The amazing true story of the Exodus tells of God’s awesome plan to rescue His people. It was also a powerful foreshadowing of God’s ultimate rescue plan through the blood of the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ. NCBC Summer Camps 2021 brought those remarkable truths to life in a way that was accessible and understandable to little ones. After learning about their own slavery to sin, and God’s perfect plan to rescue them, 21 kids at Day Camp trusted Jesus!
Can a four-year-old really trust Jesus? What if my child “trusts Jesus” over and over? Those are a couple good questions I was asked this week. How do you disciple your kids who have heard about and been taught to love Jesus from birth? One child during second session of Day Camp when he heard Emily’s 3 steps (Believe in Jesus. Tell Jesus you’re sorry. Tell God thank you!) said, “Well I’ve always believed in Jesus but I’ve never told him I was sorry!”
Faith is a unique adventure that may start differently for everyone but is a lifelong journey of discovery. Some people have a date circled in their memory of the moment they were saved. Some people experience momentous, miraculous deliverance from addictions when they believe. But for many of us, the exact moment of salvation is fuzzy. It’s been a gradual growth of understanding and love and devotion. I know I love Jesus now. I’m just not exactly sure when I started.
A previous NCBC children’s pastor once told me, “God’s best for children is for them to never have a memory of not knowing Jesus.” That Jesus would be so elevated and trusted and worshipped within the home that the child just knows Him always. I think that’s a beautiful thought.
But walking with Jesus, surrendering to Him as Lord, that’s an ongoing, daily endeavor, however long you’ve known him. As a young boy, our son Jake, who was born with a super sensitive conscience, felt like every time he sinned he had to get saved all over again. We tried to give him consistent, confident reminders: You are loved by God forever. Messing up doesn’t kick you out of the family! And yet–daily repentance and surrender is a good thing. Preaching the gospel. to one another doesn’t stop once we are saved. I need to know again today that it doesn’t depend on my performance.
The Jesus I see in the gospels doesn’t seem to be too concerned about the resumés of his followers. I don’t see proficiency testing. A recommended college degree. A previous experience minimum. Or an age requirement.
If your child has expressed faith in Jesus, my advice would be to believe them. And celebrate it! In NCBC Kids we give out a yellow “I Trust Jesus” t-shirt as a token of our excitement. But it also serves as a sort of Ebenezer Stone. A tangible reminder of a spiritual reality. Something you can look back on and remember.
Raising kids is a serious, and sometimes scary situation. And the opportunities to trust our Heavenly Father with our children never ends. You can read my blog post Irrational Trust on that topic if you want to know what God’s been doing in our family and in my soul this week.
Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
