Tell the Children

As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!” Romans 10:14-15

A man who has ministered on college campuses for many years was talking about how different it is now from when he started. He said that it used to be that the students he addressed had some common knowledge about God. They seemed to have a basic understanding that He exists, He created the world, and “Jesus loves them.”

Today, he said he has to start with that basic information that God is and that He created the world.

As children, no one taught them.

Last Friday night I was a part of a local church outreach. A little girl (5 or 6 years old) came up and wanted to play the Bible Trivia game we were using. She had no idea what it was; she just wanted to spin the wheel.

When I saw the blank look on her (and her mother’s) face as I asked the question, I switched gears. Trying to give her some encouraging words, I talked to her about trusting God when she is afraid (Psalm 56:3), that she could pray to Him and He would answer.

She looked right at me and said, “I don’t know what that is.”

She had obviously understood what it meant to be scared. She didn’t have any trouble understanding that I was trying to teach her something. She wasn’t dumb, she was uninformed.

Jesus told the disciples to let the children come to Him. He did not want them hindered. It seems that children have the softest hearts and most sponge-like minds (Mark 10:14).

Romans 1:19-20 remind us that no one has an excuse not to believe that God “is.” He is evident in creation. It seems that children know it’s true when they hear it.

I am not the woman you will find always volunteering for street ministries. At this one I discovered there were a lot of people who have no knowledge of God.. There was no evidence or understanding that they had heard much at all about Jesus Christ.  They have not heard the Gospel of the Kingdom of God

There was ignorance of God’s Word.

It is clear that we have work to do. Perhaps, you too have little experience talking to people on the street about God, His Son, the Holy Spirit, or His Word.

At this outreach, it was obvious that unbelievers need to hear from Christians. Many people do not have the most basic information. Their parents have not told them. The Church has been silent in their lives.

They may “see” God in creation but they do not have any knowledge of what it means to put their faith in Him.

“How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching?” Romans 10:14

Once you go and see the need for yourself,  deciding to make disciples wherever you go (Matthew 28:19)  will be much easier – compelling, even. And, please, don’t forget to tell the children, too.