“Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. 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..." (Deuteronomy 6:4-9)
The point of this post is simply this...if Moses' counsel to the people of Israel is to be embraced by us, the people of God in our day, then there is literally nothing better that we can do with our time and energy than to strive with all our might to stamp the Word of God deeply and unmistakably onto the hearts and minds of the young people whom God has placed into our lives. The love of God has captured our hearts and minds, so we long to take part in the same process for the glory of God and the benefit of coming generations.
And let's not fool ourselves, our children are not "little angels". Scripture teaches clearly that they are sinners. The souls of our little ones, just like the soul of Nicodemus, "must be born again" (John 3:7).
So, if our lives result in nothing else, then like Charles Spurgeon, may we say with sincerity from the depths of our beings, “If sinners [our children] be damned, at least let them leap to hell over our dead bodies. And if they [our children] perish, let them perish with our arms wrapped about their knees, imploring them to stay. If hell must be filled, let it be filled in the teeth of our exertions, and let not one [of our children] go unwarned and unprayed for.”
Do not doubt this fact, it is the Spirit of God who must save our children. We cannot save them. But we can constantly fight against their pride in an effort to cultivate a soft heart within them. And we can constantly talk of Jesus and bind His words about their foreheads and wrists. And we can implant within them a view of the world that is grounded in Scripture, beginning with a 6-day Creation, then the Fall of Man, the Cross, the Resurrection of Jesus Christ and the promise of impending Judgment for sinners and reward for the righteous. And we can guard their hearts by preparing them for the evil influences which long to creep into their lives. And we can protect them from those influences until the proper time. And we can model faith, humility, love and hope for them. And we can pray, pray, pray, pray, pray.
There is a lot we can do. A lot we must do. And, by God's grace, we will do it. And some day, many years from now, we will look at our progeny, the Church who Jesus has built on our backs and be able to say, as did the apostle, John, "I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth" (III John 1:4).
Dear God, please be gracious unto us by saving our children. We can think of no greater thing. Please, God, save them.
Pastor Jeremy
