I attended a Pentecostal
church and the 45-minute song service was spirit filled with praise hymns,
raised hands and swaying to the beat of the music. As the children were
dismissed for children’s church one little pre-school girl skipped down the
aisle singing, “I’m a little teapot short and stout…” Jesus said, “Let the
little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven
belongs to such as these” (Matt 19:14 NIV).
1 comment:
Gail;
-----”Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness;” (Gen 1:26.) Locke, Adams, and the other Scottish moralists said the basic nature of man is to reflect behaviors which draw approval from the people who are important to us. They called it the “looking glass principle”. God said, “[you] all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being changed into his likeness.” (II Cor 3:18.) He calls it removing the veil so we can reflect scripture. Bringing children to church is nice. But is their just being there really their “coming to Him”?
-----We forget what powerful looking glasses we are to children. It isn’t just that they mimic the things we do and say. That’s kind of the flip side of the looking glass principle. It is also that they are greatly affected by our approvals and disapprovals of the things they do and say. Children are going to be children wherever they go, and they are going to find a variety of “approvals“ and “disapprovals“ everywhere. When we reflect the Word of God with lifted veil, our approvals and disapprovals more reflect His image.
-----So, although “letting” the children come is to allow them to go to places where there is knowledge and influence of the Lord, it is also to let your own “place” of knowledge and influence become more “the Lord” for when they come around you. “Being changed into His likeness from one degree of glory to another” lets them somewhat come to Him when they come to you, since “[we] are the body of Christ and individually members of it.” (I Cor 12:27) To bring a child up in the way they ought to go is more than instruction and discipline. It also is your making the things, including yourself, of the child’s environment be more like the way he ought to go. It’s kind of deliberate. To bring up a child in the way he ought to go is to make the place to where the child most comes most be like the Lord for his reflection and approval.
Love you all,
Steve Corey
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