Marlene Bagnull is a wonderful Christian author. She’s also directed sixty-eight Christian writers’ conferences. In Write and Live His Answer NOW, Marlene wrote twenty chapters about issues that affect our culture. In addition, she invited over 25 Christian authors to address important issues. I’m thankful for the opportunity to contribute a chapter, and I’ve shared my chapter in this blog post. In case you’re interested in Marlene’s book, I’m including a link.
Our Children Need Jesus
It’s been almost fifty years, but the memories still haunt me. I was an RN on an IV team at a Florida hospital. Our team made sure the hospital patients with intravenous lines had working IVs. We also responded to Code Blues to ensure each critical patient who had stopped breathing or had a heart attack had a working IV for emergency medication and fluid. I was doing my rounds and checking on a patient when my beeper went off. Two boats had collided in the bay, and ambulances were bringing drowning victims to our emergency room.
I rushed to the ER to join doctors, nurses, and respiratory therapists who waited for their arrival. Several stretchers bearing victims burst through the doors. Weeping adults clung to the stretchers as EMTs gave us critical information. While we worked on the small bodies of lifeless children, other nurses led the parents to sit in nearby chairs while they got more details. We tried to save the children, but it was hopeless. All the children drowned that day because they didn’t know how to swim and weren’t wearing life jackets.
Sadly, children die in our country and around the world every day. They die from accidents, disease, natural disasters, violence, and war. I wonder how many of them ever heard the gospel. How many of them knew Jesus? Were they afraid to die?
I’m thankful I heard the gospel when I was a small child. I was only five when Mrs. Raffa invited her neighborhood children to the Good News Club in her home. She taught us Bible stories and explained who Jesus is and what He did. I understood I was a sinner and Jesus died for my sins. The day I received Christ was the best day of my life.
Years later my husband and I taught children about Jesus in neighborhood Good News Clubs. After I explained the gospel and gave an invitation, five-year-old Michael shouted, “I’m not too little!” He ran to me before the other children could move. Michael told me he tried to get saved in church, but they said he wasn’t old enough. I asked him several questions. From his answers, I realized he understood the gospel better than many adults I’d spoken with. That day, he received Jesus.
Some Christians are reluctant to share the gospel with young children. However, in Matthew 18:1-4, the disciples asked Jesus who was the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Jesus set a little child in their midst and said that people need to become like little children. He then explained that whoever humbles himself like a little child and who believes in Him is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
Why do adults need to humble themselves like little children? After we explain the gospel in a way children can understand, they’re often ready to admit that they’ve sinned. They know they can’t save themselves, and they need to trust in what Jesus did to be forgiven. Charles Spurgeon said, “A child of five, if properly instructed, can as truly believe, and be regenerated, as an adult.”
As children grow older, they often become prideful. Adults are usually so proud that they won’t admit they’ve sinned, and even if they realize they’ve sinned, they think they can do enough good to save themselves. But they must become humble, submit to God, and admit they are sinners. They can’t trust in the finished work of Christ on the cross to save them until they repent and recognize only Jesus can save them.
Many Christians teach Bible stories and Christian songs to children. They teach them to behave like Christians, and those things are very important. But we must share the gospel with them and teach them how to become Christians before we teach them to act like Christians.
In John 3:1-3 we read about Nicodemus visiting Jesus at night. Nicodemus knew the laws and traditions of his faith. However, that wasn’t enough. Jesus told him that unless a person is born again, he can’t see the kingdom of God.
To be born again we need to understand the gospel and believe in Jesus. Why is this so important? Before we trust in Christ for our salvation, we have a sin nature, but we don’t have the Holy Spirit. When we receive Jesus, we’re sealed by the Holy Spirit. We still have the sin nature, but we also have the Holy Spirit to help us understand spiritual truth and help us have victory over sin.
Consider these words from the apostle Paul. “For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received: how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures” (1 Cor. 15:3-4 KJV). Paul made it clear that he shared the gospel with people first, before teaching them how to grow spiritually and live as followers of Christ.
Why did Paul do that? He understood we need Christ to have the Holy Spirit and have a firm foundation for our faith. It’s important to build our homes on firm foundations, but it’s even more critical for our faith. Paul wrote, “For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ” (1 Cor. 3:11 KJV).
Eric was seven when he was saved at our Good News Club. A month later, we visited him in the hospital. He’d been diagnosed with an aggressive type of cancer, and he didn’t have long to live. His eyes sparkled when he said, “I’m not afraid to die because I’m going to live with Jesus.” Eric understood God loved him, and he knew he’d found forgiveness, hope, and eternal life through his faith in the Lord Jesus.
In our culture, some schools, books, and movies teach an anti-God agenda. People often get deceived by lies, which leads them away from the truth of God’s Word. As a result, many become confused, depressed, and even suicidal. Without Christ, they are in bondage to sin and death, but the Lord Jesus Christ conquered sin and death!
God offers everyone forgiveness, hope, victory, and eternal life through faith in Christ. But how can people trust in Him if they’ve never even heard the gospel? Our children desperately need Jesus. Will you share the gospel with them? After they are saved, will you teach them how to grow spiritually so they can live for the Lord?
The Most Fruitful Fields
Please take God’s Word to the hearts of the children.
How can they believe if they still haven’t heard?
The most fruitful fields have long been neglected.
You’ll find them waiting all over the world.
Information on Good News Clubs:
Esther, thank you so much for sharing the truth of God’s Word that children can be saved. I came to know the Lord as a very young child at a Good News Club that was held in our home. The Lord saved me and I have been walking with Him ever since.
Lynnette,
Thank you so much for sharing your testimony. It’s a blessing that you were saved in a Good News Club when you were a young child, and I’m so grateful you’ve been walking with the Lord ever since. Good News Clubs are a wonderful ministry, and the Lord has used them to reach millions of children around the world. Please join me in praying that many more Christians will open their hearts and their homes to reach children in their neighborhoods in these wonderful clubs.
Esther, God bless you for consistently living out your call to share the gospel with children and reminding us to do the same. I also appreciate the encouragement to welcome young children who want to respond to the gospel message. I made my decision before I could read, and although my understanding has obviously deepened, that one Sunday afternoon before my nap shaped my entire life and my eternity.
Pam,
Thank you so much for sharing your testimony. It’s wonderful that you understood the gospel as a young child, and you made a decision to trust in Christ. That decision has truly shaped your life and your eternal destiny. Pam, you are a blessing to so many people. May the Lord continue to strengthen you and guide you and your ministry.
Appreciate your heart and perspective on this important topic.
Hi, Joy.
Thank you for your encouraging comment and for your friendship. Have a wonderful day in the Lord!