photo by Stuart Caie
A few weeks ago, my friend Sandra from Celebrate Every Day wrote a post about “asking Jesus into your heart” on The MOB Society. Her basic premise is that the term “asking Jesus into your heart” is at best confusing and at worse bad theology. She gave some great scriptures about salvation and discussed some good alternative phrasing and how to talk to your children about the most important decision they’ll ever make–becoming a Christian.
{Really, before you go on, you should go back and read her post. It will make the rest of this post make more sense. Plus, it’s a great post!}
Everyone jumped on the comments–discussing their concerns about how to talk to their kids about salvation. Here’s the comment I added:
I think the “ask Jesus into your heart” comes from Revelation 3:20, “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.” I know he doesn’t specifically say “door of your heart”, but the idea is that Jesus IS standing at the door of your life and waiting for your to invite Him in. So, although the phrasing can be confusing for kids, I don’t think it’s inappropriate. But there are MANY confusing concepts for kids…how can Jesus be here and in heaven? how can he and the Father be one? How can the Holy Spiritbe in our lives and is He the same as Jesus? How can He be God and be a baby in a manger? How did he heal people with a word? It’s the same questions adults have.
As a former Children’s Pastor (which doesn’t make me an expert, I’ve just talked to more kids/parents than the average bear), I think there is NO way to explain it with complete clarity. Because if we admit it, WE don’t understand it all. We have a relationship with God because we love Him and can’t live without him, not because we’re so smart and all our questions are answered!
We sometimes forget that GOD is the one wooing our kids. It’s not up to us to get all the words and theology right. It’s up to us to introduce our kids to His love and laws. God will woo them. He will convict them and if they say the sinner’s prayer, or jump up and down during a worship song and say, “Jesus, you are my best friend!” or quietly weep on their beds and say, “I need you, Jesus”, it’s the heart and the intent that Jesus hears and understands.
I want my daughter (4yo) to pray that “sinner’s prayer” but I also know how deeply she loves Jesus and how she wants to honor him. Soon, she will be asking me why and how and when she can make her relationship “official”. But as with any relationship, there is growth and development. As parents, we are to facilitate that with our kids and Jesus. And not “look down” on them because they are young–but to set them up to know and love and understand God!
{and you thought I was only wordy on the blog!}
After reading her post and writing my comment, I could NOT get the discussion out of my head. Because as Christian parents this really is our goal. All the Bible verses, crafts and games are nothing if our kids don’t place their trust in Jesus. All the sharing, gentleness and memorization are worthless if they don’t have a relationship with their Heavenly Father.
So, I told Sandra that her post got my head and heart pumping so much I want to start a series on Impress Your Kids about salvation. I’d like to talk about the specifics of salvation for kids–my “philosophy”, the hows and whens, the avenues and yes, the metaphors and object lessons to use.
But what I really want is to hear from you. How do you teach your child about salvation? What questions do you have? Do they have? What help can I give you when discussing this most important topic?
Please leave me comments, questions or thoughts below. And each week for the next few weeks, we’ll discuss ways to help our children do more than know ABOUT to Jesus, but to actually KNOW Him!
See the whole series…
Part 1: What Jesus Says About Kids
Part 2: Can Kids Be Saved?
Part 3: On THEIR Level
Part 4: Welcome Home
