I recently heard a story from a man who lives in a communist country. He said at age 6, he had an unusual thought, "What is the purpose of my life?" He was sitting at his kitchen table doing his homework when this thought came to him. Next, he thought, “I’m going to grow up, go to high school, get a job, get married, have children and then my son is going to be sitting here doing homework and asking himself the same question.” Being in a communist country, he had never heard of Jesus. Yet, God was talking to him.
Statistics show that most people come to Christ when they are young.
However, many people believe that talking to children about God’s offer of salvation is fruitless.
I disagree (click here for a terrific resource to help you talk to your son about God).
I remember when I was about 5-years-old being outside playing with an ant hill. I had a water hose and flooded the ant hill. As I saw ants pouring out, some of them would gather into small pools and just lay there. I started to feel some compassion and put a stick in some of the small pools so that the ants could walk on it to dry land. I remember hearing inside my head, “do you want to try to save yourself or are you going to let Me save you?”
What is interesting is the follow-up to both of these brief stories. These questions were instigated by God. God was creating an awareness of Himself in these young lives. In the first boy’s life, he didn’t know the answer until someone talked to him about Jesus. His brother told him, "I found God and his name is Jesus. Would you like to become a follower of Jesus?" He knew, in an instant, that Jesus was what/who he had been looking for to give him purpose, he just didn’t know His name.
For me, God became real shortly after, as I thought about that question. I remember playing with my toy cars on the sawdust floor while the evangelist spoke about Jesus. I remember later talking to my parents and accepting Jesus into my life.
What are these times of questioning, wonderings that others have told me about that they experienced as children? It appears that these experiences cross cultural and socioeconomic boundaries.
I know very few Christians who haven’t told me about some type of experience of hearing questions in their head as kids (sometimes as adults) and then later after becoming a Christian, knew it was God speaking to them.
A final thought. Most Christians are acquainted with the story of the five missionaries killed in Ecuador in the 1950’s. In fact, this martyrdom was made into a popular movie, End of the Spear. A little know part of this story is that when the last missionary was killed, their murderers saw lights in the jungle, lights that they had never seen before and questioned themselves about who these missionaries were. God was creating an awareness of Himself by having them see these lights. After several of these murderers became Christians, it became apparent to them that God allowed them to see the Angels ushering the missionaries into heaven.
So, as you are reading this, let me encourage you to be the kind of man who tells children (and those who have never heard the name of Jesus) about Jesus.
Volunteer at children's camp. I recall fondly those times when I was in a cabin in the woods with 6 or so boys, talking about Jesus and answering their questions and them sharing about their lives. Late at nite, when laying in bunk beds, boys want to talk. Walking down a creek looking for crawdads is a great time to talk about God. God talks to boys and boys want to talk about God.
Volunteer at your Children's Church. Mentor a boy. Be an example of a godly man. These boys need to know that Jesus is the answer for their broken, hurting homes. Jesus can heal their families. A boy can say "yes" to Jesus and become the man that God intended for him to be.
So, let boys know about Jesus. You never know, he just might have been playing with an ant hill.
BE HOLY.
BE A MAN.
Statistics show that most people come to Christ when they are young.
However, many people believe that talking to children about God’s offer of salvation is fruitless.
I disagree (click here for a terrific resource to help you talk to your son about God).
I remember when I was about 5-years-old being outside playing with an ant hill. I had a water hose and flooded the ant hill. As I saw ants pouring out, some of them would gather into small pools and just lay there. I started to feel some compassion and put a stick in some of the small pools so that the ants could walk on it to dry land. I remember hearing inside my head, “do you want to try to save yourself or are you going to let Me save you?”
What is interesting is the follow-up to both of these brief stories. These questions were instigated by God. God was creating an awareness of Himself in these young lives. In the first boy’s life, he didn’t know the answer until someone talked to him about Jesus. His brother told him, "I found God and his name is Jesus. Would you like to become a follower of Jesus?" He knew, in an instant, that Jesus was what/who he had been looking for to give him purpose, he just didn’t know His name.
For me, God became real shortly after, as I thought about that question. I remember playing with my toy cars on the sawdust floor while the evangelist spoke about Jesus. I remember later talking to my parents and accepting Jesus into my life.
What are these times of questioning, wonderings that others have told me about that they experienced as children? It appears that these experiences cross cultural and socioeconomic boundaries.
I know very few Christians who haven’t told me about some type of experience of hearing questions in their head as kids (sometimes as adults) and then later after becoming a Christian, knew it was God speaking to them.
A final thought. Most Christians are acquainted with the story of the five missionaries killed in Ecuador in the 1950’s. In fact, this martyrdom was made into a popular movie, End of the Spear. A little know part of this story is that when the last missionary was killed, their murderers saw lights in the jungle, lights that they had never seen before and questioned themselves about who these missionaries were. God was creating an awareness of Himself by having them see these lights. After several of these murderers became Christians, it became apparent to them that God allowed them to see the Angels ushering the missionaries into heaven.
So, as you are reading this, let me encourage you to be the kind of man who tells children (and those who have never heard the name of Jesus) about Jesus.
Volunteer at children's camp. I recall fondly those times when I was in a cabin in the woods with 6 or so boys, talking about Jesus and answering their questions and them sharing about their lives. Late at nite, when laying in bunk beds, boys want to talk. Walking down a creek looking for crawdads is a great time to talk about God. God talks to boys and boys want to talk about God.
Volunteer at your Children's Church. Mentor a boy. Be an example of a godly man. These boys need to know that Jesus is the answer for their broken, hurting homes. Jesus can heal their families. A boy can say "yes" to Jesus and become the man that God intended for him to be.
So, let boys know about Jesus. You never know, he just might have been playing with an ant hill.
BE HOLY.
BE A MAN.
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