Suffer the Little Children

It was with profound joy that I participated in my church's Thanksgiving service this week, as many of our folks were able to testify of God's rich blessings in their life. Repeatedly, we heard how faithful He had been, how He had answered prayers, how He Himself has secured for us redemption in Christ, who is our greatest treasure. Peculiar among the testimonies, however, were those of two of our younger couples.

They both shared how it was not in their plans to (ever) have kids, since it brought on certain financial difficulties, inhibited freedom, etc. These testimonies were very poignant and honest, and they resonated with me since I was of that mindset not too long ago.

My wife and I are, as you can see, blessed with one of the most precious baby girls in all the world, and yet at the prospect of having her, I first recoiled. Leigh, my wife, was anxious to have a child within only a year of our marrying, and I still had so much more I wanted to do and accomplish before I was burdened with a little crying mouth to feed.

It took me quite a while to recognize my inherent selfishness in these motives. And, while I've yet to accomplish (fully) some of those things I wished to do, and Leigh and I have to be careful not to allow our daughter, Kristine, to distract us from one another, I have not been inhibited in any noticeable way by having our firstborn. In fact, the world has only opened up in far greater magnitude than it ever revealed itself to me before.

Certainly, if we are called to singleness, we are to follow that route with an unflagging pursuit of God's glory in our lives. If we are married, we are to do the same, and one of the primary means of doing that is raising up (many) godly children that are discipled well, and prepared to advance the Gospel in innumerable ways. To do anything less is to betray simple biology, and to diminish one of the gifts God intended sex for (though it is certainly a gift in itself).

If I'd known then what I know now, perhaps we'd have two kids by now. Nevertheless, I'm grateful for God's patience (and my wife's). While marriage certainly pushes me beyond living only for myself, which is the chief of sins, fatherhood only does more so.

Praise be to God!