By Bennett Enose
Children are very much in the heart of God!
The importance of children to the heart of God is clearly evident in the Scriptures. God’s sovereign plan for mankind cannot be complete within the span of one generation. God clearly emphasized to Moses in Duet that we need to pass on faith to the next generation! In Genesis 18:19, we see God speaking with pride and hope about His servant Abraham.
This passage clearly reveals that God is willing to impart His blessings and favor upon Abraham, because He knows Abraham will be faithful to impart the ways of God to his children. From the beginning of time, it has always been central to God’s call on us to raise our children in the fear and admonition of the Lord. Psalm 33:11 says that one generation shall declare His works to the next. God thinks generationally. When we sinned in the garden, what was God’s response? The promise of a seed. When the children of Israel were under the clutches of the Egyptian Empire, how did God rescue? By sending a baby down the Nile river. How did our Redeemer come? As a child wrapped in swaddling clothes.
The Scriptures are clear that passing on our living faith to the next generation is central to the work of the kingdom. It is not what the children know that will keep them saved but it’s Who they know! In Mathew we see how the disciples were discouraging the little children brought to Jesus for blessings. What did the Master do? Lovingly He put His arms around them and blessed them. It is His will that none (of the children) should perish. To reach our lost and broken world, we must not limit ministering life and health only to adult believers but need to raise up children in the fear and admonition of the Lord.
I truly thank and praise God for the 22 children we have in our Sunday School. It is a challenge to those of us who minister to them, to present our Savior in their level. As we look to Him for inspiration and instructions, may He richly inspire our Church leaders with the vision and His plan to reach out to these children.
Truly today’s children are tomorrow’s Church.
