PONDER THIS

Children are not a penalty or a burden. Children are meant to be a blessing. Some people today have believed, “If you have children, they will cramp your style. And if you do have them, don’t have very many. And don’t let that keep you from fulfillment. Don’t let them keep you from your career and from being ‘somebody.’” Others have very selfish ideas about children. They say, “Well, you know, children are so expensive. If I have children, or if I have more than one or two, I might not be able to drive the kind of car I want to drive. It costs to educate them. I might not be able to live in the kind of house I want to live in. I’d be tied down. We wouldn’t be able to go to Hawaii on our vacation. Maybe it would be better not to have those children. They might be a burden. After all, children make a rich man poor.”

But this is backward. Children make a poor man rich. A rich man can’t take his money to Heaven. I’m taking all my children to Heaven with me. Children are the heritage of the Lord. They’re a gift of God. My heart goes out to people who want children and cannot have them. But for those who are able, you want to be blessed? Oh, children are a heartache. They’re a pain. They’re problems. Sure, they are—but they’re worth it. Children are the heritage of the Lord.

• Where might you have had wrong views about children?
• How can you encourage your children by telling them the ways in which they’ve blessed you? If you don’t have children of your own, who are some children you might encourage in this way?

PRACTICE THIS

This week, take time to encourage a child by telling him or her how he or she has blessed you.

Home on the Rock

Psalm 127

In this message, Adrian Rogers shares four insights from Psalm 127 to help us build our homes on the Rock, so they will last.

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A Heart-Hardening Sin

Immorality is one of the chief enemies of the home.

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