To raise for the king

by Bill D. Hallsted

"Oh, no!" the emissary protested. "You must never think that. Never. Neither must the child think that. The child must be raised knowing he is the child of the king. The king would never give his child away. He is entrusting his child to your care only for an indefinite time. There is great danger to the child from the king's enemies. It will be your responsibility to raise that child for him."

The woman spoke: "You mean to protect him?"

"That, yes, but very much more. The child must learn to conduct himself as a child of the king. He is royalty. The child must learn how the king wishes him to live. He must learn all he needs to know in order to bring honour to the king's name. He must know how to never, ever do anything to disgrace the king."

The woman's face betrayed a great and sudden fear. "Does that mean the king will send for him sometime?"

"Assuredly. Only the king knows when, of course."

"But what if we don't want to give him up then? We shall become very attached, I'm afraid."

"I'm sure you will. I'm sure it will also be quite painful when the time of separation comes. You will be privileged, however, at a later time, to see the child take his rightful place as the royal heir. You will feel the pride of seeing him be all that you have trained him to be." A shadow crossed his brow. "There would be unbearable shame, of course, if that time revealed he had been poorly trained. But we assume you will fulfill your responsibility well. You will also be handsomely rewarded by the king himself in due time. Now then, do you have any questions?"

"I'm sure we must have a million questions. How can we possibly know how to train such a child? Why, we don't even know how one is supposed to eat in the presence of royalty!"

"Then you must learn! Whatever this child needs to know, it will be your responsibility to teach, or to obtain someone else to teach." The emissary's face became grave as he continued. "You must never forget he is the king's child, not yours. If you were ever to forget that fact, the king would have to consider it an attempt to kidnap his child. It would be no small thing to be guilty of trying to steal the king's own child!"

It was the man's turn to speak. "Why is he being entrusted to us?"

"I do not know why you were chosen. But let me tell you things that were not the reasons. As I said, it is not so he can be your child; you must never fall into the treason of thinking this is your child. It is not so you can experience the thrill of parenthood, although you probably will experience that thrill. It is not to give meaning and purpose to your lives, although he will certainly do that, too. It is not to provide you with love or security or comfort in your old age, or to fulfill your dreams and goals. He may do those things, or some of those things, but they are not the reason he is given into your care. He is given into your care so you can fulfill the responsibility of raising him for the king, whose child he is."

A far-fetched story? Not at all. It happens every day. It has already happened to every one of you who are parents. The children that you usually refer to as yours are not really yours at all. They are the King's. They belong to God. God has entrusted them to your care for an indefinite time, to raise for Him.

He did not give you children so you could experience the thrill of parenthood or to give meaning and purpose to your lives or to make your marriage strong or to provide you with love or security or comfort in your old age or to fulfill your dreams and goals through the lives of your children. They were entrusted into your care so you could: