Children are a glorious inconvenience. Are children an inconvenience? Absolutely. It?s why many people don?t want to have children. ?Oh, they?re such an inconvenience.? Having a child is a big deal, infertility can be a real pressing issue. You finally get pregnant, maybe you have a miscarriage, maybe you don?t, you don?t have the miscarriage, then you have all the water retention and the weight gain and the heartburn and the kicking of the bladder. I mean, I?ve seen it firsthand, it?s exciting. It?s an inconvenience. And then the baby?s born. Having a baby is an inconvenience. I?ve watched it, I know why we give women drugs. It?s necessary. And then the child is born and the children, they sleep during the day, they?re up all night, they cost tons of money, they scream and fluids come from every hole like a sprinkler, right? They?re an inconvenience. And then we get to junior high, oh. And then it?s an?and then they want to go to college, then they want to get married and it costs money and they take time and they?re an inconvenience.

And you know what? They?re a glorious inconvenience. They?re a glorious inconvenience.

And here?s the big idea: we tend to not see ourselves as children. We tend to see ourselves like the disciples, ?Well, we?re very responsible adults with very important things to do.? And God says, ?You know what I see? Ponytails, boogers, and Fudgesicles, that?s what I see.? You?re not totally able to take care of yourself. You need your dad. You were an inconvenience. I don?t know about you, Father, I apologize for being such an enormous inconvenience. But you know what? The fact that the Father loves me and he endures with me and he protects me and he provides for me and he instructs me and he corrects me, it reveals that he?s glorious. He?s amazing. And we, by the grace of God, get to be the children of God. We get to be that inconvenience through which he is revealed to be glorious. That?s what Christianity?s all about.

So if you?re here and you?re not a Christian, I would invite you through Jesus Christ to enjoy God as your Father and we as your family. Isn?t this good news?

And I want you just for a moment to consider with me, that if we had the heart of Jesus for children and we raise children who we love and instructed in the Lord and they grew up to love and serve Jesus. . . . We?re leaving a legacy of gospel faith that goes on maybe until Jesus comes back.

There?s a story at the end of Genesis where a little family of sixty-some people goes into Egypt, and they?re the children of God. They have children who have children who have children. Four hundred and forty years later, they emerge as the nation of Israel, a few million people. They went from a few dozen to a few million.

We may be in the midst of that. And it starts with the heart of Jesus. We need to approach our Father and his kingdom like kids and we need to raise our kids to love their heavenly Father.

— Mark Driscoll

On this day...

• I'd be shaken by God's answer - 2011
• Practical Theology - 2011
• Bringing God's Kingdom down - 2011
• God's image - 2011
• A Living Epistle - 2011
• Perfect Love Casts Out Fear - 2011
• Make sure we conduct a pure altar - 2011
• A pure altar and a pure heart open heaven - 2011
• Micah 5:2 - 2009
• UNDAUNTED RADIANCE - 2009