This post is a follow-up message from Pastor Ben's sermon entitled "The Glory of Children is their Fathers". [Watch video]

We saw Sunday in Psalm 127, “Behold, children are a gift of the Lord, the fruit of the womb is a reward” (v.3). This means that God is the Giver, and we (parents) are the receivers. God chooses to gift us with children. For all the family planning in the world, our children are God’s choice and God’s gift.

Children are a good gift, in spite of the fact our culture teaches that children can be “unwanted” and interfere with your happiness and self-actualization. God’s gifts are always good. They cannot be otherwise, for they come from God who is good. “Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow” (James 1:17). Children are a good gift.

To whom then does this good gift belong? When a gift is given, we normally think that ownership passes from the giver to the receiver. A father gives his son a car and says, “Here are the keys, son. Now she belongs to you; take good care of her.” But in God’s economy, we own nothing, not even our own lives. “For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body” (1 Cor. 6:20).

This is true of children as well: they ultimately belong to God. In another psalm we see, “The earth is the Lord’s, and all it contains, the world, and those who dwell in it” (Ps 24:1). “All” means all, and so our children are included. Therefore, children, like our possessions, giftedness, and very lives, all belong to Him. We are caretakers, stewards, of what God has entrusted to us.

These thoughts taken together mean this: God chooses to give us children. Children are one of the good gifts He gives us. Everything belongs to Him, including our children and our very lives. Therefore, we are to be good stewards of this incredible good gift God has entrusted to us.

What then? “Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found faithful” (1 Cor 4:2 ESV). We are to be faithful stewards of everything God has given us, and the most precious is our children. Pray for, pray with, teach, be a godly example. You must lead them by looking to your own walk with God and maintaining it so as to pass to them a godly heritage. But first, you must settle the issue of ownership, both for you and for them. “Faithful is He who calls you, and He also will bring it to pass” (1 Thess 5:24).