A Gift to Give Away

Now the LORD said to Abram, “Go forth from your country, And from your relatives And from your father’s house, To the land which I will show you; And I will make you a great nation, And I will bless you, And make your name great ; And so you shall be a blessing; And I will bless those who bless you, And the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed (Genesis 12:1-3) Abram, later called Abraham, was blessed by God.  God’s blessing was not an end it itself.  Abe was blessed so that he could be a blessing to all nations.  God sent His Son to the world to bless the world.  God gives kids to us as a blessing.  However, God does not give us kids so we hoard them for ourselves.  God blesses us in order that we may be a blessing to the nations. I don’t understand when those who claim to follow Jesus try to hold on to their kids.  I understand missing them.  Longing to be with them is a natural human desire.  I believe that all of our longings are merely hints of our greater and deeper desire for God.  But holding onto our kids in order to keep them from leaving the nest and impacting the world for Christ is counter-productive and destructive because, in a very real sense, it is a denial of our faith.  Thinking that we are protecting our children from the world because they are not ready to face it is frequently just an excuse for our selfishness and unbelief.  None of us is ever ready for the work to which God calls us.  We must first be sent by God in order that we may get ready to do God’s work.  If we keep our children at our side they will never be fully prepared to discharge Kingdom responsibilities, which will mean both our children and us, will lose the blessing of being a blessing to the nations. I pray for my kids to encounter the living God in real and significant ways.  I pray that in that encounter they will join Isaiah in saying, “Here am I. Send me” (Isaiah 6:8b).  This Christmas, I encourage you to give your kids to God.  If you don’t have kids, pray for those who do that they will grow in their faith to the point where they will trust God enough, and that they will love their kids enough to let them go. Prayer Father, thank You for blessing me.  Help me to take the gifts You have freely given me and pass them on to others. Take Your Next Step, Dr. L. Douglas Dorman