Research seems to indicate that something significant happens to children around 4 years of age. They start to ask the question why. It's like suddenly a switch is flipped and they begin to string together an endless barrage of questions as they seek to understand the world around them. Watch a 3 or 4 year old for very long and you will be convinced that everyone is wired with a natural curiosity to know what we don't know...to go where we have not been and to boldly go where no man has gone before (yeah, I have watched a few episodes of Star Trek.) For most of humanity, the quest to answer the questions of why seem to fuel our understanding of how we fit in.
Whenever I watch an
elementary child intrigued with finding out something they don't know, it
is another piece of the evidence
that proves to me that God is real. It seems interesting to me that we
are wired in a unique way different than all other species to pursue
finding the answers to life's great secrets. The very fact that we pursue
knowing what we don't know makes me know God is real. He wants us to
pursue him. He wants us to discover his love for us.
The most important
thing you can do for young children is to invite them into this story about a
really big God who will always be bigger than they could ever explain or
imagine. A God who wants them to spend a lifetime discovering who he is
and how he loves them. We must always remember that there will always be
an element of mystery in finding out who God is. So we need to be careful
we aren’t too quick to turn the “whys” and “hows” of
God into a pat answer or to define God so narrowly that
His mystery is
taken away. If you try to explain everything there is to
explain about God then your kids will grow up with a god that is no bigger than
your explanations. If you could understand everything there is to
understand about God then you end up with a god that is no bigger than your
understanding. So don't make God small by taking the mystery away.
The danger of that approach is that it will ultimately lead to boredom
and disinterest in something that is eternal and timeless.
Be sure to
leave plenty of room for them to understand new things about
God for the rest of their life. That's why our
definition for knowledge this month is Discovering something new, so you
can be better at whatever you do. Simply put, If God is real, if God
made you, if God made all things, then discovering something new about God
every day, every week or every month will be the best way to master
the tasks that make up our lives.
Scripture wasn't
written to help you simply know more. Rather,
it was primarily written to help you know God. And you will know God more then
you will keep reading, keep discovering, and keep putting what you know into
action. That is why Scripture is so critical and that's why Paul declares this
to Timothy,
God has breathed life into all of
Scripture. It is useful for teaching us what is true. It is useful for
correcting our mistakes. It is useful for making our lives whole again. It is
useful for training us to do what is right. - 2 Timothy 3:16
Make sure you invite
your kids this month into a bigger story, one that has a lot of mystery and a lot
of intrigue. Invite them to a
story that will inspire them to keep discovering
the secrets of life, the world and,
mostly, God.
There is something
about a world that is bigger that your imagination that
compels you to keep imagining! So invite them into a lifetime
relationship with the creator of all things. Help
them to know what really
matters by helping them know who God is.
See you Sunday,
Pastor Ed
