There really are no good Scriptural reasons to avoid childbearing. If you are providentially hindered from having children, perhaps the Lord is calling you to adopt children. Either way, as Christians, we ought to delight in seeing children in our congregations, our homes, and our circle of friends.
Imagine the Brady Bunch, the hit TV show from the 70’s, re-packed for today’s viewers. Would the plot identify with the majority of younger couples? What about the majority of younger, evangelical Christian couples?
When I’ve asked young Christian couples about children and when they expect to have them, the usual suspects show up in their responses. “We want to get ourselves in a financial position where we can provide for a child,” or “We want to travel for a little bit before we children,” or—my personal favorite—”We want to enjoy our marriage first before we have children.” Now the first two reasons are laudable, in a sense; it’s good to exercise fiscal prudence and there’s nothing wrong with travel. However, these two responses, as well as the third, all betray a fundamental misunderstanding of the Bible’s view of children. They all seem to assume that children are a burden to be borne, rather than a blessing to be enjoyed.
In fact, one will search in vain for any Biblical passage that treats children as anything other than a blessing. Not a financial hardship. Not a hindrance to unfettered roaming across Europe. And certainly not a detractor to marital bliss. Psalm 127:3 summarizes the Biblical position well: “Behold, children are a heritage from the LORD, the fruit of the womb a reward.” From Genesis to Revelation, children are seen as both a sign of the Lord’s favor and a source of great joy and blessing.
Most spectacularly, our Lord himself became a baby. Surely, if anyone could complain of “not enjoying their marriage” or “being financially unprepared,” it was Mary and Joseph. While the Biblical data is slim, it seems that our Lord’s earthly parents were poor. But there is no corresponding hint that they were wringing their hands over the birth of this unexpected child for the typical reasons most couples do today. The main cause of consternation seems to have been the supernatural nature of this pregnancy, not the fact of it.
