HELPING CHILDREN COME TO THE LORD

The Lord Jesus Christ said “let little children come me, and do not hinder them” (Matthew 19:14. The Bible shows that the Lord God commonly uses parent-figures and adults who know him to teach and help children come to the Lord.

OLD TESTAMENT INSTRUCTIONS ON TEACHING AND HELPING CHILDREN:.

“Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. 5You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. 7You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise” Deuteronomy 6:4-7. 

In this way “your children shall be taught by the Lord” (Isaiah 54:13; Proverbs 22:6). 

Failing to properly teach children about God may hinder their coming to the Lord.. Eli, a priest of God, may be seen as an example of  a man of God who hindered his sons  from knowing God, by not properly teaching them about God. This caused him and his sons much harm. The sons “did not know the Lord…treated the offering of the LORD with contempt… they lay with the women who were serving at the entrance to the tent of meeting.” Hence, the Lord told Eli, “you honor your sons more than me.” The Lord rejected the household of Eli as priests. And God caused the sons of Eli to died on the same day. (2 Samuel 2:12-36).

The Lord said: “Anyone who loves their father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves their son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me” (Matthew 10:37). For  “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.”

NEW TESTAMENT INSTRUCTIONS ON TEACHING AND HELPING CHILDREN:

The new testament gives guidance on teaching children. For example Timothy of the Bible was taught the Scriptures of God by his mother Lois, and his grandmother, Lois, during his childhood (2 Timothy 1:5). God chose Timothy to be a pastor of the Lord’s early church.

Thank God my grandmother taught me to read and discuss the Bible when I was a Child. The Lord has now made me  the father-figure to many inside and outside my family. Inspired by the Holy Spirit. I endeavor to teach and share  what I have learned over many years about God of the Bible.

Caring parents recognize that children are a gift from the Lord” (Psalm 127:3; Genesis 48:9). And they believe that God expects them to teach their children about their loving creator. 

Some parents, however, may not recognize children as gifts of God with divine purposes (Jeremiah 1:5; Luke 1:42). Such parents may prevent or hinder children from coming to the Lord. And such may do what they choose with the children they consider a part of  their own body. But the Word of God says, “You are not your own;” and God has made your body to be the temple of the Holy Spirit (Psalm 100:3; 1 Corinthians 6:19-20).     

Furthermore, the Lord God says: “everyone belongs to me, the parent as well as the child [unborn and born]—both alike belong to me” (Ezekiel 18:4). And you ought to “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’^[a]; and, ‘Love your neighbor [including children] as yourself” (Luke 10:27).  

Moreover the Lord Jesus Christ who died for the sins of the world (John 3:16; Psalm 51:5) said, “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. ³⁵ By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another“” (John 3:16; 13:34). And you also shall be called “children of God” by God the Father (1 John 3:1)