"Let the Little Children Come to Me" Luke 18:16

Luke 18:16 (NIV, ©2011)

¹⁶ But Jesus called the children to him and said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.

This is the testimonials of Jared and Alex's salvation that I posted on my family blog, that I wanted to share here too.  It is a reminder that we are not to withhold even the children from Him.  It is for Him to determine when they are ready to come!

8/6/10--A very special day!
Yesterday morning started out like most mornings with the rush to get to school on time. We were getting ready to turn in to the school and the new traffic director, who still has a lot of learning to do, just about caused us to be in a wreck. He waved me to go ahead and turn and as I was turning in, another car started pulling out of the parking lot. I thought, what in the world, and then looked at the traffic director and he was waving that person on. Totally not paying attention to anything going on, just waving his hands around in the air! UGH!!

So, of course, I was frustrated, and I just said, "I can't believe that guy about caused us to be in a wreck!"

And that's when Jared said something that just about made me cry. It came out of no where for me. He said, "I'm glad we didn't wreck cause I can't die yet, I haven't been baptized."

So, not fully expecting to have THIS conversation at THIS time, but not wanting to miss the opportunity either, I said, "Well, you know being baptized is not what gets you into Heaven. You have to be saved. Do you know if you have been saved?" He shook his head no, and then said, "How do I get saved?" I grabbed his hand, and I said, "We don't have time to talk about it right now, but I promise you that we will talk about it later." He said, OK, and he and Alex went on in to school.

Leaving there thinking about what he had said really felt heavy on my heart. I knew that I had to make sure when I did talk to him that I told him the right things, and if it was time for him that I would lead him in the right way.

I spent a lot of time researching scriptures, studying up, praying and preparing for the talk when he got home. I decided to include Alex in the discussion as well because he has shown lots of interest, and I was actually concerned it was going to come much easier to him than it seemed to be for Jared.

For Alex, everything about Jesus's life is just fact. He has no question that it happened, he believes that Jesus is who He said He is, and already shows a deep love for God. In his mind, Heaven is a certainty and he talks often about what it's going to be like when he gets there. Sometimes I think he's a little too eager to be there, but I love his excitement about it.

So, they get home and I sit them both down to talk about it all. I remind Jared of what he told me this morning. I read to them scriptures in the Bible sharing what Jesus did for us. And we discussed what sin is, and even their own personal sins. After both of them admitted to having sinned, I asked them "What is God's punishment for sin?" And they both knew that answer well too. So, then I said to them, "Well, you just told me that you are a sinner, what does that mean your punishment will be?" And they both just had very sad look on their faces as they pointed downward.

That's when I told them to be saved from sin, all we have to do is ask for God's forgiveness. I read them several scriptures showing this. And then I asked if either of them wanted to pray to ask God to save them. They both said they wanted to. I explained that this had to be a prayer from their hearts to God, and I couldn't do it for them. I told them there were 3 pretty big things that you needed to include in your prayer. I said, you need to answer these questions?

*What do you want to tell God about your sin? They both said they wanted to tell Him "I'm sorry."

*Do you believe what the Bible tells us about Jesus is true? They both agreed without hesitation.

*What do you want Jesus to do for you? And one said "save me" and the other said "save me from my sin"

So, I said, ok, now you just tell these same things to God in your prayer.

I let Jared go first, and we all 3 held hands as Jared prayed out loud. He said, "Dear God, I'm sorry for sinning. I believe in Jesus. I want you to save me. Amen"

As Jared was praying I could hear Alex whisper praying to himself. I couldn't hear all he was saying, so once Jared was done I asked him to pray out loud so we could all pray with him too. He said, "Dear God, I want you to save me so I can go to Heaven. I'm sorry that I sinned, I didn't mean to. I believe in Jesus, please save me. Amen."

When he was done, Jared's face was just beaming. He looked at me and said, "I am saved now?!" I asked him, "Well, why don't you tell me what God just did for you." He said, "He saved me." And I said the same to Alex, who replied that he was saved too.

We reviewed the scriptures about salvation again, and I showed them that this was the part that God told us to do ("believe in Jeus", "call on the Son of God"), and then I showed them what it said God promised to do if you did those things ("you will be saved").

Jared's immediate question was, "When do I get baptized?" And I explained a little further what God wants from us as Christians. I explained that God wanted them to GROW as Christians.

To GROW, they needed to:

Go to church to learn more about Jesus.
Read the Bible to find out God's plan for us.
Obey God, and turn from sin.
Witness to others so that everyone has the chance to go to Heaven.

I also explained that once you are saved that you can't ever have that taken away. That it is given by God, and so no man or thing could take that from you. I said that a true Christian though does not want to sin. Nobody is perfect, and we all fall short, but a true Christian has a constant desire to do what God says is right. And if/when a Christian does sin, they still need to apologize to God for that sin and ask for God's help to not do it again.

Jared thought it was really neat to think that all the sins he's ever done are now just "poofed away". :)

So, yeah, yesterday was a pretty special day. Jared showed the most excitement about it all. He asked me to call Greg right then to tell him. And he said he couldn't wait for Sunday to go tell Bro. Garry so that he can be baptized.

I think Greg is still concerned about the timing for Alex. All I know is that Alex has a natural spirituality to him. He knows the Bible better than a lot of adults. It's really funny to hear him. And I know Alex prayed all by himself to be saved. Yes, I worry too that he hasn't felt the true conviction that Jared showed that day, but I feel confident that Alex has a heart for the Lord, and that if the conviction does come for him later, he's going to make the right move with that.

We will be setting up a time to go speak with the children's pastor and if it leads to baptisms, I'm excited for that day too.

My heart has been truly blessed by sharing this moment with my kids, and I have peace in my soul about them. Can't wait to share this experience with Carter too!