Families are too small (part 2)
Responding to my blog
on families being too small, Kathy Lucas wrote the following guest blog.
“This one was an accident.”
“This is it. No
more!”
“I don’t know how we can afford another one.”
“Can you imagine me starting over again at my age?”
“God did give us wisdom.
We have to be good stewards.”
“I don’t want to bring a child into the world as it is
today.”
All these statements (that I hear way too often) reveal the
lie that the Church is believing:
Children are NOT a blessing from the Lord. They are pricey, inconvenient, too much
responsibility and a hindrance to “personal peace and affluence”, the gods of
the American culture.
Why does it strike such dread and fear in the hearts of
husbands and wives to place wombs in the hands of God? And how did we come to a place of no shame of
taking over the controls? Why is there
so little conviction over the sin of self-centeredness and rebellion covered by
the guise of that euphemistic term “family planning?” We have betrayed the God of the Bible.
This God said, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the
earth.” This is the God who opens and
closes the womb. A God who said that
children were a reward from Him. And a
reward
for Him. He is seeking godly offspring. He is looking to bless all the peoples of the
earth through this offspring.
And this earth desperately needs godly offspring. We have forgotten why we are here. Forgotten that our lives are not our
own. Forgotten that God can never get
enough children. He just wants more and
more and more.
Such a lavish God.
He’s birthing and adopting more into His family every day all over the
planet. God still insists on using His
children to beget more children. So why limit God in this quest? Are we reflecting the heart of God or
reflecting the attitude of the world when it comes to children? God has never revoked His original command to
be fruitful and multiply. And godly,
zealous, Jesus loving, Kingdom building children /disciples are what we need to
be multiplying.
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I have really enjoyed this series. I am the oldest of eight children and I love it and if the Lord would bless me with just as many… GREAT!!! People always look at me in amazement when I share about my family and one of the things I come back with is… how many are you going to have? Does God know your plans? I really agree with this post that this is an area that people do not want to give up control and it is sad, but hey, then you see that not average big family…
Preach it, Seth! How can Christians say they are fully surrendered to God and yet not trust Him with their furtility? God knows better than us how many children we should have and when they should be born! Fully surrendered, means fully surrendered to God in every aspect of life not just the areas we choose to give Him.
I agree that selfishness can be manifested as childlessness, yet I would also not assume that God has called all married women to have 10-15 children. I currently know people who live the way you have described, one has 10, another 14 and another 15 children and they are in their early forties. These are incredibly gifted women who can manage this kind of thing, who can clearly articulate a call to motherhood. I do not believe that the majority of women could or should do this, it is not for the faint of heart.
Dear tml,
It’s so hard for us to get past our own understanding. I struggle at times with what you say but I come back to these two lines in the blog: “Why does it strike such dread and fear in the hearts of husbands and wives to PLACE WOMBS IN THE HAND OF GOD? And how did we come to a place of no shame of TAKING OVER THE CONTROLS? ” You still speak of “planning.” Who determines who these “incredibly gifted women” are? I agree that God may NOT have all married women have 10-15 children. But I still say that is HIS decision, and in HIS hands, not ours. How do we know that this is not the means He chooses for one to learn to die daily, take up the cross and follow Jesus – in order to bring life to others? Perhaps those who were faint of heart become the one who is praised in the gates!