I was reading Tim Challies blog article, "Do You Believe God Will Save Your Kids?", and I couldn't help but think of this tougher question, "Does God have the right to refuse to save our kids?" Other forms of this question might be, "Why wouldn't God save my child?" or "How could God send my child to hell?" After all, just looking at the picture above, those kids seem so cute. How could God refuse to save them? "What have they done so wrong," one could ask.
But of course, like most questions, there are certain assumptions that one makes by even asking the question. The assumptions in this questions are:
I am sure there are other assumptions that could apply here but I'd like to address these two. The first assumption is simply not in line with what the Bible teaches about the human condition. Paul's letter to the Romans makes it clear that our rebellion against God is not an adult condition, but a human one. Paul writes in Romans 1:22-25:
But of course, like most questions, there are certain assumptions that one makes by even asking the question. The assumptions in this questions are:
- A child couldn't be as sinful as an adult to deserve damnation.
- God couldn't be loving if he refused to save our children.
I am sure there are other assumptions that could apply here but I'd like to address these two. The first assumption is simply not in line with what the Bible teaches about the human condition. Paul's letter to the Romans makes it clear that our rebellion against God is not an adult condition, but a human one. Paul writes in Romans 1:22-25:
Claiming to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory ofthe immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.
24 Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves,25 because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator,
The problem that Paul points out is that people are doing those things which they deem to be right in their own eyes ("claiming to be wise"). By doing so, they worship anything and anyone but God. When I think of children, including my own, even at the earliest of ages, they exhibited this fruit of a rebellion against God. Their shout of "No!" was the shout of one claiming to be wise, a refusal to submit to authority. Their refusal to hand over the scissors they picked up off the floor as a 2-year old is the refusal of one claiming to be wise. And so, when she accidentally cuts herself with those scissors because of her disobedience, she becomes a fool. This is not an adult problem but a human one. Therefore, Paul notes in Romans 3:23: "...for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." ALL have sinned, including our children.
Which leads to the second assumption, God cannot be loving if he does not save our children. I love my children. I love them dearly. But they desperately need a Savior. And without a Savior, they rightly deserve God's full and just wrath. because of this rebellion. And if He should decide not to save them, then that would be His right to do so. Why? Because God is God. Paul makes this point in Romans 9. The potter has every right to shape the clay as he sees fit and the clay cannot make demands on the potter. Sure, this might not sit well with us , but we must ask ourselves, "If God cannot make this decision, then who can?" And if He saves everyone, can He truly be just and does sin really matter? Is God truly God then? Is He no better than Santa or the Easter Bunny? Either we let God decide to be God or we might consider having no God at all, because anything less makes God a mere caricature of Himself.
I do not want my kids to be eternally condemned. As Tim Challies article notes, we should and must plead to our heavenly Father for their souls. But I completely trust that His perfect, good, loving, wise, and gracious will will be accomplished in my children's lives, whether they trust in Jesus or not. Everyone will bow down to Jesus, either willfully or unwillfuly (Phil 2:5-11). But If I should refuse to trust Him and grow angry with Him because He does not save them, then I am simply revealing my heart to be God myself, Adam and Eve's sin. And that is one sin I constantly struggle with, a displacement of God as God. May Paul's words resound for us: "Let God be true, and every human being a liar." (Rom 3:4, NIV)
Which leads to the second assumption, God cannot be loving if he does not save our children. I love my children. I love them dearly. But they desperately need a Savior. And without a Savior, they rightly deserve God's full and just wrath. because of this rebellion. And if He should decide not to save them, then that would be His right to do so. Why? Because God is God. Paul makes this point in Romans 9. The potter has every right to shape the clay as he sees fit and the clay cannot make demands on the potter. Sure, this might not sit well with us , but we must ask ourselves, "If God cannot make this decision, then who can?" And if He saves everyone, can He truly be just and does sin really matter? Is God truly God then? Is He no better than Santa or the Easter Bunny? Either we let God decide to be God or we might consider having no God at all, because anything less makes God a mere caricature of Himself.
I do not want my kids to be eternally condemned. As Tim Challies article notes, we should and must plead to our heavenly Father for their souls. But I completely trust that His perfect, good, loving, wise, and gracious will will be accomplished in my children's lives, whether they trust in Jesus or not. Everyone will bow down to Jesus, either willfully or unwillfuly (Phil 2:5-11). But If I should refuse to trust Him and grow angry with Him because He does not save them, then I am simply revealing my heart to be God myself, Adam and Eve's sin. And that is one sin I constantly struggle with, a displacement of God as God. May Paul's words resound for us: "Let God be true, and every human being a liar." (Rom 3:4, NIV)