God's promise of gracious salvation is both for me and my children!

Sometimes we call ourselves children of Abraham. Jesus was a descendant of Abraham and in Christ we too received all the grace promises God made to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

Galatians 3: 16 and 29

¹⁶ The promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. Scripture does not say “and to seeds,” meaning many people, but “and to your seed,” meaning one person, who is Christ.

²⁹ If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.

Galatians 3 is but one passage that confirms God’s firm grace promises to be our God, our Saviour, our Protector, and our Lord. It is the promise that through the death and resurrection of Christ, we are saved and received the Holy Spirit. 

In Acts 2 it is emphasized that the promise to receive the Holy Spirit who grants us faith in Christ as Lord and Saviour is not only for a first generation of believers, but also for their children, and even for far off generations still to come: 

Acts 2: 38 and 39:   ³⁸Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. ³⁹The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call.”

This is a precious birthright that our parents and grandparents, our church, and our Lord have entrusted to our keep. To head a Christian family is both a breathtaking privilege and an enormous responsibility to hand the gospel to the next generation.

We own this precious faith of the martyrs who during the first centuries died for the Lord and still do today. It is the faith of the fathers and mothers of the Reformation during the 16th century till now and it is the faith of our church fathers that kept it, preserved it and carried it faithfully up to our generation. 

It is, by God’s grace, our birthright and our inheritance to know that although I am a sinner in need of salvation, I am redeemed in and through Jesus, my Lord. It is the faith that says Jesus alone, by grace alone, can redeem me and help me. It is through this faith alone that I know the proper response to God's grace in Christ: to lead a life of sanctification, commitment to God and of gratefulness.

We have a duty to defend this faith, to keep this faith and to guard this faith that has been entrusted to us. We have a holy responsibility to carry the Good News far and wide and to hand it, safe and sound, to the next generation.

It is our duty, our privilege and our calling to keep the true faith for our children’s and grand children’s sake. And most importantly, for the sake of God and his Kingdom. We need to keep and nurture this faith for the sake of the true church of today and of the future and for those who will carry the light of God as the next generation of the followers of Jesus. 

May we put God first in our lives and serve our Saviour Jesus Christ with humble and devoted hearts. Let’s keep and defend our birthright with everything we do and everything we are!