The Trouble with Losing

This will be our fifth and final exhortation for the parental work of soul-winning.

The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life,
and whoever captures/wins souls is wise.
(Proverbs 11:30 ESV)

Remember: this winning aims for the heart, for souls that know security and fellowship and playfulness, not merely “winning” a quiet house. The winning works covenantally and mimetically, kids are fruit from parental trees, and so on with our children’s children; that they look like you is God’s design, their faces and their practices. The winning is unto righteousness, a likeness to God’s own Son. And the winning takes individual account, the soul of each kid is different. All this belongs with generational and community building.

Perhaps the greatest thing limiting our winning is our wanting. There are plenty of books. Most of them are in one wisdom volume, and have titles such as Psalms, Proverbs, and Ecclesiastes. Get wisdom. Watch the fruitful, imitate their faith.

Of course, the opposite of winning/capturing is losing. It’s wise to consider other possible ends. While many Proverbs stand on their own, the previous verse relates:

Whoever troubles his own household will inherit the wind,
and the fool will be servant to the wise of heart.
(Proverbs 11:29 ESV)

Trouble your household by anger, by apathy, by lack of affection, and your kids will be like the wind: gone. Later in life, your house and your own soul will be as empty as a hand trying to grasp the wind.

And then the verse that follows:

If the righteous is repaid on earth,
how much more the wicked and the sinner!
(Proverbs 11:31 ESV)

Parents, you will see results. Results come from character (righteous or wicked) in action. May the Lord bless you to win the souls of all your kids.