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God loves children. Not too many of us will argue with
that truth.
Children are the people of the future. What they see and
hear and learn from daily experiences will largely determine the
direction of our world in the next generation. I know that
many of us as parents and grandparents wish we could go back and
change things that we chose to do while were growing up, and
even as we started our own families. I think all of us
would want to be perfect parents if we could make that happen.
The fact is, we can never go back in time and change what has
already happened.
But we do own this day. God has given us today in which to
live and to do whatever we can to make this world a better place
for the children who are growing up right now. And one of
the things we can do right now is make the truth of God's Word
available to little ones growing up. We can make sure that
the stories and teachings of Scripture are presented in the most
meaningful way possible. Sunday school is a big part of
reaching any child for Christ.
Sharing the Word at home is another powerful way to help young
ones to discover what God is saying to the world through
Scripture. There are many wonderful stories in the Bible
that can be read or told in such a way as to help children
understand and remember them forever. I believe that every
child's world should be filled with countless meaningful stories
of every kind. And I cannot think of any story more
meaningful than those found in the Holy Bible.
In Sunday school, we may often work with children from many
different backgrounds. Some have never heard of Moses or
Noah or King David. Others are being force-fed Bible facts
at home to such an extent that they may unable to absorb
anything (or almost unable). We need to work with God's
help, prayerfully prepared to reach each child, no matter what.
The most important work any Sunday School teacher can do is to
plant living seeds of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
If Nicodemus or Saul of Tarsus (remember them?) had been
students in your class when they were children, how would you
have tried to reach them? You would have to find a way to
help them see the reality of God that exists beyond all the
religious tradition we tend to heap of our little ones.
What if you had Isaac Asimov as a student? Or Voltaire, or
Karl Marx? The fact is, we never know what the children we
work with today will become as adults. We do not know all
the other influences they will be subjected to or all the
difficulties they will endure as they mature.
All any of us can know for sure is that Jesus loves this child,
and that one, and all the others, as well. And every child
needs more than anything to truly grasp that single truth.
They will be told many things about God as they grow up.
They will often read or hear many ideas from other religions and
from godless philosophies and from well-meaning school teachers
who have no faith in God at all. We can't keep the
children we teach from all these other influences. But we
can give them the most important facts of the Gospel, and we can
show them the reality of Christian faith in our own lives as we
speak and act from the heart.
The picture above is of a young boy getting ready for Sunday
school. His little puppy is trying to help. And
while he and other children are getting ready, the Sunday school
teacher must also be getting ready. make sure you spend
some special time alone with the Lord, acknowledging your need
of God's help. Every Sunday is special in ways you cannot
see or know — until years later. May the Lord grant you
wisdom and love and a giving heart for all the little ones.
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