TRAINING: Have children; spread God's glory

   

     In Genesis 1, God instructs man, who is created in His image, to “be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth and subdue it.” Have kids; spread my glory. Obviously, God wanted Adam and Eve to have children. Secondly, he wanted them to fill the earth with His image. Since he told them this before the fall, it would be God’s likeness and glory that would be spreading and subduing the earth, not man’s.

    It seems to me that we as humans have been better at multiplying than at spreading God’s image. The only problem with spreading our own image across the globe is that we seem to value having children less and less.

    In other words, we don’t seem to think that multiplying ourselves is all that glorious.

    God intends for us to have children so that His glory would be made manifest throughout the earth. Fruitfulness and multiplication has a purpose rooted in the image of God bestowed on us in creation. We are to have children who will reflect God’s image.

    Now consider Psalm 127: 3-4. “Sons are a heritage from the LORD, children a reward from him. Like arrows in the hands of a warrior are sons born in one's youth. Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them.”

    Again, two things stand out to us. First, children are a reward or blessing from the Lord. Secondly, children are like arrows to be aimed, guided in a certain direction.

    These two thoughts go together as two sides of the same coin. Our children are a blessing when we aim them toward Jesus, the exact image of God. If we fail to direct them in His way, they will probably not be the blessing that we hoped them to be. Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of these kinds of children.

    You see, many people are asking the question, “How many arrows make a full quiver?” That’s might be the wrong question. A better question is “What kind of arrows are in your quiver?” Sharp, straight, true? Another question might be: Who is shaping the arrows in your quiver, you or the culture?

    Here are some other questions we must answer: What kind of man or woman are we as we hold these arrows in our hands? Are we warriors? Or are we pacifists? Do we dare take a stand in the middle of a culture that despises children? Can we build up and support and train our children when the culture pervades every part of life? Are we aiming our children toward eternal things?

    One more passage, Malachi 2: 15 says, “Has not the LORD made them (the parents) one? In flesh and spirit they are his. And why one? Because he was seeking godly offspring. So guard yourself in your spirit, and do not break faith with the wife of your youth.” In reference to Genesis, Malachi speaks to the truth that the husband and wife are to be one. Why? To produce godly children. From the first book of the Old Testament to the last book, the heart of God is to produce children that reflect His glory, children who are godly. Children who become godly adults.

    Let’s stand strongly for our families, for our spouses, for our children. Let’s fill the earth with the likeness of Jesus. It begins at home.

    Don’t just carry your arrows around in your quiver,

or in your car;

                                           aim them.

LONG-RANGE VIEW: Why risk it?

  
     In their day, the Pilgrims were called Separatists because they separated themselves from the Church of England. They met in their homes in secret to read the Bible and worship freely. This was in contrast to the Puritans who remained in the church of England with the hope of purifying it. For the Separatists, this meant that the king and his officials became their enemy; Separatists were the “trouble makers” and were officially persecuted. The government broke up the secret meetings; they took their positions, their properties, and arrested them. This is how the Separatists became wanderers for their faith, pilgrims; they left England and fled to Holland in 1608.

    Settling in Leyden, Holland, they were able to worship freely. The Dutch had been persecuted by the Spanish years earlier and were much more tolerant of different ways to worship Jesus Christ. In Leyden for twelve years, the Pilgrims worked hard and sought to make it a home, but it was not to be.

    Language was a barrier. Making a living was difficult. The culture was foreign to them. Over the twelve years there, they realized that their children were growing up speaking a different language, learning a strange culture, unaware of their own heritage, and straying from their faith. Their ability to shape the hearts and minds of their own children was dangerously hampered. Something had to be done.

    This was a key factor in motivating them to take the risk to go to the New World. God had given them the insight to see past their own generation into the next. Why did these men and women risk everything to come to America? Why leave civilization to go to the wild regions of an unknown place? They were looking to the future, toward their children and grandchildren and beyond.

    That’s why they secretly returned to England to board ships bound for America. They risked their lives in order to gain a future for their children. They sacrificed, but they did not call it that. They called it opportunity; they called it God’s will.

    They were like the children of Israel that Moses delivered from Egypt. They were like Abraham who heard God’s call and followed. They were also mothers and fathers who were moved to action so that they could offer their children the opportunity to know Jesus Christ who was the reason behind it all.

    I have a friend who runs an orphanage in Reynosa, Mexico. He established their own school in order to sow faith in the children there. That was not an easy task.

    As the principal of a Christian school, I see parents each year sacrifice in order to sow a future of faith in their children.

    Some homeschool, some teach Sunday school, some get involved in youth groups, some move to different cities, some turn down promotions, some curb their travel and consequently their income.

    Like the Pilgrims, parents today all around us are driven by their faith to sow eternal truth in the hearts and minds of their children. Often, it is sacrificial.

    May we be among them! Hear their stories. Discover our own. We are pilgrims, too.