Begetting pagan children
The prophet Hosea proclaimed that the people had ‘begotten pagan children’ (Hosea 5:7), and that has been the experience of believers down through the ages.
In Genesis 26 we read of Esau, Isaac’s son taking two wives from the Hittite nation.
I’m sure Isaac had on many occasions recounted to his sons the story of how Abraham had sent a servant to find a bride for him from within his own family. It was a vital part of God’s plan that Abraham and his family keep themselves apart from the nations who they would one day conquer.
But Isaac did nothing to gain his own wife, Abraham did it all. And so he did nothing to prevent his son from taking brides who were going to be ‘a grief of mind to Isaac and Rebekah’ (Genesis 26:35).
It was only after Jacob’s machinations that meant he had to flee to his mother’s country in fear of his life that a bride of the right sort is found for him.
If we sit back and do nothing we will beget pagan children and they will be a grief of mind to us. Isaac seemed to have forgotten all that his father had taught him about God’s promise and God’s plan. We must always remember that each new generation needs to be taught from God’s Word and shown by example that God has plans and purposes for each one of us to bear fruit for Him (John 15:16). It is that sense of purpose that will give our children the power to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness rather than the offerings of this present world.