Assignment
Reading
Read section one of chapter seven – pages 167-172.
Questions
We are only reading one section of our chapter this week. I have chosen to do this because this very first section is a very sensitive subject that can bring about a LOT of feelings. Take your time with this assignment. I am offering the following questions for thought:
(1) What is your current view of determining the size of your family? Is this the same view you held in the past or is it different? Explain.
(2) Think about how you view the issue of birth control. Does your view line up with God’s view of birth control? Give Scriptures to show God’s view.
These questions are pretty personal. You do not have to share your answers on your blog.
I had to carefully think over these questions because we live in a very delicate world where people are easily offended but I feel when it comes to children, this is really something between the family and God and not between the family, God and the whole wide world.
As I carefully reflected on these questions, while getting ready for a trip, this question actually came up by a saleswoman who openly went, well you have a boy and girl, I guess that’s it?
Well…with regards to question (1):
(1) What is your current view of determining the size of your family? Is this the same view you held in the past or is it different? Explain.
At one time, I would have said two would have been enough and try to cite many different reasons, but I begin to realize that a huge factor really wasn’t about the state of the nation, the economics or just the weather but really about my own comfort level and in a selfish way, actually, what I thought was good for me.
This is just me, but children are not accessories. They are not meant to be paired exactly or fit to complement our lives like wardrobes…Children are individual human beings, entrusted to us by God and a reminder of God’s love and hope and blessings to us.
At one time, I would have said, two was enough stop, but as my faith in God grew and my faith in His promises grew and I realize, He does provide for what we need, not what we want and that goes for everything in our life…A big screen t.v. maybe nice, but what if all the power goes out, what good is it then, when we are laying on our deathbeds, what good is that now obselote t.v. ever hold and yet as I watch my children play together, learn together, and yes, even share what they are learning with each other, it reinforced the fact that it was worth having two, because we are all held in the grips of physical death and one day, we will pass away and all they will have, are each other…they are more than just children…they are family today, tomorrow and in the future.
When we are gone, they are the ones who will call each other, support each other, and encourage each other and I realized as God touched my heart, that there are benefits to having more than just two…Having one more doesn’t sound too bad after all and it’s more than just because I enjoy being a stay at home mom, yes that is a blessing and a rarity these days to hear, but I see my pastor and his wife, and their four children, two grandchildren and I see the love and the strength they have for each other.
The reality is that people are people, and they often will look out for themselves before they take the time to look out for another. Healthy families are there forever.
When I really need something, it’s my mil I call, or my sil. When my husband wants someone to talk to and I’m not there…it’s one of his many siblings he calls and in that reinforces to me that we forget that life is fleeting and we’re not here forever, but children are our legacy and they are each other’s family.
I don’t feel that it’s about meeting the status quo but meeting the quo that God has laid it in our hearts to meet.
(2) Think about how you view the issue of birth control. Does your view line up with God’s view of birth control? Give Scriptures to show God’s view.
We have mixed feelings about birth control; We think that used with care by married couples, that it’s something that is between them and God.
It’s really not for us to risk being like a Pharissee and try to legislate another couple or family how big or small their family should be and sometimes, God may have other plans for them that we are not included.
I think so strongly about Sarah when it comes to birth control and how she tried to take control of things in her own hands and what had happen; God used it for His greater good though I’m sure for many of us it’s hard to see what God can see and understand why….but it’s a reminder to that we have to be careful when we try to be rebellious and not listen to His guidance.
If a couple can’t afford to start a family and between them and God, it’s decided that is in His plans for them, so be it…but if that is not in God’s plans, it’s not OUR choice to make for them. We have to be careful to try and play God’s role and to be humble and remember, we do not know what God’s plans are, or what He has planned for another…What maybe His plans for us may NOT be His plans for others and we risk disobeying God by trying to play Him.
This goes back to our personal feelings about children. The world thinks of children as a curse or a burden but in God’s eyes, children are a blessing and they are an extension of us. When it comes to birth control, honestly there is no clear cut biblical principle for or against so this is a careful line of making sure we are not trying to interpret or decide what God’s will is based on our own definition versus really considering that we serve a loving and awesome God and I feel that He has a reason why some are childless yet blessed with adoption, and others are abundant with many children…However, I don’t feel that He will deny us to heaven if we have one, two or 100 children.
I do feel though that part of having children is clear cut personal responsiblity.
God is going to bless us either way, but we have to be careful that we don’t have children under the mistaken legality it will get us into heaven, it’s not…that’s “works” that can not win us a place in heaven, only accepting Jesus Christ as our Lord and Saviour will and He doesn’t ask us for anything else.
If a woman’s health is at risk from giving birth to a child, that has to be under consideration. God bless us with the ability to use our heads and part of that includes making smart choices about our bodies that will not harm us; How is doing something that we know will directly harm us following God’s call to cherish and protect our bodies?? Basically…for lack of a better term, God calls us to have stewardship of our bodies (1 Corinthians 7:4).
This includes using common sense such as abstinence if we are not married and birth control isn’t abstinence. It doesn’t provide a loop hole to have premarital relations, and the reality is that if we are truly in Christ, even if we have fallen before and made that mistake, we understand our mistakes, we accept it and accept Christ’s forgiveness for that mistake and move forward, not back and forth and don’t repeat it. We can’t undo what is done, but it doesn’t mean that we are not allow to be in God’s grace.
I think about Rehab who was a prostitute, and notice I said, was, and threw away her fallen ways to be the child of God that God called her to be. We can’t undo the past, but Christ can.
Proverbs 30:7-9 (New International Version)
7 “Two things I ask of you, O LORD;
do not refuse me before I die:8 Keep falsehood and lies far from me;
give me neither poverty nor riches,
but give me only my daily bread.9 Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you
and say, ‘Who is the LORD ?’
Or I may become poor and steal,
and so dishonor the name of my God.
How we handle our money, how we handle our homes, how we handle our bodies, that is all part of good stewardship and if we knowingly have more children than we are able to be able to cover the needs for, how is that not trusting and dishonoring God as well? I feel that if He means for those who are able to have large families, He will provide a way, but that’s where we have to learn to trust Him and follow His guidance.
Do I feel that birth control, taking with a biblical principle is one form of stewardship, yes I do, so long it’s not abused the same way that we have medicine that is a blessing of the Lord who placed it in the hands of pharmacists and chemical scientists to create for our use.However, like all things, it can either be abused to an extreme or use to God’s good as well.
There is a really great site that discusses about birth control here.
I couldn’t help but really reflect on this quote from the site:
As in other things that Scripture calls a ‘blessing’ (such as finances or ministries) we are called to exercise stewardship — we are called to make decisions about what and how much we can handle. There are good reasons to limit the number of ministries we have, the amount of money we possess (Proverbs 30:7-9), and the number of children we have. Each couple must decide between God and themselves, what God wants them to do.
Virtually every couple practices some form of birth control, whether it is one of the more scientific methods or abstinence during the wife’s most fertile time. But as Christians we must never use methods of birth control that cause the destruction of another human being: abortion, IUD, some birth control pills, etc. There is a huge difference between methods that prevent the conception of another human being and methods that destroy after conception.
Children are a blessing from God and I pray that maybe one day, He will bless us with another child, but I learn from Sarah’s mistake that I have to place this in His hands and not mine.
He will decide when the time is right and no one else can for us.
If we truly believe in Him and truly have faith in Him, we will know when the time is right, but it’s not for the neighbors next door, Mrs. Busybody down the street, the media or anyone to make that choice for us. It’s between us and our Heavenly Father and that’s where we have to learn to make the difference between trying to be controlling and giving up control.
He continues in His patient and endearing ways, to clear the path ahead of us, probably wishing that in the midst of our tears, we understand that He is patient where we are not and that is actually a good thing.
Welcome to this week’s “Sunday Praise and Worship”.
It’s easier said than done with the rise in both gas prices, groceries and just about everything else to not panic….yet, but we have found as we’ve had to cut back on a lot of the errands and even just “luxuries” that we were use to like, eating out once a week and just where we traveled too, of what was really important and what were just wants that fill up empty time slots and empty souls.
Now, please set your timer for 10 minutes and soak in His word. Come join 10 Minute Tuesdays!
What happens on Sunflower Faith?
