Today I had the extreme pleasure of baptizing my youngest child. As a parent, I am so grateful that all three of my children have a living, active relationship with Jesus. Each of them asked Jesus into their heart at the age of three and asked to be baptized at age four. This was not my plan, but God's.
Age three seems so young for a child to have a genuine relationship with God. They have a keen desire to please, so they are certainly susceptible to doing something in order to make Mommy or Daddy happy. When a child turns three they have barely outgrown the toddler phase, really they are still babies in many ways. By the time they turn four - in the span of just one year - they are little kids, savvy and opinionated and testing every boundary (again and again and again) . Age three is also the time when they become aware of their own sin nature. A young three year-old may know the basics about Jesus and about God's redemptive plan, but without an awareness of sin, they have no need for a savior. My daughter, Maddy, at age three, in conversation about Jesus dying on the cross for the bad things that we do, said, "Oh mommy, I don't do bad things." Just a few days later, she came to me and said, "Mommy, I want to tell Jesus I am sorry for the bad things I do." Ian was with us while visiting my mother-in-law. He ran out from the room where he was supposed to be sleeping and exclaimed, "Mommy, I just asked Jesus into my heart!" I proceeded to question him about what he thought that meant - fully expecting him to deny his own wrong-doing, but instead he talked about Jesus dying for his sins and making him clean. Julia also had this same self-awareness. She had recently seen a passion play at the Miracle theater in Pigeon Forge, TN. She had been talking about the story of Jesus and Satan and how Jesus died on the cross and won over Satan. One day in the car on the way to the YMCA, she said from her car seat, "I'm sorry mommy, that Jesus had to die for my sins." I asked her if she wanted to pray and tell him she was sorry, so she said, "Yes." I asked her if she wanted to ask him into her heart, and again, she said, "Yes." So I led her in a short prayer. Already she has been sharing her testimony with anyone who will listen.
Matthew 11:25 At that time Jesus said, "I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children.
Mark 10:13-16 ......."Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. 15I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it." 16And he took the children in his arms, put his hands on them and blessed them.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment