The Lord Doesn't Have Grandchildren.

I'm still reading through Numbers and hearing how the children of Israel are just not making it in to the promised land. It doesn't really confuse me because I grew up with this story. It's not confusing, but as I read it as an adult I see a lot more layers to it. I read this recently and it struck me again that the Lord promised this land.

“Surely none of the men that went up out of Egypt, from a son of twenty years and upward, shall see the ground which I promised to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob; for they have not fully come after me.” Numbers 32:11

He keeps promising it to every generation. To Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. To Jacob's sons and all their children. But promised doesn't mean guaranteed. I read the Word and every single chapter reinforces this idea that while the Lord promises us heaven that doesn't mean we get there because our parents were promised it or because their parents were, or even because it was promised to us!

At baptism our parents make a promise to the Lord to teach us His commandments and His prayer and to raise us in the Word and His ways. In a New Church service of baptism the minister even says "This child is now enrolled and numbered in heaven." We absolutely have to raise our children to follow the Lord. We are supposed to baptize them and teach them how to read the Word and give them all the tools so that they can fight and be warriors for the Lord.

But even a baptized child can go astray. Look at the children of Israel. God's chosen people didn't all make it in to the land despite being circumcised (the forerunner of baptism), despite being chosen and promised the land.

Why didn't they make it in? Because they did nothing. Simply put, they didn't make it in to the land because they didn't go into the land.

The Lord gave us rules to follow. If we don't, we don't enter the promised land. It's relatively simple, though certainly not easy.

It is not enough to get by on the faith of our parents. It is not enough to just bring your kids to church or send them to a church school. They have to live it. They have to see it being lived by the people around them. They have to choose it for themselves.

The Lord doesn't have grandkids. Every single person is a child of the Lord. That means that each person is responsible for turning toward Him. And we better give our children the tools to choose Him.