In 2021 Pew Research Center, a well-respected survey organization, polled adults ages 18-49 and asked them if they were likely to have children someday. The results showed that 44% said they are not likely to ever have children. When asked why they would not have children, 56% said they “just didn’t want to”. For others, 31% cited financial reasons, the state of the world, and climate change as the reasons why they did not want to have children. When added together we see that 87% of adults ages 18-49 who are not likely to have children admit a general refusal or claim anxieties about the condition of our world as their reasons to not have children.

A look into history would show that people living in the Roman Empire 2,000 years ago experienced far worse conditions than those in the U.S. today. The government was more corrupt, the death rate of children was far higher, health care as we know it was nonexistent, and uncertainties about finances and the future were far more concerning. Yet, it was in the context of this brokenness that we read in Galatians, “when the time had fully come, God sent his Son.” Instead of being a reason to be unengaged, God saw the timing was perfect to bring a baby into our broken world.

God is not afraid of brokenness. In fact, the reason God sent his Son was to offer us freedom from the spiritual death and brokenness caused by our sin. Like those we recognize as heroes today, God went into the problem to rescue those in need.

More and more couples are refusing to have children because they are afraid. If God was not afraid of sending His son into a world far more dangerous than ours, we also must not be afraid. Furthermore, make sure you make Jesus the Hero in all your Christmas celebrations this year. He came to seek and save that which was lost. He came to rescue us. Mary gave birth to a son and gave him the name Jesus, because he would save people from their sins (Matt. 1:21). Merry Christmas!