I remember different occasions in the grocery store or at church when parents have had enough of their children and would look to me saying such phrases as, “want any, I’ll give you mine?”. Instantly I am confronted with the parents frustration, and also with there lack of value for their own offspring. Children can drive you to a breaking point, I will admit; however I have noticed in our culture and society that children are not valued. This would not be surprising if it were merely the world that demonstrated this sort of attitude, but now we see an infestation of the same posture within many a church. At the end of a church service one Sunday the pastor stated, “parents it’s time to pick up your kids from Sunday school,” at which I heard a response from a lady seated behind me saying, “You mean I Can't just leave them there?” in such bitter tones. As I was saying before, children are not valued, not even in the church, and it is epidemic.

The first time I experienced value for my own children was the day that they were born. Instantly I had it within me to give my life at a moments notice if it meant saving theirs. This is not a singular feeling on my part, many a man I talk to have had the same experience. I also had an overwhelming desire to take responsibility and provide for the little ones. I believe this is a natural propensity that God places within men, however many men suppress the innate calling they have, and therefore they do not exhibit value for their own children.

If somebody was series about God and following his principles in the Bible, and they had a family, then the question would be, “what does God say about Family?” “What value does He have in Family?” I believe God has much value in family, after all it is the first institution He created; the first human relation born into existence was husband and wife(Genesis chp. 2). The second commandment in the Bible was for that husband and wife to be fruitful and multiply, which meant they were to have lots of children. You would think that if God was not concerned for family then there would be nothing else said about the family in the Bible. This is not so, we find in Deut. 6:5-9, God displays a desire of His heart for the family,

“You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your

Strength. And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall

Teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house,

When you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. You shall bind them as

A sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on

The doorposts of your house and on your gates.”

There are people that say this verse in the Old Testament does not apply to us because it was said by God to the children of Israel. These people are right, God did say these things to Israel. With this sort of thinking there are a few questions that come to my mind. First of all, today, if I were not to raise my children under the directive of the LORD, then what is the alternative? Has God’s heart changed for how his people should raise their children? Is there anything wrong with following this commandment? Everything Christian parents do, in the house, outside of the house, when they get up in the morning, when they go to bed at night is to be centered on God. Everywhere the children look in there home, at Mom, at Dad, on the walls, on the doorposts, needs to have the righteous principles and the unadulterated Word of God written all over them. God said these things to Israel because they were about to go into a land that was full of Idolatry. Such Idol worship that required parents to give up there children to human sacrifice, worship that mandated sexual practices with multiple partners, and many who would bow down to the god of wine. This was the land of Canaan, a land without God, and today this is the land of the United States. Israel was to take over the land of Canaan and establish God’s principles not only in the government that they were going to set up, but especially in the families. Why? Because each generation needed to carry on Godly heritage, so that each generation would follow God’s principles. As we see throughout the history of Israel they did not do this, and therefore the breakdown of the whole nation occurred at the family level. We see this happening today in the United States; but what is most alarming, is we see this happening in the church. I believe there is a conclusion that can be made, if the family breaks down, then the church breaks down as well. Now that’s extreme. Why was it important for the apostle Paul to tell Timothy in 1 Timothy 3:4 that an elder in the Church need to rule over his own house well having his children in submission with all reverence? If a man could not rule over his own family then how could he take care of the church of God (1 Tim. 3:5). For those Christians who have families, there obedience to God starts by cultivating Godly principles into that family. Their first calling is to incorporate God and everything that has to do with God into the family. This calling would be fulfilled if first the parents have given themselves and continue to give themselves up to God and his principles. When parents walk with God they suddenly find they have value in there children, they discover the importance of passing on a Godly heritage. If a man can first do this, then he is capable of taking care of the church of God.

A few years ago a book was written called “The Prayer of Jabez”, which focused on how Jabez prayed to be blessed and God blessed him. Perhaps the author of the book thought that a blessing was some sort of material possession, money or something that would make the receiver of the blessing happy in an individualistic sense, that a blessing would be something to bring ease into their miserable lives. Today in modern Christianity children are not viewed as blessings from God. People limit themselves to having only one or two of them, and then they complain continually about the few they have. Why? Because this is an individualistic society, a society that has infiltrated the church. It is not easy raising children, it is even harder to raise them in a Godly fashion living under a pagan selfish society. A culture that says, “me first”, a culture I like to call the “me” generation. Children are viewed as hindrances almost like a disease that cannot be destroyed but must be tolerated, and they are not viewed as gifts from God. Recently I listened to a pastor of a well known church speak on why they don’t allow children in the church service. He spoke of a mother of a 2 year old that would not attend his church because they did not allow children in the service. It broke my heart to hear this pastor make a mockery of the mother because of her convictions. His justifications were that children 2 years old and younger would be to loud in the service and the adults wouldn’t be able to hear the sermon, it is a shame that he talked about the mother as if she was stupid for even voicing such a complaint. In the pastor’s sermon there was an implication made, the implication was that children two years and under are a distraction, and in such a large church it probably would be. I would suggest mega churches are not a good environment to raise a family. In the same denomination I noticed other distractions that should have been dealt with before the issue of children, constantly there were cell phones going off, grown adults talking and goofing off throughout the service, and women dressed like prostitutes. To me these things are more of a distraction then children and yet I never heard of these issues being addressed. People do not want to train there children to sit quietly through a service, and with a two year old it can be a lot of work. I have news for those people, raising a family is a lot of work, from the day the child is born until the day you die, family is a lot of work. An interesting fact about this mega church is that the kids 2 years up to past college age are not apart of the main service. Each age group is segregated and not allowed to be mixed, to me this is not family. This sort of mentality show children as being distractions as being something other than blessings. Perhaps the pastor of this church should break up the larger congregation into smaller groups and appoint elders so that the church services can become family integrated, and parents can train their young ones properly. The Bible however states that children are blessings from God, they are gifts straight from heaven. Psalms 127:3-5, “Behold, children are a heritage from the LORD, the fruit of the womb is a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a mighty warrior, so are the children of ones youth. Happy (blessed) is the man who has his quiver full of them; They shall not be ashamed…..” Do not be deceived, a blessing can be a lot of work. Mary the mother of Jesus is said in the Bible to blessed among woman, indicating that she was blessed more than any other woman before her and after her. When you follow the life of Mary if you have any preconceived ideas that a blessing is something that provides an easy life, then Mary was lied to. Consider the ridicule she might have received because people thought Jesus was an illegitimate child; at one time she thought Jesus had gone nuts; and also watching her son die on a cross, these things do not sound like blessings. Just because raising children is hard, and especially raising them in the ways of the LORD doesn’t mean there not blessings. Oh, indeed they are.

I have heard people say the reason why they don’t want more than two children is that they will not be able to provide for them, not only food for the table, a roof over their heads and for their college. I haven’t read anywhere in the Bible that these should be things we need to worry about.