I remember it like it was yesterday. It was actually 25 years ago that the message of the Gospel sank in, The Holy Spirit convicted me and drew me to Christ, and my life was forever changed by my Lord and Savior. My grandma is who taught me all about Jesus and as a seven year old, this message of forgiveness of sins and new life struck a chord with me.
I also remember the first person I told about my salvation: my dad. He was dismissive. He wasn’t into all that religion stuff so he wasn’t exactly thrilled at my new decision. It sent me on a path of just keeping quiet. To make things worse, I wasn’t incredibly faithful to church because as a seven year old, one is kind of dependent on mom and dad and when mom and dad don’t go, neither do you.
I did go every Wednesday night though for Bible club. Surely this would be the place where my salvation would be celebrated, right? Well, not exactly. It was met more with a “Oh okay, we will wait and see how this shakes out” kind of attitude. Point your fingers all you want at the responses I received, but these are not just my stories. This is a typical response to children coming to Christ in our churches.
This wasn’t even a topic I thought much about until last November. My oldest is seven. We were at church taking communion and she wanted to know what it was all about. It opened the door to an open and honest discussion of her need for forgiveness of sins and how communion is a celebration of what Christ did for us.
Her next words were not what I was expecting. “Dad, I asked Jesus to save me today at church.” I had read about so much as a parent. I had been taught so much. This was something I was prepared for. This was also a response that I knew from personal experience could shape a lot of her future.
“Oh, you did? That’s amazing! Can you tell me more about it?”
You know seven year olds. They can talk and talk and talk and that’s what she did. I told my wife what happened and we rejoiced. We also had this odd feeling come creeping in. “I guess we will see what comes of this.” That’s a pretty fleshly thought and one we fight a lot as our kid still struggles with indwelling sin (just like us adults).
Our church partook of communion monthly and every month since I’ve seen my daughter walk up to take the bread and juice and take and drink just like me and I’ve rejoiced. Seven months later and she still loves to tell me about her story.
I think the moral of the story is that there has always been a propensity to doubt children’s faith in Christ. There are multiple accounts of disciples getting angry at kids for flooding Christ with their presence! There is also this strange apprehension to speak about our child’s faith. Is it fear that they didn’t truly understand? Is it a worry that once they are older they will fall away? Is it the anxiety of having to disciple our children?
One thing is for sure: we should rejoice when someone comes to Christ. God has won. All the spiritual blessings that I have as a child of God now belong to my daughter as well. She is adopted. She has the Holy Spirit. She is justified. She is being sanctified. She has conviction of sin and forgiveness. She is in Christ. To God be the glory. Amen.
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