Day Sixteen

❀ ❁ January 16^th ❀ ❁

"Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity.” 1 Timothy 4:12, NIV

My younger daughter was 6, and I was just beginning to consider learning about the Christian faith, after she had told me God was telling her we needed to start going to church and she needed to get baptized.  During this time, the two of us were in a local craft store.  She saw a lady with a scarf around her head, being supported as she shopped with some others.  My daughter asked if she had cancer.  I told her, “It looks like she might, honey.”  To my surprise, my daughter stopped what she was doing, folded her hands, and spoke a quiet prayer for God to care for this woman and her family, and to bless her doctors and nurses. When she finished, she continued to the kids’ section with no fanfare.  I stood there, struck by my daughter’s simple faith and her desire to help another, with no hesitation, with no agenda for herself, and with total love and devotion.

The party line these days is to let our children "be themselves" and to give them choices. "Let them decide." We are to give them the information and allow them the freedom to do what they wish.

The trouble with this is it not practical by any means.  The home is a sanctuary.  This is a place where a foundation is being built; the stage is being set for how our children will live the rest of their lives and the choices they will make.  If we allow children to make the decisions for themselves, we may have little ones who live on candy and never go to school.  We place so much emphasis on healthy foods, wellness check-ups, dental appointments, sports, education… Are we prioritizing what our children really need?  What is greater than having godly children who know Jesus and walk with Him?

There is a conversation in many homes about whether a child should be “forced” to go to church.  There are rarely conversations about “forcing” a child to go to school.  What is the difference?  Why do kids begin to resent going to church?  What is the joy-level in the home?  How on fire for the Lord are the children’s parents?  Are we meeting these kids where they are?  Are we dragging them to services because we are dragging ourselves?  “This just what we do; we go to church on Sunday.”

Thinking back to the cruise ship analogy, are we content to enjoy all the peace, joy, love, and safety of being on board with Christ, knowing our children are treading water within our reach? They are weathering storms that are now so much worse than anything we had to endure.  And yet the hope in the Lord is that our children are called to come to Him, and we are to not be stumbling block in that journey.  Our children are called to purity, to love, to joy, to faith.  Our children are also lights unto the world, no matter how small.    

Pray for grace to see what your part is in ministering to and guiding the children around you.

 Ask Him to reveal to you how you can best evangelize to “the least of these.”