The Apostle Paul said to the people of Corinth, “You do not have many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel. Therefore I urge you to imitate me.” (1 Co 4:15-17). Nowadays, many people have come to accept the fact that the Bible talks about having a spiritual father, but what about spiritual mothering? When the Apostle Paul wrote to his disciple Timothy, he made reference to the spiritual heritage in Timothy’s life. Paul first mentioned Timothy’s grandmother, Lois and then his mother, Eunice (2 Ti 1:5-6).
As I was thinking about the spiritual influences in my life, I couldn’t help but to think about Ms. Kim (affectionately know as Jip-sa-nim or a.k.a. Yoda). Whenever I see her, I am reminded of the importance of prayer and fasting. The spiritual discipline of fasting and prayer was something that she imparted to me when I was in college. I am truly indebted to her.
I still remember when she got me to pray without me even knowing about it – unbelievable! Since she did not know how to drive, she would ask me if I could drive her to a near by church so that she can pray (side note: it was interesting that she knew that I was free at that time… hmm). As I drove her to the church I was put in a dilemma – either I had to wait for her in the car (kind of like those mafia movies when the car driver would wait until the boss took care of “business”) or I would have to come back and pick her up. The problem with the latter choice was that I would not know when she would be finished with her prayer (I don’t know how we lived without a cell phone back then). Since I didn’t want to wait in the car while she was praying and I definitely did not want her waiting to be picked up, the only reasonable choice was to go in and pray with her. We did this for a whole semester.
As I look back on it now… it was something that she probably strategically planned. She could have gotten a ride with anybody, but why me? She could have prayed at another time (which she often did), but why at that specific time? She could have sat me down and preached to me about prayer, but why did she choose to show me? At the end of the day, I can come back to what Paul said in 1 Co 11:1, “Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ.”
Thanks Jipsanim for pouring yourself into Christina and me. We are where we are today with prayer because of your example.
Challenge: Who would you consider as your spiritual father or your spiritual mother?
Consideration: Maybe if we don’t have one, we can start asking God to place someone in our lives. If we do have one, be thankful and reciprocate the process to a younger person.