As you engage in childrens Bible lessons with your kids, one thing to always keep in mind is that they are not too young to trust in Christ!
Evangelist Billy Graham is right when he says that “conversion is so simple that the smallest child can be converted.”[1] The great Charles Spurgeon likewise said, "Children need to be saved and may be saved.”[2]
The apostle Paul, speaking to young Timothy, said, “From infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus” (2 Timothy 3:15). Obviously, if Timothy had been taught the Scriptures from infancy, it’s never to early to begin sharing important gospel truths with our children.
Timothy’s mother started Timothy’s training in the Scriptures at a very early age and continued this training throughout his childhood. I say this because of the present tense verb in this verse (“you have known the holy Scriptures”). The present tense indicates continuous, ongoing action. Timothy’s mother didn’t just sporadically talk to Timothy about the Scriptures; she regularly spoke to him about the Scriptures.
There are many people I can think of who have followed Timothy’s lead in becoming Christians at a very young age. Corrie ten Boom became saved at age five, revivalist Jonathan Edwards at age seven, Billy Graham at age six, and his wife Ruth at age four.[3]
The condition of salvation is simple faith in Christ. It is a fact that the most trusting people in the world are children. Children have not acquired the obstructions to faith that often come with education. No wonder, then, that the Scriptures instruct us to become like children in order to enter into the kingdom of God (Matthew 18:3). As adults, we must develop the same kind of trust that little children naturally have.
Eric Stuyck, an expert in child evangelism, makes a keen observation for us from Matthew 18:1, where Jesus was asked by the disciples: “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” Jesus answered by pointing to the model of a little child. It would be truly ridiculous to hold up a child as a model for someone entering the kingdom of heaven and hold at the same time that the little child is too young to become a part of that kingdom by placing faith in Christ.[4]
In this same story, Jesus specifically referred to “these little ones who believe in me” (verse 6). Clearly, little children have the capacity to believe in Jesus.
For this reason, we as Christian parents ought to make every effort to share the Scriptures with our children and lead them to faith in Christ.
[1] Billy Graham; cited in Draper’s Book of Quotations for the Christian World (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 1992), p. 106.
[2] Charles Spurgeon; in Spurgeon Quotes, electronic media, Hypercard database.
[3] Eric Stuyck, “Can Children Be Saved?” Child Evangelism Fellowship of Frederick County, Maryland.
[4] Stuyck, “Can Children Be Saved?”
— Dr. Ron Rhodes
|