|
Picture of a child whose life is being transformed by faith in
God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
How can we lead our children in faith?
We can help our children to rightly understand the truth of God.
We can show them how superior Jesus Christ is to the fictional
heroes presented to them by the modern media. This world
has never lacked fictional heroes. Most of the gods of
ancient religions are heroes built almost entirely on
imagination. Stories that may have been originally
inspired by a famous battle or great deed grew larger and more
fanciful with every telling. Sagas and legends grew and
grew, until the men or women were made into gods.
Such fictional and mythical gods are still among us in the comic
book heroes and TV cartoons or recent generations. People
love stories of great courage and mighty feats. We all
love a good story, and children are no exception. In fact,
children need great stories and heroes to help them form healthy
ideals and a strong sense of right and wrong. Many of the
tales in literature, and even of Hollywood have helped to teach
"moral" lessons to generations of young people.
Christians have a far better foundation to offer our children.
While we may occasionally share fictional tales with our little
ones, we also have the Bible itself, a source that is
spiritually and practically superior in every way to all the
imaginations of men and women. For one thing, the Bible is
true. The stories and lives revealed in Scripture are real
people who lived in the real world and who interacted with One
True God. Not all of them are heroes. Not all
enjoyed a good end. But in every case, we see that God was
truly good and right and just in His dealings.
When we take the time to give our children true stories of how
God works in the lives of real people, we help build an eternal
foundation in their hearts and minds that will serve them well
as long as they walk this earth. Never discount the things
your children and grandchildren hear you say about God.
They will never forget it. Their minds will draw on it
ever time they strive to understand more about life and faith
and God.
While it is perfectly alright to use general terms and
expressions when talking about God with children, make a point
of also being specific often enough for the little ones to know
who is who and what is what. Jesus often made it clear,
for example, that God is our heavenly Father, that only God is
truly good, and that God delights to give us eternal life, as
well as the things we truly need in this life. Jesus was
always talking about a heavenly kingdom, especially when talking
to people who were eagerly seeking a restored earthly kingdom.
Today, we may not think much about having a kingdom down here,
but we still spend a lot of time thinking about houses and
clothes and bills and all the other things we want. We can
teach our children about God's faithfulness and love, and help
them to give more attention to eternal values. At the same
time, we can help them learn from Jesus about how to treat other
people, and how to be good stewards of the life and world God
has given us to manage.
The above graphic may be used by Christian believers in various kinds of
personal witness, for church programs, and other Christian
activities. There is no charge for this use, so long as
the copyright/credit info is included with the image or a link
back to this site is provided.
To use the graphics on this site,
right click the image (Mac users hover the mouse cursor over the
image) and select the "Save As" or "Save Image As" and save the
file on your computer's hard drive. Images not saved to
your computer will not work properly (especially animated GIF
files), or will likely suffer broken links in a short time.
|
