were only able to have two. However, if we are going to obey
God’s command to “fill the earth” with godly offspring, then
maybe we need to set aside some of our secular concepts of
the family and get back to filling the earth!
Second, producing more offspring is pretty simple.
However, producing godly offspring is a bit more complex.
We read in Malachi that God is seeking “godly offspring.”
As Christian parents, we must do everything in our
power to make sure that our children are godly. It never
ceases to amaze me how protective
we are over our children physically
but then we seem to relax when it
comes to their spiritual and mental
protection.
When our oldest daughter was
entering the second grade, we
relocated from an urban setting to a
more rural community. Most of our
church member’s children attended
non-Christian schools and urged
us to enroll our daughter in their
“almost” Christian, public schools. I
decided to visit the non-Christian
school our daughter would be
attending. After interviewing with
the vice-principal of the school, I
simply could not allow this nice lady
with a totally unbiblical worldview
to take over the education of our
daughter. I gave it serious thought,
but I couldn’t take the advice of the
good people in our church because
I had made a commitment to my
daughter and to God to protect her
heart and mind from falsehood.
I have known from the first day I held my daughters that
my main mission in life is to lead them to know, love, and
serve Christ. I have never cared what others thought about
how I was raising our girls. I only cared that they knew the
truth and loved Jesus. By God’s grace, at 21 and 18 years old,
they both love Jesus and are preparing to give their lives in
service to Him.
It has been my great joy in life to help parents lead their
children to godliness. In the churches I pastored, we made a
huge emphasis on family, children, and youth ministries. In
the last church I led, we started a Christian school and were
12
able to lead our kids toward godliness 180 days out of the
year. What an amazing opportunity.
Now I am privileged to lead Renewanation, and I can’t
describe the level of excitement I live with each day as we
give more and more children a biblical worldview education
and lead them to be “godly offspring.”
If one of the primary purposes of marriage is to produce
godly offspring, we must do everything in our power to
make sure we do not lose our kids’ hearts and minds to the
godless philosophies of this world.
Every movie, song, and television
show is written either from a Chris-
tian perspective or a non-Christian
perspective. These forms of media
are either leading our children to be
godly offspring or ungodly offspring.
Every educational system is built
on a Christian foundation or a
non-Christian foundation. There is
no neutral system. Every textbook
is written from a biblical perspec-
tive or a non-biblical perspective.
Every teacher is either teaching
from a Christian perspective or a
non-Christian perspective. It is
impossible to leave our worldviews
at the front door of the school.
When we realize that the average
child in America will spend more
than 30,000 hours from 6-18 years
of age involved in popular media
and school, and only 1,000-2,000
hours at church, we should realize
how much we must guard our chil-
dren’s hearts and minds.
In the years to come, we hope to help many more parents
fulfill the biblical mandate to raise up young men and
women who can truly be called, “godly offspring.”
Jeff Keaton is the founder and CEO of Renewanation. A
successful pastor, church and school planter, and a ministry
entrepreneur, Jeff has invested his adult life into helping people
grow spiritually. He speaks across America challenging the
church to reach the world for Christ and to get involved in the
great cause of giving children a Christian worldview education.
He is the author of The Life of Radical Faith. Visit his website at
jeffkeaton.net.