“Children are a gift of the Lord, the fruit of the womb is a reward.” (Psalm 127:3)
What is God’s plan for children and the home? Does He have one? Why is it important? I am glad you asked!
The verse above reminds us that children are to be treasured. God gives them as precious gifts to their families. Sadly, some in our day have begun to see children as an interruption to life and an inconvenience. This is part of what is driving the abortion industry in our country. When people fail to see children, at conception, as a precious gift of God, then it becomes easy to terminate their lives, abuse them, neglect them, or even to use them for our devices instead of serving their needs.
Jesus felt so strongly about protecting children and providing for their spiritual and physical needs that He said, “but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to stumble, it would be better for him to have a heavy millstone hung around his neck, and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.” (Matthew 18:6) Basically, He meant that children were to be protected, provided for, and considered precious.
Paul explains the awesome responsibility we have to raise up our children when he instructed, “Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.” (Ephesians 6:4) What Paul meant by this was that we have a responsibility to raise up our children to love the Lord and teach them how to live life for Christ and in the fear and admonition of the Lord. In our day, many parents have said they want to let their children make their own decisions about life and faith. Think about how this would sound in other areas. “I think that my children should have freedom in choosing whether or not gravity works. If they want to jump off a cliff, they should be free to learn from the experience and make their own judgment.” “I think that my children should have freedom in choosing whether or not poison is bad for them. If they want to swallow rat poison, they should make up their own mind and learn from it.” Sound crazy? How about letting them mess with eternity?
Many of this generation of youth are characterized by pain. They have experienced pain at home, school, church, and out and about with friends and acquaintances. To you and me, this might sound ridiculous because children have more stuff today than we ever had. They have more activities than we had. They have more opportunities than we had, and they definitely have more technology than we had. How can they be hurting? Because they don’t have us! They have little contact with their parents and have very few adults in their lives to learn from. They live far from grandparents, in many situations, and they do not feel connected to those they can learn life from. Because of this, they see themselves as not worth our time and not worth our investment. They feel that much is expected of them, but little is invested in them in the areas that matter. In essence, we are provoking them to anger because we expect them to live for and with Jesus, but we are not showing them, teaching them, and modeling for them how to do so.
If we love Jesus, and love our children, we need to do better. If you are doing so, may God bless your efforts. If not, why not make a point to not only do so, but to do so in a consistent and continuous manner. For ideas on how to make the most of teachable moments, there are many resources available at your local church or you can also visit websites like family. org and others for ideas.