Citizenship
(Disclaimer - all analogies break down, so deal with it!)
A child being born is a wonderful thing. When that child is born to citizens of the United States, that child is a citizen as well. The child is now, in a sense, under the care of all the citizens of the U.S. Our taxes help pay for that child's education, healthcare (to some extent), welfare (if needed), etc. That child will get a Social Security Number from the government which "marks" him or her as such a citizen. That child hasn't done anything to get that citizenship, it was simply given to them because of their birth into a family of citizens.
What would we think if parents who are upstanding citizens and who take advantage of the benefits of citizenship but deny that right to their children and who themselves do not even consider their children to be citizens? Kind of strange and not the way things are intended to be.
However, that child is not really a "full-citizen" yet. They cannot vote, and have not demonstrated that they will in fact be a good citizen, or even remain a citizen at all. But up until that point, if their parents continue to nuture and train the child in the "way of citizenship", we have no reason to believe they will not in fact be true citizens.
How come this makes sense for citizenship in the United States, but when it comes to the family of God many people deny their children "citizenship" into the covenant family through baptism?
A child being born is a wonderful thing. When that child is born to citizens of the United States, that child is a citizen as well. The child is now, in a sense, under the care of all the citizens of the U.S. Our taxes help pay for that child's education, healthcare (to some extent), welfare (if needed), etc. That child will get a Social Security Number from the government which "marks" him or her as such a citizen. That child hasn't done anything to get that citizenship, it was simply given to them because of their birth into a family of citizens.
What would we think if parents who are upstanding citizens and who take advantage of the benefits of citizenship but deny that right to their children and who themselves do not even consider their children to be citizens? Kind of strange and not the way things are intended to be.
However, that child is not really a "full-citizen" yet. They cannot vote, and have not demonstrated that they will in fact be a good citizen, or even remain a citizen at all. But up until that point, if their parents continue to nuture and train the child in the "way of citizenship", we have no reason to believe they will not in fact be true citizens.
How come this makes sense for citizenship in the United States, but when it comes to the family of God many people deny their children "citizenship" into the covenant family through baptism?
Soli Deo Gloria
posted by Mark Vander Pol at 6:25 AM
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