Pastor's Blog

Did You Remember the Kids?

Pastor Steve Nash

The Lord has blessed my wife and me with seven children.  We had so many to look after when coming in and out of stores, homes, churches, etc., only to discover that we had made the horrifying mistake of forgetting one of the kids!  It is a frightening experience to pull in the driveway and discover you left a child at someone’s home or back at the church.

It is embarrassing to have someone from church pull into the driveway, with one of our kids we left behind.  They understood because it probably happened to them in the past.  I’m sure some of you have done the same.  We finally got into the habit of counting to seven and then continuing on to where ever we were going.

Our generation needs to be more alarmed about the heritage we are leaving behind for our children.  What are we handing down?  What kind of torch are we passing on?  Are the hopes for our children better than what we have received from our parents?  I don’t think so.  Consider the 18 Trillion dollar debt, the social and moral landscape, the geo-political position of their country or the spiritual condition of this nation.

Did you know that:

·        85% of our youth believe that there is no such thing as “absolute truth,” and that all is relative?

·        Did you know that 86% of our H.S. graduates have been sexually active?

·        Did you know that 44% of our 8^th graders have used illicit drugs?

·        Did you know that 80% of our inmates grew up in a single-parent or no-parent family?

According to Psalm 127, children are a gift from God and blessed is the couple that has many.   Do American couples consider Children as a gift from God?  Since post WWII, children have often been viewed as a burden, not a blessing.  They are sometimes considered a financial burden.   They are sometimes considered a hindrance to the aspirations of the working mother (1950’s 8% double income, 2010 80% double income).  Children are sometimes considered a disturbance to the “peace” of a couple.  Divorce has been a “plague” upon our nation more than any other disease.

More children are scared by divorce than by drugs, promiscuity and sexual or physical abuse.  Some researchers on the family feel that divorce is more damaging to a child’s heart than even sexual abuse.  Divorce is an assault, a transgression, a horrible sin against the children we say we love so much.  If that tragedy has visited your home there needs to be forgiveness and healing and the grace of God. 

Children are a “gift from God” and if they have survived the most dangerous place on earth (mother’s womb) there are so many more pitfalls along the road of young life.   More than 55 million children have been lost to abortion since 1973!  Today’s child is forced to grow up too quickly.  The child’s innocence and purity is being attacked by society’s demoralization.

Today’s child is forced to grow up too quickly.  What is invading and even permeating the mind of your child?    What are the assaults upon your child’s body?   Is your child growing spiritually?  Are they living out Prov. 3:5-6: “Trust in the Lord with all…?!”  The local church can help provide the spiritual opportunities for your children, but it must be going on in the home as well.

What can we do to raise-up sons and daughters so that they might “increase in wisdom and stature and favor with God and others?”  Have them!   Teach them!   Show them!  Win them!  Lead them to Christ!  Pray for them as Job did for his children.  Direct them to a better life than most experience by gaining and retaining God’s favor over your family.

Our children need not become part of the sad statistics I quoted earlier. Our children can be different and make a difference as they grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ.  May God help us to raise sons and daughters as arrows from the quiver who pierce the darkness and turn many to righteousness.  Let’s not leave them behind because we have simply forgotten them!