie will be back soon! Chie asked me to write this daddy’s diary on the significance behind Kiko’s life verse Romans 12:2.
For those unfamiliar with the verse here it is “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”
As I thought about the birth of my first child and what impression I want to leave on her I thought long and hard. The scriptures are life and it is hard to localize one focal point but after thought and prayer I ended on this verses. Here’s why;
First, this verse assumes a certain knowledge of the Lord. As parents raising our children Chie and I will look to raise Kiko “in” the knowledge of the Lord not “to” a knowledge of the Lord. What I mean by this is, Lord willing there will never be a time when my daughter does not have intimate knowledge of her God and Father and a relationship with Jesus Christ. From infancy I pray she understand her place as a daughter of Christ. If the Lord so allows she will always be one who is a follower and will be one who does not need instruction to come to the Lord but will be one who needs instruction on how to live as a follower. This verse is sent to someone inside the family. It is instruction for a highly prized child just as I pray Kiko will be. She is a child set apart for the Lord who the Lord through the Scriptures will continually teach on how to live as the daughter she truly is.
Secondly, this verse says all of what I want her to know about this life. If for some reason I do not live to see her grow in this life, I can be sure this verse will well represent what I would have tried to teach her. She being a daughter in a Christian family will have certain privileges in the kingdom. Being a daughter in the family will also come with certain requirements and duties. Being a daughter of the Kingdom will also mean that she must always be separate and never hold too tightly to this world which is passing away. She is to be transformed day by day moment by moment by the knowledge of the perfection of Christ. She is to discern the truth from the lies of this world and to know God through meditation on perfection. If this verse can be applied and lived, my hope and desire for my daughter will have been realized. Kiko is not first and foremost my daughter, she is first and foremost the daughter of the most high and it is as that which I must raise her. I must raise her to look beyond me. It is as the daughter of Christ that she must live.
Thirdly, this verse comes in a chapter from which I plan to give all my future children a life verse from. In having all my children vested in Romans 12 I hope to give them a unique family experience a unique corporate understanding to their Christian walk. Certainly my children will walk as individual Christians with personal devotion to the Lord but, beyond that I pray they see themselves as part of a family which is set apart unto the Lord. As they can see themselves within a family of believers hopefully Kiko and the future children can understand themselves as part of something even larger than that, I pray they begin to fully realize their position in Christ beyond merely the “I”. They are a part of the body and this body spans time, race, gender, it connects fellow members to their Lord in ways beyond description and does so for eternity.
Lastly, I see this verse as a promise. It is a promise that what is of the Lord, what is of Christ is perfection and has power to transform. It has power to give life and to give it abundantly. That perfection when gazed upon, when meditated upon can deliver what I as her earthly father never can, what no earthly entity ever can. It is a promise that we are destined to perfection and that holding on to that perfection here and now will give life beyond which I can possibly understand.
Kiko, as your father, I lift you up, I entrust that you will not be conformed to this world but rather you will be transformed and will know, you will see you will understand perfection and know that the perfection of Him is a perfection that you are called to embody here and now through the guidance and sanctification of the Spirit.
Andy
