Sharing The Gospel with Little Children
When introducing infants to Jesus it's helpful to consider saturation, clarity and trust.
First, saturation refers to frequent exposure.
Deuteronomy 6 tells us:
These words, which I command you today, shall be on your heart; 7 and you shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise up. 8 You shall bind them for a sign on your hand, and they shall be for frontlets between your eyes. 9 You shall write them on the door posts of your house and on your gates.
How can we as parents facilitate frequent exposure to gospel?
We can speak it, live it, sing it, and let it adorn the walls of our home. We can take our children to gospel places, like a building where God’s people gather, and we can invite gospel people, like missionaries, into our home. We can let them watch and learn as we share the gospel with others too.
Secondly, we must teach truth in a clear way.
Paul writes in Colossians 4:4
“That I may reveal it as I ought to speak.” (“Clearly,” some translations say.)
We must consistently present the gospel of Jesus Christ in a way that makes sense, making the most of every opportunity. Even if our children don’t understand everything at first, we can faithfully share about Jesus' atoning work on the Cross for the forgiveness of sins.
Thirdly, we must evangelize in trust.
This has two parts. One part is our trust in God. We trust that He is working in our children’s lives in imperceptible ways and He loves them even more than we do. Let’s look at the hope found in these words:
Philippians 1:6
“Being confident of this very thing, that he who began a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.”
God is able to reap a harvest from the seeds that have been planted.
Besides our deep trust in God, let’s think about the trust and security we’re cultivating in our relationships with our little ones.
Jesus said, in Matthew 7:9-10,
“Or who is there among you who, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, who will give him a serpent?”
As we diligently meet our children’s needs for love, truth, nutrition, rest, recreation, etc., we’re actually helping to build the kingdom of God. From this resultant place of trust and respect, our children are better positioned to receive the gospel message of salvation through faith in Christ alone.
In conclusion, let us run the race of parenting that is set before us. Let us move forward with saturation, clarity, and trust in mind as we seek to tell our tots about Jesus.