I teach Sunday School. I’ve taught Sunday School for going on ten years now. Because of the smaller size of my church I am often needed to fill in because of a lack of teachers. I sometimes watch enviously as the rest of the congregation walks in to service where the sermon will feed their spiritual needs. I am jealous that their brains and hearts will be strengthened while I’m “stuck” in the other room doling out Goldfish crackers and watered-down Kool-Aid. I am jealous, that is, until I open up the Bible and see what God says about children.
We all know the story from Mark 10:13, where Jesus was teaching and someone brought a group of children before Him that they wanted Him to bless. The disciples, being late to the party as usual, decided they needed to stop these grubby kids from getting their fudgey fingers all over their teacher. In one of the only examples of it in the Bible, we read that Jesus actually got angry at the disciples (indignant, it actually says), and afterwards he explains why.
“Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.” Now Jesus was obviously not saying that children are sinless, anyone who has seen what my kids can do with a crayon and an unguarded white wall in my home will testify to that. What Jesus was saying is that the characteristics of children are those that will be found in the residents of His Kingdom. True humility, a soft heart, looking to Him for their righteousness, these are the traits that most children naturally radiate to everyone around them.
Often as youth workers, we believe that we are the ones that are influencing the youth towards a Godly lifestyle, but Jesus seems to say that much of the time the reverse is actually going on.
I remember once when I was pulled out of service to cover for a teacher who was out sick. I was teaching on the Genesis flood and so I walked in and started going over the measurements for the Ark, so many rooms and levels, so many cubits long, so many cubits high (what on earth is a cubit, anyway?). I asked my nine-year old students why they thought God was SO specific about how the ark was to be built. In my teacherly wisdom, I already knew the answer, God needed the animals to survive the flood and so He knew exactly how it had to be built to keep them alive. One of my students, Chris, his red-headed bowl-cut gleaming from the back of the class, raised his hand. I asked him why he thought God was SO specific about the ark. Without batting an eye, this youth pierced my heart when he answered, “Because salvation is specific,” which, of course, was the right answer. Tears began to well in my eyes as the spiritual truth that this student had just revealed to me sunk in. Weeks later I heard one of the most popular pastors in the country give the exact same sermon about the Ark. I had already heard it from a nine-year old.
Youth workers not only get the privilege of serving our King, but if we keep our eyes and ears open, sometimes we get fed much more than the crackers and juice that we pass out to the kids. Sometimes we get the Truth. What a racket!
What are some things you've been taught from the mouths of children?
We all know the story from Mark 10:13, where Jesus was teaching and someone brought a group of children before Him that they wanted Him to bless. The disciples, being late to the party as usual, decided they needed to stop these grubby kids from getting their fudgey fingers all over their teacher. In one of the only examples of it in the Bible, we read that Jesus actually got angry at the disciples (indignant, it actually says), and afterwards he explains why.
“Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.” Now Jesus was obviously not saying that children are sinless, anyone who has seen what my kids can do with a crayon and an unguarded white wall in my home will testify to that. What Jesus was saying is that the characteristics of children are those that will be found in the residents of His Kingdom. True humility, a soft heart, looking to Him for their righteousness, these are the traits that most children naturally radiate to everyone around them.
Often as youth workers, we believe that we are the ones that are influencing the youth towards a Godly lifestyle, but Jesus seems to say that much of the time the reverse is actually going on.
I remember once when I was pulled out of service to cover for a teacher who was out sick. I was teaching on the Genesis flood and so I walked in and started going over the measurements for the Ark, so many rooms and levels, so many cubits long, so many cubits high (what on earth is a cubit, anyway?). I asked my nine-year old students why they thought God was SO specific about how the ark was to be built. In my teacherly wisdom, I already knew the answer, God needed the animals to survive the flood and so He knew exactly how it had to be built to keep them alive. One of my students, Chris, his red-headed bowl-cut gleaming from the back of the class, raised his hand. I asked him why he thought God was SO specific about the ark. Without batting an eye, this youth pierced my heart when he answered, “Because salvation is specific,” which, of course, was the right answer. Tears began to well in my eyes as the spiritual truth that this student had just revealed to me sunk in. Weeks later I heard one of the most popular pastors in the country give the exact same sermon about the Ark. I had already heard it from a nine-year old.
Youth workers not only get the privilege of serving our King, but if we keep our eyes and ears open, sometimes we get fed much more than the crackers and juice that we pass out to the kids. Sometimes we get the Truth. What a racket!
What are some things you've been taught from the mouths of children?
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