The blessing of a Christian family

I have often heard the phrase, “I was so blessed by my family” or “The godly heritage of my parents was a blessing” or the like.

The statistics bear this out. The greatest source of church growth worldwide is babies born in Christian homes: twice as many new believers come from these births as from conversion. This is an incredible benefit to those born into these homes. They have ready and relatively easy access to the Gospel and discipleship, compared to those in nonChristian or unevangelized homes.

One temptation of the cynic (ie me) is to ask: if those who grow up in Christian homes are blessed, then are those who grow up in nonChristian homes, or unevangelized homes, … Cursed?

Theologically, we are all under the curse of the fall, of course.

But here is a thought: Christian homes are in a sense the best example of the now-and-not-yet presence of the Kingdom.

On twitter someone mentioned the “fortunate accident of birth” that makes a person a citizen of this nation or that nation. They did nothing to earn this “blessing.” It was entirely grace.

Being born into a Christian home–into the sunny age of the dawning Kingdom–represented in this small nucleus, where as they grow up they often afforded the opportunity to learn about the King, the Kingdom, and the blessings and responsibilities afforded them… This is indeed a blessing.

Genesis 12 says we are blessed to be a blessing. What will we do with it? How will we reach out and “reverse the curse” of those not yet into they kingdom which we were mercifully, and through no merit of our own, born into?