Lately, I feel like Job and wonder what I am hear for. Our children have departed from us and they are not following the Lord Jesus Christ. I work, I come whom, I rest and I do it all over again. My life is like the rising and the setting of the sun, but this will not go on forever. Someday, I will not rise and go to work. Someday, God will judge the world in righteousness through the Lord Jesus Christ.
Regarding my children, I have no comfort, and like job’s friends, our friends are of little comfort. I think that people mean well by what they say, but their words cause pain. I trust in the goodness of the Lord Jesus Christ and that scares me. Why does the goodness of God scare me? The goodness of God scares me because he will by no means leave the guilty unpunished. Like the Father, the Lord Jesus Christ forgives iniquity, transgression and sin, yet he will by no means leave the guilty unpunished; (Ex 34:6-7) “He (The Lord Jesus Christ) is the radiance of His (The Father’s) glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power.” There is forgiveness of sins for all who repent and believe in Jesus Christ, but for the unrepentant there is a fearful expectation of judgment. I am worried for my children and I do not know what to do or say to them.
The apostle paul, quoting the apostle Joel 2:32, wrote in Romans 10:13, “WHOEVER WILL CALL ON THE NAME OF THE LORD WILL BE SAVED.’” Then he begins to ask a series of rhetorical questions, (Romans 10:14-15) How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher? How will the preach unless they are sent?
Our children were raised in the church, not their whole lives; our daughter was nine and our son thirteen when we became members of the church. They both made professions of faith and were baptized before the congregation. My wife and I became workers with the youth of the church and taught the ninth graders in Sunday school. Our son (31) now outright rejects the Lord Jesus Christ. Our Daughter (27) now claims to believe in Jesus, but a different Jesus than revealed in the text of Scripture.
The Phillipian jailer asked Paul and Silas, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved.” They answered him, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.” (Acts 16:30-31) I do believe but my whole household was not saved; therefore, I have a different question than that of the Phillipian jailer. What must I do for my children to be saved? I believe that I am saved from the wrath of God for my sin, through the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ through faith. What must I do for my children to be saved?
In Christ alone,
Michael Peek
The Nurse Theologian
