Fiber for the Soul The Paternity Test October 2005

When I was born, the first person I related to was my mother, and later I wondered, who was this man, fumbling to change my cloth diapers. Well, I have to confess I really don’t remember this incident, but just the same, the first person a child bonds with is the mother. It is later that the father comes into focus. I remember my role as a father when I took my daughter into the world of swings, merry-go-rounds and a play ground near a lake. Those are precious memories and ones in which the concept of the world is passed on. Playing with our children is important as it gets them acquainted with the light side of life. When we put band-aids on skinned knees and elbows they experience love, care and tenderness. Often in today’s world the father is missing in action and children grow up without a male figure to show how to handle one’s self in the world. When a father is found, he may be subject to a paternity test to determine if he really is the biological father. Fatherhood is more than DNA, and more than playing baseball on a Saturday with a son, or playing with dolls with a daughter. The paternity test of a successful father is when a young boy or girl matures and develops into being truly independent. And, in the Christian context, the paternity test is when a child matures in life and lives by faith. I am reading through 1st Corinthians. In the fourth chapter, before Paul talked about being a spiritual father, he talked about how we are on display to the world. We, however, are on display not for worldly success, but more as dead meat and road-kill. We often endure hardship because the world does not understand a life of faith and looks down on such a lifestyle as namby-pamby. The Message version says, "We are potato peelings in the culture’s kitchen." When we are ill spoken of by others, we turn around and bless; and this doesn’t set well with those who hurt us for we may appear wishy-washy. It is just after this recitation that Paul says there are many people who will theologically show us where we went wrong, but fewer are the people who will be spiritual fathers with us. That is, help us grow when the world dumps its garbage on our easy chair. I find that real growth in Jesus is shown when we understand the difference between worldly success, and spiritual success such as when Jesus is magnified by our lives of faith and humility. The paternity test for those we mentor is best understood when they see Jesus as the one who was crucified to give eternal life. His death on the cross was the real paternity test--initiated by our Father who is in Heaven. A friend of Jesus, Gary Kallio

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