After creating the heavens and the earth, man and woman, and declaring everything “good,” God gives Adam and Eve a specific command. “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth” (Gen 1:28).[1] This command comes after 1:27, “So God created man in his own image, the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.” Therefore, we must understand God’s command in v. 28 as a command to multiply and fill the earth with fellow image bearers of God.

To play a role in creating image bearers of God is an incredible blessing. In fact, verse 28 begins with the statement, “And God blessed them.” How did he bless them? By giving them the mandate in the rest of the verse, the mandate to fill the earth with children who also bear God’s image.

In a sense, this is a mini Great Commission before the big one we find in Matthew 28:19-20. Just as Jesus called his followers to make disciples of all nations, God called Adam and Eve to fill the earth with people who follow him. Before sin entered the world, this would have happened naturally as they bore and raised children in an atmosphere of perfect communion with God.

The mission of this mandate was glorifying God. Filling the earth with his image bearers is filling the earth with people who bring him glory by their lives, in and through their work and relationships. Adam and Eve’s offspring, then, would be one of the greatest blessings, not only to them, but to the rest of the world, because they would reveal God to the world.

Blessings, Not Burdens

The theme of children being a blessing is repeated throughout Scripture. But this truth is at odds with our culture. We live in a modern, individualistic, materialistic culture that tends to view children as burdens rather than blessings. Would-be parents are told that kids take away your freedom, require years of sacrifice, and are too expensive. Children are reduced to a commodity and a lifestyle choice, like whether or not to get a dog.[2] One entertainer expressed such a sentiment, “My husband and I are either going to buy a dog or have a child. We can’t decide whether to ruin our carpets or ruin our lives.”[3]

Others go even farther and view having children as downright wrong. “One more child means more people to divide the earth’s rapidly decreasing resources with,” says one environmentalist.[4] This quote embodies much of the modern view on children: they are viewed as leeches that suck away the resources of parents, society, and even the earth. Several professors at the public university I attended held such views. They sincerely believed that the earth was overpopulated and the choice to have children, let alone several children, placed an unnecessary burden on the planet.

This view became popular with Paul Ehrlich’s 1968 book titled, “The Population Bomb.” Ehrlich guaranteed mass starvation because of an overpopulated planet. Yet over the next several decades the world’s population dramatically increased. But guess what? Human flourishing- jobs, economic growth, energy, and food- increased right alongside it. But even though this idea of kids burdening the earth’s resources can be easily disproved at an economic level, at the cultural level, many people still talk about kids as if they are primarily a burden.

But this is not how the Bible talks about children. “Children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, are the children of one’s youth. Blessed is the man who fills his quiver with them!” (Psalm 127:3-5). Heritage, reward, blessing. Those are the words the psalmist uses to describe children.

Children are an inheritance, a legacy, and a future. And they come from the Lord. They are a gift fromGod, a reward from his hand, a blessing that we do not deserve. This is true of every child. Every child is formed by God, knit together by him in their mother’s womb  (Psalm 139:13). Their life has value and meaning because of who made them and who’s image they bear.

Children are not just blessings in a spiritual sense. They are blessings in a tangible, physical, social sense. They bring joy, laughter, and beautiful chaos into a home. While they are young, they offer adults an opportunity to witness life all over again through a child’s eyes. And as they age, they provide close relationships with siblings and parents, and potentially bear the gifts of cousins and grandchildren, creating a sense of belonging and community that everyone needs. And eventually, they’ll be the ones taking up the primary responsibilities of caring for their aging parents. They won’t be much of a burden then, will they?

But even outside the home, children are a blessing. They represent future leaders, innovators, and contributing members of society. They will drive social and economic growth and support the growing elderly population. In fact, several countries are already at risk of not having enough young people in the work force to support the elderly. Several others are already experiencing shrinking economies due to having more people who die than people who are born.

This is true in the church as well. A church without young people is a church that will eventually close its doors. This is not a spiritual indictment against churches with a predominant elderly congregation, it’s an objective truth. A church cannot grow older and older and continue to exist forever. Eventually, everyone will die. The church needs kids. And the church grows stronger when she invests into her youth.

Children represent the next generation of faithful followers of Jesus. They are the future fathers and mothers who will pass on their faith to their kids. They are the future pastors and missionaries, businessmen and teachers, stay at home moms and community leaders. They will become the future supporters of the church, both financially and spiritually. They will be the adults who are sent into the world with the message of God’s kingdom. They are “like arrows in the hand of a warrior.” They are assets, not liabilities.

In other words, having children is not about preference or convenience, but about necessity. When we make it a matter of preference or convenience, we prove ourselves products of individualism. If everyone decided not to have kids out of convenience, we’d be in a mess. Our homes, our churches, and our society desperately need kids. They are blessings, not burdens.

Displacing the Center of Our Universe

Our misunderstanding of children isn’t only cultural. It is deeply personal. I am afraid that much of our thinking about children in the church is poisoned by western materialism and individualism. We are not only tempted to avoid having children for selfish reasons such as those previously mentioned (sacrifice of time, autonomy, finances, etc.), but we can also have children for selfish reasons. We have all seen parents who desire to “live through their children” via avenues of sports, academics, or careers. But such self-centeredness is not limited to Timmy’s travel-ball-obsessed parents. Its innate to all of us. We all want the world to orbit us.

We naturally desire everyone and everything to serve us. In our thoughts and actions, we operate as if we are the center of the universe. Even in marriage, most of us operate this way, which is why Paul tells husbands that they should love their wives as their own bodies (Eph 5:25-33). Kids are no different. When they are born, we expect them to enter the orbit around us to satisfy us or make us happy. To say the least, that’s not what happens when you have a child.

This is the hard part about becoming a parent. For the first time in your life, you recognize that you are not the center of the universe. You’re not even the center of your universe anymore. The child is. Which is why some psychologists argue that modern adults do not truly mature until they have children, because someone in their life now matters more than they do.[5] That requires you to grow up.

This is why children are such a blessing. They help us escape ourselves. Our culture tells us that we need more of ourselves, that we need to find ourselves, and that once we find ourselves, we must live for ourselves, doing whatever makes us happy. That’s the definition of an individualistic society.[6] And it leads to a bunch of depressed and anxious individuals.

Bearing Much Fruit

We don’t need more of ourselves; we need less. In actuality, we need to die to ourselves. Only when someone or something matters more than we do (and thus we die by comparison), do we find true freedom, meaning, and identity. Jesus teaches this principle in John 12:24, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, bears much fruit.”

Of course, Jesus is referring to his own life here. In the verses that follow this statement, he discusses his approaching death. But Jesus’ death not only saves us, but becomes our example. We will not find life by keeping it for ourselves, but by laying it down for others. By sacrificing ourselves and serving others (dying), we will bear much fruit (live).

The call to parenthood is the call to die to self. It is a daily opportunity for the grain of your life to fall to the earth and die as you serve another, who most of the time may not reciprocate your love. You will have to give up your time, your sleep, your energy, your money, your desires, your attention, and possibly even your dreams to properly raise a child. But with every sacrifice you make, with every seed that dies, you become more like Christ, and the more you become like him, the more fruit you will bear.

This fruit may be a deeper relationship with your child. Or it may be a more profound view of God’s love for you (this happened to me when I became a father). It could be several things, but the fruit that will certainly come will be that which is for your good and for God’s glory. For those who love him, he works all things according to this purpose (Romans 8:28). What is that purpose? Your godliness. Your sanctification. Becoming more like Jesus and bearing his image more clearly to your family, the church, and the world. That’s what being fruitful is all about- imaging God.

Fulfilling the Mandate

The same mandate that was given to Adam and Eve is given to us, “be fruitful and multiply.” God calls us to have children and raise them in such a way that equips them to know him and image him to the world. Thus we will multiply image-bearers upon the earth. This mandate is not nullified because of sin. In fact, it becomes all the more necessary because of sin. The nature of sin mars the image of God in us, so we need all the image bearers we can get who will walk with God and share who he is with the world.

Parenting, then, is a task aimed at reasserting and reflecting the glory of God in the world. And this mandate is not just for parents. Its for church members, extended family members, ministry workers, and teachers. We must labor together to bring our children to Christ and teach them to walk with and image him. As they say, “it takes a village.”

This mandate is not a burden, but a blessing. It is an incredible privilege image God to the world. It is holy work. It is a honor to be an avenue of bringing life into the world and raising those lives to know and reflect the Author of life who made them and saved them. Even the most mundane aspects of parenting, teaching, and ministering are not meaningless. They promote the expansion of God’s glory in the world.  This is not an easy task, but it is one that God promises to give us all the grace we need to accomplish (2 Cor 9:8).

Application

1. Understand that the mandate in Genesis 1:28 is a command to multiply image-bearers of God on the earth (rather than God just telling Adam and Eve they needed to have some kids).
2. Allow the words heritage, reward, and blessing from Psalm 127:3-5 to shape the way you view children.
3. Resist the cultural pressure to view children as burdens or liabilities. Remind yourself regularly that they are blessings from God and can be assets in his kingdom.
4. Willingly sacrifice yourself for the children God has placed in your life and trust him to make you more like Christ and bring fruit from your labor.
5. Thank God for the incredible privilege of multiplying image-bearers of God on the earth! Remember that you are working not for your own happiness, but for God’s glory!

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[1] All Bible references will be from the English Standard Version unless noted otherwise.

[2] It is not coincidental that referring to pets as “children” or utilizing titles such as “dog mom” has become a modern phenomenon, as many pet owners have replaced having children with having pets.

[3] Rita Rudner in a stand up comedy set.

[4] Quote obtained from an online forum for adults who intentionally choose to be childless (www.childfreebychoice.com). Due to the use of an online username, the actual name of the author is unknown.

[5] Jordan Peterson in an interview on his book Twelve Rules for Life, “You are not mature until someone else clearly matters more than you do…and that definitely happens when you have children. And then you’re an adult.”

[6] For a good treatment on this, see Trueman, The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self: Cultural Amnesia, Expressive Individualism, and the Road to the Sexual Revolution (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2020).