How Christ Blesses Our Children

As we engage in various ways to bring our children to Jesus, let us be urgent but never desperate. Even when we do not immediately see the fruits of faith in our children, let us have a quiet confidence in God, who knows how to work in our children in His way and time.

When the parents brought their children to the Lord, Jesus “took [the children] up in his arms, put his hands upon them, and blessed them” (Mark 10:16). First, Christ took them up, which shows us there is no place of greater safety and comfort than for our children to be taken up in the arms of Christ through the Spirit applying His word to their souls and drawing them by faith into fellowship with the Father and His Son by faith (Isa.40:11). Second, Christ put His hands upon them, symbolizing the favor, ownership, and adoption into His family that Christ gives to His own and, by God’s grace, to our children (Ps. 80:17). Third, Christ blessed them in the fullness of His divine power and authority to bless—that is, to confer divine favor and benefits (Ps. 72:17). He is able to bless our human efforts to bring our children to Him, using His Word and Holy Spirit to draw them to Himself and fill them with His grace. Our children are blessed because Jesus is the sum and substance of the covenant of grace for us and, yes, also for them at God’s time through personal faith and repentance.

Without Christ’s blessing, we could not fulfill a single one of our covenantal responsibilities rightly as parents. So let us depend on our covenanting Savior, who never forsakes the work of His hands, without whom we can do nothing, let alone bring up our children in union with Christ (John 15:5). By His covenanting grace, we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us.

May the God of the covenant fill you with determined dependence and joyful trust as you continually bring yourself and your children to Him.

Excerpt from
How Should We View Children in the Church?
By Joel R. Beeke