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When Do You Try to Get Your Kids to Accept Christ?
Oct 18 | Pastor J.D. | 8 Comments |
One of the things I’ve been most nervous about with my kids is when and how I should lead them to accept Christ. Kids are very impressionable, and when you present them with a “don’t you want to be a good girl and make daddy happy and accept Jesus and not go to a fiery hell in the process” of course they will “pray the prayer,” but that may have little do with actual faith in Christ.
At the same time, children are capable of faith; in fact, Jesus tells adults that for them to be saved they must become like children. Here is where I am on this issue (this is from a new book idea I’m working on called Stop Asking Jesus into your Heart):
There is only one posture appropriate to Christ: surrendered to His Lordship, and believing that He did what He said He did. From the very beginning, I have tried to teach my kids to assume that posture. As they grow older, they will certainly have defining moments in which they “own” that posture, but I want them to adopt it from the very beginning.
But shouldn’t we discourage them from “accepting Christ” until they are old enough really to grasp all that it entails? Well, first, why would we want our kids to ever have a posture toward Christ other than repentance and faith? The opposite of believing is unbelieving; the opposite of surrendered is rebellious. Why would we ever encourage our children to be in a posture of unbelief or rebellion toward Christ? And second, when do any of us really grasp all that it entails?
This is where emphasizing salvation as a “ceremony” can really mislead. Christ’s righteousness is not imputed because of a ceremony we go through or a prayer that we pray. Salvation is the imputed to us in response to a posture we take toward Christ (Romans 4:5; 10:10). From the beginning, I want my kids to assume the posture of surrender to Christ’s Lordship and faith that He did what He said He did. Honestly, I hope my kids will one day say, “I don’t know exactly when I began to trust Christ. As long as I can remember, I’ve trusted Him.”
If you grow up in an unbelieving home, a conversion to Christ is more likely to be accompanied by a dramatic moment and signified by a ceremony. Kids that grow up in a home where mommy and daddy trust in Christ might learn, however, to trust Christ from the very beginning. Now, of course, there are some children who grow up in Christian homes that will, from their earliest years, reject Christ’s Lordship and ignore the gospel. Many of those will have a dramatic, “receive Christ” moment later in life. Personally, I pray my kids are not in that category.
The bottom line: It’s never too young to begin trusting and surrendering, because, again, the only other option to belief is unbelief and to surrender is rebellion.
I don’t mean here to downplay that all kids are born in a posture of sinful rebellion, and that salvation most definitely happens at a point. But don’t confuse the fact of new birth with a definitive awareness of when it happened. The new birth happens at that point when we ceased trusting our own righteousness before God and began to trust Christ’s “gift” righteousness for us. The essential thing is knowing that Jesus has paid it all; knowing when you began to trust it is a secondary, and much less important, matter.
Luke says that John the Baptist was “filled with the Spirit from his mother’s womb.” If nothing else, that teaches us that there is never an age too early for God’s Spirit to be at work in our child, and thus it is never too early to teach our children to adopt the proper posture toward Him. Again, the only posture we should ever assume before God is surrender to His Lordship and faith in what He did.
Here’s to our kids growing up with “boring” testimonies: testimonies without rebellion and drugs and worldliness. If they do have a season of rebellion (and I can’t guarantee they won’t), I’ll pray for a dramatic conversion. But for now, I pray they’ll always look toward the Savior in surrender and faith.
8 Responses to “When Do You Try to Get Your Kids to Accept Christ?”
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This post reminds me of what you said your sermon on assurance. That you should base your assurance of salvation more on what Christ did 2000 years ago than what you did when you were 10. I feel confident that I put my faith and trust in Christ when I was in the 7th grade. But looking back I may have done it earlier. Growing up in a Christian family I was never pressured by my parents to accept Christ but instead they loved me and prayed with me and I can tell their hope and faith was in Jesus. The fact that I don’t know exactly when I trusted Christ is not as important as the fact that I trust him now. Thanks for bringing some clarity to this issue.
good call. i appreciate your thoughts.
it’s common for parents to be waiting for some type of conversion experience for their kids… but i think that the “boring” testimonies where a kid has never known a time when they didn’t trust Jesus is the aim.
we should treat our kids as disciples of Jesus until they show themselves to be otherwise.
looking forward to hearing more about the book.
Thanks for this post bro. I’ve often wondered with my two girls (5 and 4) if we should lead them in a prayer. Based on my own testimony (Christian family upbringing and many ‘sinner’s prayers’ said but no regeneration until sometime around my mid 30′s) that i tend to agree with your position that filling my kids with the truth of the gospel and both encouraging and seeking out evidences of that grace in their lives is a much truer marker of Christ’s work than leading them in a prayer that they may, or may not, even believe. Open as always to continue to be changed on this – but, this is where i stand on the issue as well.
We never tried to get our kids to accept Christ as their Savior. By attending church and Sunday School, and by teaching the Bible each morning before school my children learned of their need of a Savior early in life.
Both of my children asked us how they could know that they would spend eternity in Heaven at a young age.
And, I think it goes without saying, my wife and I prayed for our children’s salvation daily…asking God to convict their heart of a need for Christ.
Ohhhh this is good and i have thought about this for many hours, reading ryle, whitefield, baxter, piper etc…on just how to apply Scripture to the heart of such small ones (I have a one and three year old) So much is just modeling to them at such a young age, and although i believe i catch on to you here that you say its not really an either-or situation. Live in a Christ-centered posture and from that will flow a life bent towards His Lordship, but that doesnt completely remove the possibility that someday an outright decision option may be warranted. Either way, He is glorified and for this I will rejoice in future grace!
As a child I grew up in a Christian home. Both my mother and father taught me about Jesus. I turned six on Sept. 16, 1957. On Nov. 3, 1957 the Holy Spirit convicted me and I understood my spiritual condition, jealousy in me had caused hate for another. I was grieved, I turned to the Christ about whom I had been taught by my parents and my church. I gave my heart to Jesus on Nov. 3, 1957 in Elkville, Ill. I received the salvation He provided. I also felt the burden of my sins lifted. God saves children who repent and believe. Even though there was no great rebellion, there was a great salvation and a noticed burden lifted.
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This is such an encouraging post! I have always felt like I have a “boring” testimony and it is hard to pinpoint a date/time of my conversion to Christ.
Thanks for challenging our traditions and phrases that are sometimes so hard to get away from!