TEACHING CHILDREN TO KNOW OUR LORD
In the Bible, Jesus said: “Let little children come to me…for of such is the kingdom of God” Matthew 19:14). And the Bible also says, teach little children in the way they should go, and when they are old they will not forget (Proverbs 22:6; Deuteronomy 4:9).
BIBLE GIVES EXAMPLES OF CHILDREN WHO LEARNED ABOUT THE LORD.
SAMUEL. In the Old Testament of the Bible, the parents of a boy named Samuel recognized that their child was a gift from God (Psalm 127:3). They understood the importance of teaching their child about the Lord. They took him to a prophet of the Lord named Eli to be trained in the way of the Lord. After he was trained in God’s way Samuel walked in the way of the Lord. Samuel became a prophet of God and ministered to God’s people. (1 Samuel 1:24; 1 Sam. 3:1, 19-20).
TIMOTHY. In the New Testament, Timothy, as a child, was trained in the way of the Lord by his grandmother Lois and his mother Eunice. As a youth, he was fathered in the way of the Lord by the apostle Paul. The Lord used what Timothy learned to minister the gospel of Jesus Christ to many others for their eternal salvation (2 Timothy 1:2-8; John 3:16).
THE BIBLE TELLS US ABOUT AN ERRANT ADULT WHO REMEMBERED WHAT THEY HAD LEARNED.
PRODIGAL SON. The biblical parable of a Prodigal Son tells us about a child who was taught the right way. But when he was older he went astray. Attracted by the pleasures of the world, the son asked his loving father for his inheritance so he could go out into world. When he had spent all of his money on riotous living, and was destitute and depress, he remembered the love and teachings of his father, and decided to go back home. His father welcomed and embraced him with open arms, as God does all his children who repent and return to him (Luke 15:11-24; 1 John 1:9).
WE SHOULD TEACH CHILDREN TO KNOW THE LORD JESUS CHRIST.
My grandmother taught me about the Lord when I was a child.
She lived and talked and sang about the Lord in a way that I believed she knew and loved the Lord. I heard her pray for relatives, when I sometimes awaken at night. I often saw her share what she had with other who had needs. She had me read to her from the Bible when I was still a boy. She sent me to Sunday School, where I and others sang songs like “Yes , Jesus loves me for the Bible tells me so.” Once when she took me to church when I was about ten years old; and I heard a sermon in which Jesus told a man named Nicodemus “you must be born again.” I remember being “born again” by accepting Jesus Christ as my Savior.
Later, I went astray from the Lord; but I remembered the Lord and returned. Since then, I have sought to apply what I learned in my own life about the Lord; and in teaching children and others about Jesus as my Savior and Lord.
During the height of the covid-19 pandemic, I was impressed to see a young Sunday School teacher voluntarily using a “virtual” class to reach and teach children about the Lord. She recognized the importance of training children to know the Lord while they are young.
All who know the Lord as their personal Savior should teach children about him, whom he has placed under our care and influence. Teaching children about the Lord early in their lives will improve their chances of knowing him and having the loving lifelong relationship he desires to have with them. And when we come before the Lord, we will be glad to hear him say, as he said in Matthew 25:23, “Well done, good and faithful servant…Come and share your master’s happiness!”
