This is a true story about a mother sharing the Gospel with a young child and how a child entered the kitchen and reached into a draw to pull out a long knife. The child was pointing the knife at his chest when the mother came in and nearly fainted. She screamed, “What are you doing?” The child said that he was going to cut his heart open to let Jesus come into it.
As a Sunday School teacher for many years of 3rd and 4th grade children, one thing I have learned is that children take things literally, so our choice of words is of critical importance as you can see from the above story. What was intended to be a way of having the child accept Jesus “into their heart” nearly became a tragic ending. The child was simply responding to the wording of how the Gospel was offered by his mother. What she was intending to do became what she never wanted to happen. John Mac Arthur’s book, A Faith to Grow On is one of the finest resources in how to share the Gospel with children that I have ever read.
John Mac Arthur’s book looks like it comes from a 3rd grade classroom. The pictures are bright and there are colorful images everywhere. In big, bold lettering come the simplest forms of the message of the Bible. The Bible is a love letter written to humans from the hand of God, as inspired by the Holy Spirit. The Biblical message of salvation has been described as being so deep, an elephant could swim in it, yet so shallow, a kitten could traverse it. The more complex and hard things found in the Bible are not in the message of the Gospel itself. The story of salvation through Jesus Christ is made so simple that even a child could understand it, thus many adults find it too simple and it is a major stumbling block for non-believers. Yet, the trust and faith of a child has no problem believing in it.
I told my son once that I would be back to pick him up from his grandmas and that I would bring him a Happy Meal. He had no problem believing this “good news”. He knew I would return. He trusted me that I would bring him his chicken nuggets and with the toy that came with it. When I was about to leave, I told him this and he said, “O-tay!”.(That’s “okay” in a 4 year olds vernacular). He fully trusted me with this simple message. Not hard to understand and having child-like faith, he said “O-tay!”. He didn’t wonder if I’d forget. He wasn’t worried that I lied. He knew that daddy meant what daddy said. He had no trouble believing me.
That is the same child-like faith that God desires in all people, children or adults. If they believed that God had Jesus died for them to take away their sins and they could live forever, “no problem”. That is not rocket science. Children have faith and trust unlike most adults do. And their faith and trust to a degree, is broader and deeper that adults tends to be, which is often more cynical or skeptical. When I told my daughter I would be at her music program, she had complete trust and confidence that I would be there. She accepted it as fact. She never questioned me when I told her something when she was young. She believed what I said because I followed up with what I had promised her. My daughter had a complete and full trust in knowing I would do what I said I would do. That is exactly what God desires in us and in children. It’s just easier for children because of their nature. Small wonder that Jesus emphasizes that unless you become as little children (that is, having a complete and full trust), then “…you will never enter the Kingdom of Heaven“(Matt. 18:3).
I use part of each chapter of John Mac Arthur’s book to begin our lesson in Sunday School. It presents the Gospel from a child’s point of view and from their own, particular perspective, not mine. When I worked for Head Start as a Regional Educational Manager, I got down on my knees and “walked” around the room to get the same perspective that the children would get. This allowed me to see if shelves where too high to access books, toys or manipulatives. I especially looked for heavier items on top shelves to prevent a child from pulling it down onto themselves and causing injury. I checked electrical cords and outlets. I looked for carpet threads that could be pulled out and swallowed. My first concern was for the child, not the convenience of the teacher.
This is the perspective John Mac Arthur takes in his book A Faith to Grow On and it is the perspective I always try to emulate. It makes simple the plan of God and message of the Bible, from “the beginning” to Jesus’ crucifixion and to His final return in Revelation.
From Chapter One it talks about God as the Creator and where everything, including them, came from. That He is spirit and you can’t see him, just like the wind (p. 12). You can’t see the wind, but you can see its effect. This chapter discusses how we are like and are not like God (p. 14).
In Chapter Two it reveals that God has lived and will live forever. Then, into Chapter Three and Four, how sin separated us from God (p. 62) but that God was not caught by surprise and made a way for us to go to heaven, as by Jesus taking our place and paying a penalty that we couldn’t pay ourselves (p. 64).
In Chapters Four, John Mac Arthur discusses that God is invisible but He does talk to us by a book He wrote to give to us [the Bible] (p. 72). And in Chapter Five, God doesn’t want to punish us, but He wants us to be with Him forever (p. 88). That’s why God planned for Jesus to come down from Heaven and be a human being too to make this possible (p. 90). He wanted Jesus to pay a penalty that would let us live forever and never, ever die again. Jesus wanted to die so He could be with us forever (p. 92). He loved us that much (John 3:16) that God allowed Jesus to die so that we could live and never die again (p. 94). Jesus proved that we could live again after we died because He did (p. 96).
In Chapter Six, we know that anything we will ever do and all the bad stuff we will ever do or ever have done, can be forgiven and we will be made perfect because of what Jesus did (p. 104). So, in Chapter Seven, it says that we should say thank you to God for this and for our parents, and our home and our clothes and so on (p. 110). He owned everything in the universe but He wanted to share it with us (p. 114). That’s why we sing songs of how great He is in church or at home or in the car. You can’t keep any secret from God like you can from your parents or your friends because God knows what you’re think (p. 116).
In Chapter Eight, you can pray to Him. This is like asking your parents for something and just telling Him what you want (p. 124). You know God cannot give you everything you want, like a million dollars, because He knows, like your parents, that some things will hurt us. God, like your parents, know what you need and what is the best thing for you, except of course that God knows much more what is best for them. This is okay to tell them, so their trust in God will be even greater. And you can believe God will answer your prayers because He hears you like your parents do (p. 134).
In Chapter Nine, John Mac Arthur talks about the church, that it’s not a building, but it’s the people, just like a house is not the family (p. 142). And why we should go to church. We can work together and help other people get to know Jesus (p. 144). The children should know that, in Chapter Ten, why we need to be nice to other people and forgive them, because God has forgiven us if we ask for it (p. 152). God wants us to forgive the bullies, the people who push us, the mean children, and the ones who cheated too (p. 156).
In Chapter Eleven, children are told why we should share this news. If you knew something that was so wonderful, wouldn’t you want to tell your friends, your grandparents, or your neighbors (p. 164)? And don’t worry if they don’t like you telling them about Jesus, because they beat Jesus up when He talked about God (p. 168).
Finally, in Chapter Twelve, we can tell them where God lives and that we can live there too. He promises that if we just believe in Jesus and that He died to help us live forever with Him (p. 178). You believe your parents, so you can trust Jesus even more because He is perfect and never lies…ever (p. 180)! And Heaven a million times better than Disneyland. It’s like the funniest place you could ever be, like when you went to that hotel with a swimming pool, but you never have to check out (p. 186).
Now, children can be told that everyone, young or old, gets to go to heaven if they love Jesus and believe that He loves them. He died and lived again, coming out of a grave, and promises that you can too (p. 190). All you have to do is believe that Jesus did all this and that He would never lie to you. He promises and He never, ever breaks any promise. Not even one time in His whole life! And He’s always lived, so that’s a long time. He want’s you to be with Him forever too. Can you or would you believe Him today? If not, maybe later. Talk to your parents or the pastor or your Sunday School teacher and they can tell you more about this wonderful trip to heaven that you can take someday.
My own daughter was saved when she was only six. I never forced her into it and never tried to talk her into it. God does the calling. I do not. A forced conversion is not a real conversion, but a caving into parental pressure. This is not how God calls people. He never forces Himself on anyone. Getting saved is always up to the child and the child alone.
I recommend this book to any parent, or Sunday School teacher or grandparent or uncle, etc. Buy it for your children or grandchildren or for your Sunday School or for yourself. And you can how easy it is to tell them the story of Jesus.
1. John Mac Arthur. A Faith to Grow On. Thomas Nelson, Inc., Nashville, Tenn. Copyright 2000. ISBN 0-8-499-7512-3
John Mac Arthur is founder of Grace To You Ministries. http://www.gty.org
Written by JackWellman
Freelance writer, pastor & author of three books on Amazon.