“Keep out of Reach of
Children”… Now
that my son, Joshua, is a closing in on 2.5 years old I am noticing the above
quoted statement, or rather, this warning everywhere. And for good reason, he is getting into
everything and much of what he is getting into he absolutely shouldn’t have
either because it is dangerous or because he doesn’t know how to properly use
it. I am amazed at the things that could
be potentially harmful to my son that I never would have thought of as harmful
before.
But there are many things that are
absolutely good for my son to be able experience despite his potential
ignorance of how to properly use them or understand them. Love, discipline, mercy, grace, correction,
and compassion are just a few of the things that require no previous
understanding or experience to have a positive impact on his life.
This subject reminds me of a time in Jesus’
ministry when little children were being hindered from being front and center
to the love and teaching of the Son of God.
In Matthew 19:13-14 we see Jesus’ closest followers rebuking people for
bringing their children to see and touch Jesus.
Jesus says to his followers in verse 14, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the
kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.”
It is an unfortunate
thing, but our
society tends to ignore and discount children and their abilities to make an
impact in their environments; unfortunately, the American church as a whole has
often followed this thinking. In my
opinion, that is one of the reasons why 80-85% of high school graduates walk
away from the church of their parents and never return. I don’t say this to scold the church, but I
do say this to remind the church that we must not forget to put our children
front and center before the Love of Christ.
The church must continue to love children from K-College in such a way
that they can’t help but be overwhelmed by the Love of Christ. When they feel welcomed, loved, valued,
lifted up, inspired, connected, and involved in the church they can’t help but
stay plugged in to that kind of environment.
Also, as parents we absolutely CANNOT simply rely on the church to do the spiritual teaching and training of our children. WE MUST be the primary vessels of faith transformation for our children. I know as a parent I struggle with this, just as I struggle with keeping myself in God's word daily. But we must make it a point of life to teach and train our children in the homes to think, speak, act, and live as Jesus did; this is our #1 role as parents.
“Train a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not
turn from it” Proverbs 22:6