I’ve been thinking about babies a lot. Mostly because I’ve been writing about them, and I really want to have them (which I can’t do since I’m still waiting on the Lord to allow a man of God to find me). Thanks to all that thinking last year, God opened my eyes to the fact that babies, the unborn and the born, can have faith too. I know this is not a popular view, but it is the biblical one.
God has shown time and time again in multiple passages that He has given the gift of faith to the youngest of image bearers (Psalm 22:9–10, Luke 1:15, Luke 1:41, Matthew 21:16). To deny this evidence because you believe babies don’t have the capacity to reason is absurd. God has never ever created anything that doesn’t have the capacity to worship and praise Him. Even animals, the earth, the moon, and stars praise and worship the Lord (Psalm 148:1–10, Psalm 150:6). So why wouldn’t a baby be able to?
God has also shown that He elects who is saved and who isn’t long before a baby can do anything good or bad (Romans 9:11, Ephesians 1:4). He has every right to decide when the elect get their faith. Am I saying every Christian is born a Christian? No, I’m not saying that at all. I am saying that God does what He wants with all of His creation, and sometimes that means allowing a baby to be indwelt with the Holy Spirit.
With that said, I am not proposing that babies be baptized. I see no biblical evidence for it, and that may be because baptism is for the believer who can profess their faith to those around them in a way others can understand (Acts 2:41, Acts 8:12). Babies can’t do that, but as they grow, hopefully in a household that raises them in the Lord, they can.
Imagine a five-year-old blessed with faith in the womb being baptized by his or her parents who did as the Lord commanded and raised their child to love Him with everything (Ephesians 6:4, Deuteronomy 6:5-7). That’s a beautiful picture, and I hope that I get to experience it one day. And I hope that your children, if you have them, can experience that too. As children of God, He has tasked us with the great responsibility to raise more children of God. That’s why we must do as He says.
We must flee from sexual immorality. We must be pure for our potential future spouses. We must take Him at His word so our children take Him at His word too. We must give them the proper foundation, hoping that God increases the seeds we planted. It does them no favors if we assume that just because they are very young, they can’t praise the Lord too (Matthew 19:14).
Don’t forget the enemy is prowling like a roaring lion ready to devour (1 Peter 5:8). We see how children are targeted in the most seemingly innocuous ways. From shows, books, movies, events, and schools. The enemy is working hard to lead them astray. Believing that a baby can’t believe in the Lord is giving him ammo. Don’t give the enemy ammo; give your child something that can’t be taken away. Give them the truth that can set them free (John 8:32).
