The Want To
posted 6/29/2005
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Two guys busy working. A young man passes by them. Strong words exchanged.
Lives change.
In fact, you likely know the story well. In Matthew 4, Jesus walks by Simon (Peter) and Andrew as they fish and says, "Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men." Without hesitation, they drop their nets; clearly they desire to obey.
Notice that Jesus said, "Follow me." He didn't say, "Meet me one day each week." Nor did he say, "Now that you've met me once, you're all set. Get back to the fish."
Following Jesus is a 24/7 plan—not just an agenda for Sundays. When people—adults or children—meet Jesus for the first time, they're not supposed to just ask for forgiveness and then live the way they always have. Rather, Jesus needs to be Lord of our lives, which means submitting our wills to him and seeking his direction and guidance—from both the Holy Spirit and the Bible. The key to all of this, though, is that we must want to do these things.
After her bedtime prayer, first-grader Erin asked, "Does God really want us to say 'sorry' for everything we do wrong?"
"Yes, he does," her dad said. "God sees everything we do, and is just waiting for us to tell him we're sorry."
"If we don't remember something; will he be mad if we forget something?" she asked.
"He knows we probably can't remember everything, but for what we do remember, God really wants us to tell him. Then he can help us not do that stuff anymore." Long pause as Erin's mind races.
"Daddy, I think I want to say another prayer."
So how do we help develop the "want to" of kids? Specifically, how do we foster kids' desire to make day-to-day decisions so they'll live the way God wants them to live? In children's ministry, we put plenty of energy into teaching the Bible so that our kids learn about good decisions. But unless they also desire to make those wise choices, the learning can be in vain. Let's look at this issue in terms of our kids—and in terms of how we can help them.
Jesus' parable of the sower (Matthew 13) indicates that Scripture will take root in a person's will only if he or she makes the decision to accept Christ. This is critical, because when kids aren't yet Christians, we can only hope to temporarily modify their behavior.
Jimmy heard the salvation message in second and third grades, and in fourth grade he prayed to receive Christ. "Today it made more sense to me," he explained to his small group leader. Jimmy began to more fully grasp Bible lessons, and a few months later his mom remarked that he seemed different in many good ways. Scripture's roots finally found good soil.
Let's assume that we're talking about kids who have accepted Christ. There are four foundational concepts to build upon when teaching children about why they should want Scripture to direct their lives.
"To start, call sin what it really is—going against God and potentially hurting yourself," says Holly Delich, who taught in the fourth- and fifth-grades for Promiseland, the children's ministry of Willow Creek Community Church. "Kids today need to hear that there are absolutes when it comes to right and wrong. And when they do, they'll want to know more about what is right and what is truth."
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