“I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth.”
The Apostle John was certainly not unaware of the joy of personal soul-winning. It brings tremendous spiritual exhilaration to lead a sinner to the Lord Jesus. But for John, a greater joy—in fact, the greatest joy—was to see his children in the faith going on steadfastly for the Lord.
Dr. M. R. DeHaan wrote, “There was a time in my ministry that I often said, ‘The greatest joy of a Christian is to lead a soul to Christ.’ As the years passed, I changed my mind…So many, over whom we rejoiced when they made their professions, soon fell by the wayside, and our joy came to ultimate grief and sorrow. But to come back to a place years afterward and find ‘converts’ growing in grace, walking in the truth—this is the greatest joy.”
When asked for the thing that brings more joy than anything else in life, LeRoy Eims said, “When the person you have led to Christ grows and develops into a dedicated, fruitful, mature disciple who then goes on to lead others to Christ and help them in turn as well.”
It is not surprising that this should provide the greatest joy. The spiritual has its parallel in the natural. There is great joy when a baby is born, but there is always the nagging question. “How will he turn out?” How pleased the parents are when he matures and proves to be a man of excellent character and accomplishments! So we read in HYPERLINK "javascript:" : “My son, if thine heart be wise, my heart shall rejoice, even mine. Yea, my reins shall rejoice, when thy lips speak right things.”
One practical lesson that emerges from all this is that we should not be satisfied with superficial methods of evangelism and of discipleship. If we want spiritual children who will walk in the truth, we must be prepared to pour our lives into theirs, a costly process involving prayer, instruction, encouragement, counseling and correction.