The Dye in the Wool
Greetings and good morning brothers and sisters This is Dr. James Perry continuing with our series
where we seek to explore the deeper meanings of our relationship with Jesus Christ. Over the years,
the heavenly Father has revealed many revelations of spiritual truth to me, and I want to share them
with you. This morning we seek to understand the dye in the wool.
And now, sit back and listen to today's message.
The Dye in the Wool
Jesus said, "If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will
come unto him, and make our abode with him." John, Chapter 14, Verse 23.
Brothers and sisters, in today's broadcast we shall discuss the reality of the Father's presence in our
souls. we shall examine the intimate relationship that he has with us as a Father, and how the
relationship is reflected out into our outer relationships. We shall use the parent child example to
help us to grasp the Father's love for us and hopefully as a reflection, this will help us to be better
parents. As parents we suffer never ending concerns, sharing ups and downs of life with our children.
There are many nights that we toss and turn in fitful sleep over concerns our offspring are
experiencing.
We have so much love for them, so much mercy, patience, and tolerance, so closely identified with
their struggles to win the battle of life that we invariably are empathetic with them. We feel what
they feel. When they hurt, we hurt. When they feel sorrow, we feel sorrow. When they feel
disappointment we feel disappointment. When they feel happy, we feel happy. When they feel
discouraged, we feel the same discouragement that they feel. We want so much for them to succeed
in the battle of life. Our hearts strain as we anxiously watch the unfolding of their lives, hoping and
praying that our parenting efforts have been successful. Even when they are finally on their own, our
ceaseless affection continues to follow them, and our ears are always open to their petitions. We
never stop being parents as long as we are in this life. "The true parent is engaged in a continuous
service-ministry which the wise child comes to recognize and appreciate."
There are many colors of cloth that are woven into the various apparels that we wear for clothing.
These clothes are made with some unnatural colors because of dyes. If you had a microscope and
placed one of these dyed fibers under it, you would see the fiber completely encased in a coating of
dye. And if you had an even powerful microscope, you would see the molecules of dye closely
associated with the molecules that make up the fibers. The dye in the wool is so closely intertwined
with the cloth that it shares the fate of the cloth. What happens to one, happens to the other.
Sometimes powerful bleaching agents can remove some or most of the dye, but this process
invariably destroys the fibers more or less.
And so the attitude of the true parent is to always be an integral part of the child's life and because
they are such an integral part of the child's life, they see the child's progress and well-being
indissolubly linked to their own sense of well-being. The parents play more of a role than just being
empathetic to the child. Most parents will have at least twenty years plus experience over the child,
and a lot of the ground that the child has covered, the parents, either one or both, have surely covered
before. With superior wisdom, the parent is therefore in a position to guide the child and to offer
insight into the child's struggle, as they have more than likely gone through similar struggles. It does
not have to be the same identical experience, the experience that one undergoes is largely determined
by the time that one is living in, but the nature of the struggle is always the same. It requires that the
individual become more than he is, to actualize some new potential that will allow him to function
on the new level that the conquest of the struggle represents.
The parent can display faith, patience, tolerance, encouragement, love, and mercy. It is always the
best attitude to display the faith of Fatherly love, "that faith which a parent has in his child, and
which enables him to love his fellows even as a father would love them. A father's love need not
pamper, and it does not condone evil, but it is always anticynical. Fatherly love has singleness of
purpose, and it always looks for the best in man; that is the attitude of a true parent." And as the true
parents relates to the child, the child comes to identify with the values of the parent.
The child comes to understand that the nature of struggle requires that he give all that he has to
overcome it. It is true that in some struggle he may reach the point where he is unable to continue,
but not because he has given up in despair, or for lack of faith, but because he has exhausted the
potentials that apply to that situation. But even so, it is not necessarily the material success that he
is after, but rather it is the spiritual values that are generated when he does his best in any given
situation. This mobilizing of potentials can sometimes be most emotionally painful, and spiritually
challenging, but it is the willingness to face these stimulators of growth that is of paramount
importance for "that's where the money lies."
The parents cannot do the work for the child. The child must face and confront the challenges and
go through them. That is the only way the child can become more than he is, but the parent can stand
and identify with the child and exercise undoubting faith in the child. And this faith is always
justified even in the face of failure by the child. The true parent knows that faith in the child is the
actual foundation that launches the child forth into future struggles without fear and with
unshakeable confidence.
And from all of these parental functions, we can begin to see the attitude of the Father towards our
own struggles. The Father does not stop our struggles or remove us from these struggles, but he does
give us hope and strength to gracefully bear them as we go through them. In the world, we shall have
tribulations.
The Father walks in our shoes. He cannot work through the experience for us, but he shares the
experience. He is in fact going through the experience with us and as us. And as we struggle with
the struggles of imperfections, He struggles along with us. He feels what we feel so closely is he
identified with us. He is more than empathetic towards us. He is empathy. He is more than
compassionate towards us. He is compassion. He is more than faithful towards us. He is faith. He
is more than courageous with us. He is courage, He is more than merciful towards us. He is mercy.
He is more than loving towards us. He is love. He is more than hopeful towards us. He is hope. He
is more than trusting with us. He is trust. He is more than long suffering towards us. He is long
suffering. He is more than peaceful and joyful towards us. He is peace and joy. He is our success and
he rejoices with us when we are successful and he sorrows with us when we are sorrowful. And he
does all of these things even though He knows the experiences are temporal and are destined to pass
away.
He is even closer than the dye in the wool. Though the dye in the wool becomes closely associated
with the wool, the dye never becomes an actual part of the wool. This is evidenced in when the dye
is removed by some bleaching agent, or when it is re-dyed to a different color. Yes, our attitude
towards our children should be the same attitude that the Father has towards us, one of love and
mercy, and endless faith and confidence in our ultimate victory of the delays of time and the
handicaps of space. The Father loves us unconditionally and we should wisely love our children
unconditionally.
This concludes today's message on the meaning of the dye in the wool. We hope you find something
in this message to ponder and pray about as you go about your day.
Until next time, this is Dr. James Perry.
Inspirational Messages
By Dr. James Perry
Your Kingdom Come, Your Will Be Done!
The Dye in the Wool
