Nurturing the Baptized in the Faith

This is from the pastor's cutting room floor. This paragraph didn't make it into tomorrow's message on the role of family members in nurturing young ones in their lives as baptized children of God.

There are no guarantees that family members who are nurtured in the faith, taught the Word of God, and shown how to pray will come to believe in Jesus and have life in His name. Even people Jesus sets out to save will, like a drowning person, fight against Him, His love, His call to repent and believe. Even people who see good examples of imperfect people seeking to follow Jesus each day will turn away from Jesus. But I can guarantee this: If parents, grandparents, and other family members don’t seek to lovingly share the Word about Christ within their families, especially with young children, the chances of those family members coming to believe in Jesus are significantly diminished.