I was sitting on the couch at work the other day, holding M, when A (an energetic, very smart three-year-old), who also was sitting on the couch, just out of the blue turned to me and said, "You're in God's eyes."
It took me a second to recover from the unexpected statement but I answered "Yes, everyone is in God's eyes." To which he said again, "You're in God's eyes." Only this time he added "You're wicked in God's eyes."
"Yes," I said, "Everyone is."
He nodded, "Yup." A pause and then, "God made people."
"Yes," I said, "God made everyone."
"God can see you," he said.
"Yes, God can see everyone."
Another short pause as he went back to his Duplo blocks. A couple more blocks put together before he informed me, "Jesus died."
"Yes," I sent a prayer for wisdom to God so that God would give me the words to say to little A so that he would understand. "But He came back to life."
"Yeah," another nod. "Where is God?"
"In heaven, on His throne."
"Where is Jesus?"
"At God's right hand, in heaven. By God's throne."
He didn't ask any more questions, but went back to building. But as I thought about it I was struck by the thought that, although he may not completely understand what he said, he knows something about it, we're wicked, God can see us, Jesus died and God is on His throne ... and he's only three. Surly God can enable people to understand things about Him that we sometimes think are "too hard" to understand and avoid talking about. Don't shy away from talking to people about God and Who He is and what He does. God will give you the words and wisdom to say what needs to be said to portray Him and His word in an accurate light and He will give understanding to those who need it ... even a three-year-old playing with Duplo blocks.
It took me a second to recover from the unexpected statement but I answered "Yes, everyone is in God's eyes." To which he said again, "You're in God's eyes." Only this time he added "You're wicked in God's eyes."
"Yes," I said, "Everyone is."
He nodded, "Yup." A pause and then, "God made people."
"Yes," I said, "God made everyone."
"God can see you," he said.
"Yes, God can see everyone."
Another short pause as he went back to his Duplo blocks. A couple more blocks put together before he informed me, "Jesus died."
"Yes," I sent a prayer for wisdom to God so that God would give me the words to say to little A so that he would understand. "But He came back to life."
"Yeah," another nod. "Where is God?"
"In heaven, on His throne."
"Where is Jesus?"
"At God's right hand, in heaven. By God's throne."
He didn't ask any more questions, but went back to building. But as I thought about it I was struck by the thought that, although he may not completely understand what he said, he knows something about it, we're wicked, God can see us, Jesus died and God is on His throne ... and he's only three. Surly God can enable people to understand things about Him that we sometimes think are "too hard" to understand and avoid talking about. Don't shy away from talking to people about God and Who He is and what He does. God will give you the words and wisdom to say what needs to be said to portray Him and His word in an accurate light and He will give understanding to those who need it ... even a three-year-old playing with Duplo blocks.
5 comments:
Wow, thank you for this. I needed to hear this. I struggle a lot of times with trying to find the words to talk to people about God.
Thank You!
WOW! "Out of the mouths of babies and infants, you have established strength..."
It is amazing what children do understand-- and it looks like this three-year-old knows pretty much all one needs to know to be saved!
Praise the Lord. That's so precious. ;-)
Amen! And if He can reveal Himself and this can be understood by a three-year-old, it's foolish of us to water down the word for adults, as so many churches are doing.
It's all Him...something we all need to remember, thanks for the reminder!
That was a great post, Ana. Very encouraging for me as a parent to hear that a three year-old can understand. I know that I fail to often use every day life to teach my children about our Father and Christ. Thanks.
Wow.
Post a Comment