Our Children’s Salvation: Only by Grace

Nancy Wilson is right: mothers are tempted to be worriers. And maybe our greatest worry is about our children's salvation. We know that nothing is so important as the state of their soul before a Holy God. And if we are unsure about their salvation, or if we are sure they are not saved, we can be tempted to worry.

We easily forget that salvation isn't something we give our kids. It is a gift that only God imparts.

Mark Dever reminds us that "According to the Bible, our repentance and faith are gifts of God to us; our conversion, our great change, occurs only by God's grace."

Only by God's grace. So often we recognize and appreciate this about our own salvation. We wouldn't dream of taking credit for our repentance and faith, and we would never credit the person who shared the gospel with us with actually saving us. We know without a doubt that the change that occurred in our soul was only by the powerful initiative of the Holy Spirit. Salvation comes from God alone.

But when it comes to our children, we can fall into thinking that their salvation is, at least in part, dependent upon us. Even though we would never say it, our worry reveals that we may actually be living as if we thought we could save our children. 

We must look to God. He alone is the author of our children's salvation. This doesn't remove our responsibility to share and model the gospel to our children. But it does remove our worry.

So let's not "worry our children away" but rather bring them to God in prayer. He alone can save.