Let kids choose what they want for supper and the answer might be candy. I don’t think this is because children hate their bodies. It’s because the don’t have the will power to resist foods nor will they make responsible choices. This doesn’t necessarily improve as the children get older. Every year when the new crop of Freshmen come to college there is a two to three week window at the start of the year when many of the first-year students test their health limits by going without sleep. Before long their immune systems are compromised, some bug or sickness takes over for a couple days, and then most of the kids start to go to bed by midnight.
We aren’t responsible by nature. We follow our appetites – all of them – and then to excess. This can be fun for a moment, but it can’t end well. If this is true of our bodies, why would we make better decisions with our souls? The truth is that if we abdicate God’s charge to us to train the next generation in the gospel, the children won’t get to choose. Others will step into our place and choose for them. How many children make their own decisions as they grow? How many are overcome with peer pressure and give into the will of their friends? Far too many.
But you say, “Pastor, I don’t have any children!” You are not off the hook, Christian. You may not be able to see to the daily spiritual instruction of any child, but you can teach Sunday school, offer encouragement, and always pray. The children are the youngest members of our congregation, but they are not the least important.
Want to hear more? Watch this week’s Bible study in our series on Apologetics – Not Sorry: Let Kids Choose.
Please click HERE for the Bible class slides.
Please click HERE to find the Bible study event page with a list of the lessons.