The relationship between parents and children is not just a matter of family life. It is certainly not just a personal issue. It is each person who receives salvation individually, but God’s grand plan—which those who have received salvation must participate in—goes far beyond what any one person can bear on their own. His plan is vast in scale, and it takes a long time for it to be fulfilled. In Christ, God enabled the souls of the church to be united, and He is continually building His kingdom. We are not in a position to stand by and say, “Someone else will take care of it.” All who believe in Jesus are meant to be part of this work from the moment they believe.

Due to human corruption, the family was the very first to be severely affected. Just as serious as conflict between husband and wife is the conflict between parents and children, and the issue of their children’s faith. For children to grow up as believers, they must first be protected from being tainted by the corruption of the world. The sinful nature that a person is born with brings about sin whenever the opportunity arises. Therefore, it is not right for parents to neglect their children with the vague thought, “They’ll believe when they grow up.” When we consider how God chose the family of Abraham—and how, starting from that family, His will was passed down through many generations—we can understand this more clearly.

For Christians, having children carries a completely different meaning than it does for unbelievers. From God’s perspective, it is not merely the birth of a life but the securing of a channel of blessing. Referring to parents as a “channel” does not mean that they simply deliver blessings. Just as Abraham was able to bless Isaac because he himself had first received God’s blessing, parents must also first be blessed in order to pass it on to their children. In this way, through families that experience God’s blessing and pass it down to the next generation, God is carrying out His plan to overcome what Satan has destroyed and to restore His united kingdom.

After the fall, cursed humanity has suffered from countless problems—but the collapse of the family is the most devastating of all. Male chauvinism, the backlash of women against it, children’s disobedience, and parental abuse are all fruits of the curse that destroy the family. This destruction is being carried out systematically through the world’s systems. Secular values, human-centered philosophies, and socialist ideologies rooted in atheism all work to weaken family bonds, dismantle the relationship between parents and children, and lure children away from God’s influence by offering freedom as bait. Just like a frog in a pot gradually cooks as it adapts to the increasingly hot water, today’s families are collapsing little by little—without even realizing it.

God said to Abraham, “Through you and your descendants, all families of the earth shall be blessed.” And when the nation of Israel was established, He said, “You shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. Each family must take up the role of a priest.” In order to carry on this mission from generation to generation, the Israelites taught the Word to their children—whether at home or on the street, when lying down or getting up. They bound it as a sign on their hands, placed it as frontlets between their eyes, and wrote it on the doorposts of their houses. This effort must continue even today. The younger the children are, the more quickly they absorb the culture of the world. Let us not surrender them to the world. By teaching and training them with the Word from an early age, let God’s plan continue through us.