Heritage of Children

"Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord,

The fruit of the womb is a reward.

Like arrows in the hand of a warrior,

So are the children of one's youth.

Happy is the man who has his quiver full of them;

They shall not be ashamed,

but shall speak with their enemies in the gate."

-Psalm 127:3-5

I recently read somewhere that the estimated cost of raising a child is $1.5 million. I don't know what that includes and when the "raising" ends (after high school, does this include college tuition, wedding, etc.), but I was a little disturbed as it felt like putting a price on a child. How often have we heard "We would love to have more kids, but we just can't afford it right now"? Our culture views children as a burden, an added expense, one more thing to drain our precious bank accounts and deplete our net worth.

But the Bible paints a different picture of children. The word "heritage" is defined on dictionary.com as "something reserved for one", the King James Dictionary defines it as "an allotment or possession". Psalm 127 goes onto refer to them as a "reward". None of these terms evoke images of burden or financial drain. On the contrary, we associate reward and allotment and possession with financial gain.

Our American society has become so focused on financial gain and so defined by the bottom line, that we reject the blessings God has for us in our children. That's not to say that everyone needs a large family, on the contrary, God has purpose for all of his flock, single, married, families small and large. But don't let the distorted image of "financial success" our society perpetuates prevent you from God's will for your family.