Quote
Michael1967 said:
What I am trying to find is a source of consolation to help assuage my wife's concern regarding the disposition (elect or non-elect) of our children. To put it another way, how would one counsel a young Christian couple (elect) about having children if they are concerned that any or all of said children might well be non-elect. Would they be better off not risking bringing children into the world only to ultimately see them lost for eternity if they are not chosen by God?
To be perfectly honest.... such a question could very easily be taken as one which was based upon several wrong presumptions:

  1. That we can know who is or is not elected of God unto salvation.
  2. That God is not just in condemning our children, who are by nature children of wrath and stand guilty before God at conception. We all are born into this world with an inherited corruption of nature and the imputed guilt of Adam's sin.
  3. That God is not a great God of mercy Who saves the worst of sinners by His inestimable grace. And that He is a God Who does answer the prayers of His children according to His will.

It may seem trite to some, but I truly believe that Deut 29:29 can be most appropriately quoted here:


"The secret things belong unto Jehovah our God; but the things that are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law."


It is not for us to pry into the secret counsels of God and seek to know that which has deliberately been hidden from us. But rather, we are to go forth in faith and obedience according to all that our Lord has revealed; in His inspired Word. We know that children are a blessing of the Lord and that we are to raise them up according to the Scriptures. We are to pray for them and with them and encourage them to seek the Lord while He may be found; casting themselves upon His mercy and pleading the merits of Christ on their behalf. If children are to be saved, it is essential that they be first brought into this world.

Let's face the facts... all of life is uncertain. We may die in a car accident tomorrow, fall down a flight of stairs and suffer a life-long disability, etc. But even in these temporal things, we rarely let such possibilities deter us from driving a car or walking up/down a flight of stairs. ALL THINGS are of God's divine providence - "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose." Thus we should never presume upon God's will or grace, nor should we ever disregard or diminish the fact that God is a sovereign God Who works all things according to His will, for both His own glory and our ultimate good. Our God delights in giving good gifts to His children.

In His Grace,

[Linked Image]

simul iustus et peccator

[Linked Image]