LIVING WATERS
For the proclamation of the Gospel and the edification of the Body of Christ
Turning the Hearts to the Children
"And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children" (Luke 1:17).
When the angel Gabriel announces to Zechariah the ministry of John, he predicts that he will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children. And to do so he takes the prophecy of Malachi. However, this prophecy said: "He will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the children to their fathers" (4:6). Why does the angel quote the first part of the prophecy, and not the second? The reason seems to be simple. When the heart of the fathers truly turns to the children, then necessarily the heart of the children will turn to the fathers.
Undoubtedly, the greatest responsibility lies with the parents. The first generation determines the reaction of the second. The greatest loss in the children is caused when the parents have not sown in them the seed of truth. For at least fifteen years, the children are at the entire disposal of their parents, with a docile, receptive mind, with a sensitive heart, and the parents can sow in them practically anything they want.
Children are a kind of "tabula rasa", receiving all the influences of adults, without restrictions. If the parents do not know how to sow in them the good seed, it is necessary to repent of that and to take the first step for a restoration. When they fail in this work, and when they begin to reap the bitter fruit of the apostasy and rebellion of the children, they must be the first to begin to recover things.
Someone may say: "I have turned to my son, but my son does not turn to me". The seed that has been sown for many years must still bear fruit. "He that soweth to his own flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption" (Gal. 6:8). You have yet to reap all that you have sown, while you wait on the Lord's mercy. You can only bow your head before Him and ask for the bad harvest to end soon. But, without a doubt, the day will come when you will win your child's heart. Parents must repent before God of their evil deeds, and then do the same before their children; they must seek before God how to recover the place they abandoned in his heart, and then sow, as far as possible -and if it is still possible- the good seed.
In John's time, the heart of the parents was distanced from the children, and the first thing to do was to produce a turnaround in favor of them. Such a picture does not differ much from the present situation. The indifference and rebelliousness of the children today may well be the consequence of a previous disinterest and indifference of the parents towards them. May the Lord grant grace to parents to recover, in the fear of the Lord, the hearts of their children before it is too late.