Grateful to be a Christian…not just a convicted one, but one in Singapore, one in Heart of God Church! Can’t emphasize enough how important it is to have a revelation of God in our lives and learning His ways…no wonder the Bible says when we train a child in His ways, the child will grow up and never depart from it.

It is not just about what the child will live by, but it is also his/her value system and his/her perspectives.

Had a chat with an old friend a couple days back about life, about having children etc…and there was something about our conversation that hung on even after we said our goodbyes. Her points were legit, but there was just something that didn’t sit right with me.

And I just understood what it was. (:

She knows the words in the Bible. In fact, she could probably quote a few immediately on the spot, but she has never known God personally. She has never seen life or the world through His eyes and through His intentions. Throughout our conversation, her one main point of argument was that all the problems lie with the world that we live in, and because of all these problems, she don’t see the need to add on anymore to make it even more complicating for herself and the ones around her.

This is where I thank God I came to know Jesus when I was 13 years old, and when I accepted Him into my life at 17 years old.

Is the world a messy place? Without a doubt, yes. In fact, we could go on and on about what’s wrong with the world, but I don’t agree that the world is to be blamed wholly for all the mess. In fact, the world was fine until Adam came in. Haha.

One thing she said stayed with me. She said she never wanted to have children because she does not want her children to grow up and to have to face the mess that the world has to offer. I thought it was legit, but it wasn’t an good enough argument. Surely there has to be something more, right? With this main issue in mind, I think we can and should give credit to human beings. We are more adaptable and stronger than we give ourselves credit for. Look at where we’ve come from and how far we’ve gotten. The world may be a mess, but it doesn’t mean we will grow up being a mess just because we live here. The key lies in proper parenting, which then also goes hand in hand with knowing and choosing first your Master, mission, then mate. If we were to wait for a perfect world to exist before we want to have children, then yeah, we’d be single for life.

But see here, what God has meant for us…we know our Master, know our manual a.k.a the Bible, what we were created for, why we are here, what is our purpose…build God’s standards, His values, His thinking into our system…then we find the other half, who has his/her own walk with God, who knows his/her own purpose etc…you come together, you have the same values, same beliefs, same convictions, same revelations, same understanding…and you make the same decisions on how to raise your children - by God’s standards, by teaching your children His ways, His Word, and helping them to recognize His presence, to love Him as a Person, not just as a God…

I may not be able to change the world in one second, but I can change mine. My spouse can change his. And together, we can shape and change our children’s. And who knows? Maybe our children would become world-changers on a large scale. Even if they don’t, they might change another person’s life, and that would spark off a chain of revivals.

No one could probably ever imagined the boy who used to be afraid of public speaking to be the senior pastor of one of the best youth churches today.

I bet the person who reached out to an eight-year-old girl never imagined that the little girl would grow up and influence the lives of nine other children, who in turn influenced the lives of 2,500 other youths.

Problems will always be there. If it’s not the world, it’s humanity. If it’s not humanity, it’s technology. The list never ends. And I’m not so much concerned about the problems as I am about the solution.

If I ever have children, I’m not going to let them grow up thinking that the world is a messy place and there’s nothing that we can do about it. Rather, I want them to grow up knowing and believing that they are world-changers and history-makers.

It’s not so much airy-fairy idealism as it is God-influenced perspectives. (:

And yeah, as I was about to write this post, God reminded me of this verse in 1 John 4:4:

You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.

Yeah. ‘Nuff said. My God always has the last word. (: