The Value of Children

What we treasure we guard, value, nurture. One of our greatest treasures is children. One reason the church is doing so well today, and it is doing well, I am persuaded, is because she has nurtured children through the generations. I am a product of that nurturing. So was my dad. So are my own children, and my niece, nephews, and countless other friends and friends’ children. Children were a focus of Jesus’ ministry (Mark 10:13-16), as they were for the Restoration Movement some 1800 years later.

The World War I Christians grasped the importance of emphasizing gospel truth to the next generation. They built and sustained many Christian schools and colleges that thrive to this day. And their children (of WWII) carried through with the idea to create more colleges, schools, and Bible camps, with special stress overseas. By their time we had fought two wars “over there” among those who did not know God, and they wanted to ensure that that would not happen again. Then were also added bus ministries and children’s homes and enhanced Bible (Sunday) schools and vacation Bible schools and youth ministers.

Now it comes down to us, a generation having been surrounded by the benefits left us in Jesus’ name, benefits left us because prior generations remembered us. There have been problems among churches that have failed to balance their work for God, but imbalance of any sort has always been trouble. The fact of the matter is that I am a better worker for the Lord because such attention has been put on my spiritual needs in Christ.

Lately, I have noticed among the churches a lessening of zeal for the little ones. May it never be! The Bible does put the care of children’s training on the parents (Eph. 6:4; Titus 2:4), but it is just as true that helping parents bring up children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord is a good work (Matt. 18:5, 10; II Tim. 3:16, 17). May succeeding generations look back on our legacy and praise God for our help.

Terry